UC IRVINE EXHIBITION GAME #1
UC Irvine vs. California Baptist
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) – Irvine, California
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, 18th Season, & Steve Henkle)
UC IRVINE EXHIBITION GAME #2
UC Irvine vs. San Diego Christian
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) – Irvine, California
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, 18th Season, & Steve Henkle)
'EATERS FACE LANCERS, HAWKS: Second-year head coach Russell Turner's UC Irvine basketball team opens its 2011-12 schedule with a pair of exhibition games this week.
The 'Eaters face California Baptist Wednesday night and San Diego Christian Saturday evening.
UCI opens its regular-season schedule Nov. 11 at California, ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' preseason polls. The 'Eaters are at San Jose State Nov. 14 before hosting Weber State Nov.19 at 4:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader with the UCI women's team.
THE BREN TURNS 25: January marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Bren Events Center on the UC Irvine campus. The center opened Jan. 8, 1987, when the 'Eaters defeated Utah State, 118-96, on the strength of 43 points by Scott Brooks.
UCI is 185-138 all-time in regular-season games at the Bren Center. The 'Eaters are 104-41 (.717) in the Bren dating back to February 2000. UCI was 9-6 at home last season.
LAST SEASON: UCI was 13-19 overall last season and 6-10 in the Big West Conference to tie for seventh. The 'Eaters met top-seeded Long Beach State in the opening round of the conference tournament at the Honda Center, falling 79-72 in a close battle. UCI trailed by just one point at halftime and led by six with 7:30 remaining in the game.
During the regular season, UCI defeated Big West regular-season champion Long Beach State and Big West Tournament champion UC Santa Barbara, plus had back-to-back, double-overtime wins over UC Davis and Pacific in late February to secure a berth in the league tourney.
HOW YOUNG ARE THE 'EATERS?: With eight freshmen and no seniors on this season's roster, UCI is regarded as one of the youngest teams in the nation based on a survey of university sports information directors. The list factors in the team's total years of previous collegiate experience with the number of players on the roster. Here are the top five on the list:
SCHOOL (Ave. number of years of previous collegiate experience on this year's roster)
1. Navy - 0.70
2. UC Irvine - 0.71
3T. Cal State Northridge - 0.75
3T. Texas Tech - 0.75
3T. UNC-Wilmington - 0.75
SIZING UP THE 'EATERS: Coach Turner had the highest-scoring team in the Big West Conference last season at 75.3 points per game, UCI's highest average in 16 seasons.
With the top three scorers gone from last year's team, the top two returning scorers for the 'Eaters are juniors Michael Wilder and Daman Starring.
Wilder, at 6-2, had to play power forward for much of last season due to injuries and he averaged 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He led UCI with 53 three-point field goals and ranked 10th in the Big West with a shooting percentage of .379 from beyond the arc.
Starring, a 6-3 swingman, averaged 7.4 points and 3.2 boards in his first season with the 'Eaters after transferring from Centenary (La.) College. He had 15 points and seven rebounds in a late-season, double-overtime win over Pacific that secured a berth in the Big West Tournament for UCI.
Chris McNealy, a 6-3 sophomore guard, played in 31 games as a true freshman last season, averaging 5.0 points per game.
Junior point guard Derick Flowers saw action in all 32 games last season, recording 25 assists and 11 steals.
Adam Folker, a 6-9 redshirt junior, missed the 2010-11 regular season with injuries after averaging 4.2 rebounds as a sophomore in 2009-10.
Kevin Mulloy, a 6-6 redshirt freshman, will also be looked to fortify the 'Eaters' front court.
An ample list of highly-regarded freshmen from the high school ranks make up over half of the UCI roster.
Collin Woods, a 6-1 guard, was 5A Desert Valley Region Player of the Year at Horizon High in Scottsdale, Ariz., and 6-3 Aaron Wright was All-CIF and league MVP at Cerritos High School.
Marcus Bradley, a 6-5 forward from Corona del Mar High was All-CIF and league MVP. Two other 6-5 players were also their respective league MVPs, Reed McConnell from Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, Calif., and Travis Souza from Turlock High.
Will Davis II, at 6-8, had 13 double-digit rebounding games as a senior at Sacramento High and 6-10 Mike Best pulled down 12 boards per game at Terra Linda High School.
John Ryan, a 6-10 transfer from Fresno State, must sit out this season per NCAA rules and will have three years of eligibility remaining.
COACH TURNER EXCITED ABOUT THIS TEAM: I think that we do have talent on this team," UCI head coach Russell Turner said. "I'm excited about the young talent that we do have, but we are going to have to prove to everyone that we can win. I'm looking forward to seeing how we do that.
"Since we have no seniors, this group knows we're going to be together for a long time and we can come to count on one another the way I've seen us do already, and if we can build on that, the future is very bright for us.
"We know that we are a young team," Turner added. "There's some disadvantage in that clearly, but there are also some advantages in that because I have good energy in this group. This group doesn't really know what's out there for them but in a lot of ways, that is really positive.
"What we have to do is build on that energy and I think we are going to be able to do that. I think having a young team is going to suit the style we want, but we're going to have to be patient. It's a fine line because we have to be patient but also demanding. I've told the team that if we give a great effort every day, than we are going to do better every day as the season goes on.
"We're still going to be an up-tempo team because I think that's really important for the athletes that I've brought into this program. "I want us to continue to be that way because we are now longer and a more athletic team," Turner said.
"That has to be style that we build to. What we have in terms of who can produce points is still a little bit yet to determined, but I do think that this team will be able to score.
"I'm most interested in our team becoming a better defensive team. For us to do that, we have to become a better rebounding team. We have to become a better defensive team night in and night out on each possession. That is something we have been stressing with this young group and I like our chances right now. Physically, we are going to be young but there are some other things we can do that go along with that," the head coach stated.
What I will tell our fans is that we are going to be committed every day," said Turner. "We're going to show our integrity every day and we are going to appreciate the opportunity we have to play Division I basketball.
"I think the fans are going to see an exciting product, a team that plays very hard and is committed to playing together with good team basketball. They are going to see a team that gets better throughout the course of the season and playing our best at the end. That's important for us this year but also important for building the foundation that we move forward with for this program. I'm very excited about our future," Turner said.
THE SCHEDULE: UCI faces a rugged non-conference schedule this season beginning with the regular-season opener at Cal and the game at San Jose State three nights later.
Weber State visits the Bren Events Center Nov. 19 in just the second meeting all-time between the universities. The Wildcats were 18-14 overall last season and advanced to a postseason tournament for the third consecutive year as Weber State competed in the College Basketball Invitational.
The 'Eaters are competing in the Carr's/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout at Anchorage, Alaska., opening against Southern Miss on Thanksgiving Day. Other teams in the tournament are Alaska-Anchorage, Central Michigan, Dartmouth, Murray State, New Mexico State and USF.
A mid-December stretch of challenging road contests features games at Wyoming (Dec. 13), LSU (Dec. 15) and UCLA (Dec. 20 at L.A. Sports Arena).
UCI opens Big West Conference play Dec. 29 at Cal State Northridge before hosting 2011 regular-season league champion and "Black & Blue" rival Long Beach State Jan. 2.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA BAPTIST: Tenth-year head coach Tim Collins and the Lancers are entering their first year as a member of the PacWest Conference.
California Baptist returns seven players from last year's 14-16 team, including junior center Luke Evans, who led the team in scoring and rebounding last season at 12.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Senior guard Justus Von Wright also returns after averaging 11.8 points last season.
ABOUT SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN: San Diego Christian, led by head coach Tim Cook, is a member of the Golden State Athletic Conference.
The Hawks were 8-22 overall and 2-18 in the GSAC last season. Senior guard Benji Arvizu is the team's leading returning scorer at 7.0 points per game and he led the squad with 49 assists last season. Senior post players Tim Sanders and Xavier Mylleville averaged 6.9 points and over 4.0 rebounds each in 2010-11.
A LOOK AT SOME UCI ALUMS PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY: Post player Pavol Losonsky (2009-11), who was a senior on last season's UCI team, is averaging 18.3 points and 10.3 rebounds for Spisska Nova Ves in the Slovakian League.
Four-year point guard Patrick Rembert (2007-11) is averaging 11.3 points and 7.7 assists for KK Sentjur in the Slovenia-Telemach League.
All-time UCI leading scorer Jerry Green (1998-2002) is averaging 11.5 points for ENBW Ludwigsburg in Germany.
Ross Schraeder (2002-06) is averaging 6.1 points and shooting over 52 percent from the field for Autocid Ford Burgos in Spain.
Adam Parada (2000-04) is averaging 7.4 points and 4.6 boards for Halcones UV Xalapa in the Mexican League.
Zack Atkinson (2008-10) is averaging 4.0 points and 4.8 rebounds for the Oita Heat Devils in Japan.
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