NBLC Story of the Week: The Big Numbers Breakdown

Five NBL Canada games took place during the week of April 20th to 24th. To begin with it seemed like any other week in the league, but little were onlookers to know it would be one of the most explosive weeks of the season. The points just kept flying in from both teams, sometimes from the usual suspects and other times from unexpected sources.

The offensive numbers this week in short:

• A total of 1,106 points were scored across five games from April 20th to 24th

• An average of 221 total points were scored per game and 110 points per team in each game

• Each player scored on average ten points per game

• Only once did a team not reach the hundred-point mark

It's hard to remember a higher-scoring stretch in the NBLC.

The highest-scoring of the four sides were the KW Titans, who poured in 125 at home against the Sudbury Five. A total of 235 points were scored in that game, the most in the week, surpassing the Sudbury-Windsor Express tie on April 20th by four. KW's new star duo of Eric Ferguson and Chad Frazier combines for 57 points in the eleven-point Titan win.

While the above statistic says that the average player scored ten points per game, there were some who did a lot more than that.

Sudbury's Jaylen Bland began the week with a game-high 47 points against the Windsor Express, the highest single game total scored so far in the 2022 season. In the same game between Sudbury and Windsor, Jachai Taylor had 38 points of his own for the Express. These two players between them had 36% of all points scored in this one game.

Taylor followed that up with 31 points against the London Lightning, who were led by Terry Thomas with 35 of his own. In both of these Express games Billy White had twenty-point double-doubles. In a week where it was business as usual for White, his team mate was starting to flourish with some of the biggest games of his rookie year.

It was also a week where newcomers made their mark. Ryan Taylor signed with the Lightning on April 20th and just a few days later made his first start and poured in 21 points against KW. More impressively Nick Garth, on just his third NBLC game, led everyone on the Express with 30 points on just twenty-five minutes played against the Sudbury Five.

His total was surpassed only by 36 points from none other than Jaylen Bland, finally getting Sudbury the win after two straight losses. 36 incidentally was also Bland's average across the three games he played in this week, far above anyone else this week.

It was indeed a spectacular week of basketball in the NBL Canada, but hopefully it will not be an anomaly and there are plenty more big number shows to come.