UC Irvine Travels to UC Riverside Saturday in Regular-Season Finale
March 02, 2012 | Men's Basketball
UC IRVINE GAME #30
UC Irvine (11-18, 6-9) vs. UC Riverside (13-16, 6-9)
Saturday, March 3, 2012 – 5:00 p.m.
Student Rec Center (2,750) – Riverside, Calif.
Series Record: UCI leads 29-21
Last Meeting: UCI won 65-57 (1/28/12 in Irvine)
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, 18th Season)
Listen live on KUCI/88.9 FM
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UC IRVINE ENDS REGULAR SEASON AT UC RIVERSIDE: UC Irvine closes out its 2011-12 regular-season schedule with a Big West Conference game at UC Riverside Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
Coach Russell Turner's UCI squad, 11-18 overall and 6-9 in the Big West Conference, is tied with UCR and Pacific for fifth place entering Saturday. A UCI win Saturday and Pacific loss at Cal Poly would give the 'Eaters the No. 5 seed. A loss to UCR would put UCI at No. 7 and if the 'Eaters and Pacific tie, the Tigers would receive the higher seed based on an earlier win over Cal Poly.
UCI is coming off a 77-50 loss at regular-season champion Long Beach State Wednesday night. Freshman center Mike Best was the only 'Eater in double figures with 11 points.
Michael Wilder had nine points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists while Chris McNealy added eight points. Adam Folker registered six points and a team-high nine boards, and Derick Flowers also had six points.
UCI, which had 17 turnovers in the game, shot a season-low 31.7 percent from the floor but was edged just 44-43 on the boards.
WILDER 6TH IN CAREER THREES: Junior forward Michael Wilder is No. 6 all-time at UCI with 145 threes, 23 behind No. 5 Ben Jones (168).
Michael Hunter (2007-10) is UCI's career leader with 236.
UC IRVINE PLAYER NOTES
■ Junior guard DAMAN STARRING leads UCI in scoring at 11.6 points per game, has averaged 5.0 assists in the last eight games and is 15 of 18 (.833) from the foul line in the past seven contests.
He had a career-high 10 assists in last Saturday's win over Northridge. Starring scored a UCI career-high 23 points in the 92-84 loss to Cal State Fullerton Jan. 21. He was 6 of 9 from three-point range in that game. He scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the 100-94 loss at Fullerton Feb. 9 for his second-highest output at UCI.
Starring averaged 18.7 points in three games at the Great Alaska Shootout in late November. He scored 27 points as a freshman at Centenary (La.) College in the 2009-10 season.
In Big West games only, Starring ranks fourth in assists (3.93) and eighth in steals (1.33). He ranks sixth in assists (3.21) and ninth in steals for all games (1.17).
■ Junior forward MICHAEL WILDER is averaging 11.4 points per game after recording his third double-double of the season (and fifth of his career) with 11 points and 11 rebounds in last Saturday's win over Northridge.
Wilder scored a season-high 21 points in the 77-74 loss at Cal Poly Feb. 11 for the fourth 20-point game of his career. He has 727 points and 381 rebounds in 86 career games at UCI.
Wilder, who is sixth all-time at UCI with 145 threes, tied his career high with six treys in the Jan. 7 win at UC Davis.
For all games, he ranks fourth in the Big West in three-point field goals made at 2.45 per game, which ranks 75th in the nation.
In league games only, Wilder ranks sixth in the Big West in free-throw percentage (.813) and three-point field goals made per game at 2.47.
■ Junior center ADAM FOLKER, who scored a career-high 28 points in last Saturday's win over Northridge, leads the Big West Conference in field-goal percentage for league games at 59.4 percent.
He is 42 of 61 (.689) from the field in the past seven games and in the last eight games, he has averaged 12.8 points. Over the past 10 games, he has averaged 8.4 rebounds, pulling down nine each in the last two contests. In 90 career games, Folker has 385 boards.
Folker pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds (seven offensive) in the Jan. 24 win over Seattle University. He had six offensive boards at Long Beach State Wednesday and 42 percent of his rebounds this season are off the offensive glass.
He recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds in the Jan. 5 win at Pacific. He scored seven straight UCI points from the 4:34 mark to 1:05 when he converted the game-winning basket in the win.
In conference games only, Folker ranks fourth in the Big West in rebounding at 7.1 per contest and fifth in offensive rebounds (2.93 per game).
For all games, he ranks fifth in the league in rebounding (6.4) and sixth in offensive rebounds (2.69 per game).
■ Junior point guard DERICK FLOWERS tied his career high with nine assists in the Feb. 11 loss at Cal Poly and he ranks first in the Big West at 4.20 assists per game in league play.
Flowers, who has started the last 20 games, scored a career-high 21 points in the 71-52 win at Cal State Northridge Dec. 29 and was named Big West Player of the Week following that performance.
He led the 'Eaters with 17 points in the Jan. 28 win over UCR, hitting 5 of 9 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws.
Flowers ranks fourth in in the Big West in free-throw percentage for league games at 83.6 percent. He hit 10 of 10 free throws at Fullerton Feb. 9.
For all games, he ranks fifth in the league in assists (3.24) and 10th in free-throw percentage (.775).
■ Sophomore guard CHRIS McNEALY , who scored a career-high 21 points in last Saturday's win over Northridge, has hit 15 of 27 threes (.556) over the last eight games.
He tied his career high with seven assists in the Feb. 18 win over Eastern Washington after first recording seven assists in the Dec. 20 loss at UCLA.
For all games, McNealy ranks sixth in the Big West in three-point field-goal percentage (.409).
He recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in the 78-67 loss to Southern Miss at the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 24.
■ Freshman post WILL DAVIS II broke his own school record with eight blocked shots in last Saturday's 94-85 overtime win over Cal State Northridge.
He originally set the record in the Jan. 24 win over Seattle University with seven, breaking the previous UCI mark of six set by Jeff Von Lutzow vs. Bradley Dec. 1, 1990.
Davis, with 51 blocked shots on the season, is one shy of tying Dee Boyer's single-season school record of 52 set in 1993-94. Adam Parada (2000-04) is the school's career leader with 149 rejections.
Davis leads the Big West in blocked shots at 1.82 for all games, which ranks 59th in the nation. He is second in league games at 2.21 blocks per contest. Davis was a two-time league high-jump champion at Sacramento High.
Davis, who did not play at Long Beach State Wednesday due to a foot injury, recorded his second 20-point game as an Anteater with 20 at Fullerton Feb. 9. He recorded his second double-double of the season with a career-high 21 points along with 10 boards in the Jan. 24 victory over Seattle University. His first double-double was 17 points, 12 boards in the Dec. 10 win over Vanguard.
■ Freshman center MIKE BEST led UCI with 11 points in Wednesday's loss at Long Beach State.
He scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the Feb. 18 win over Eastern Washington and added a career-high six rebounds and four blocked shots, tying his career high.
Best scored a career-high 17 points, hitting 8 of 10 shots, in 18 reserve minutes versus Hope International Dec. 22. He scored 14 points in 17 reserve minutes in the win at Pacific Jan. 5, hitting 6 of 9 shots.
■ Freshman forward TRAVIS SOUZA has scored five points in each of the last two games and has had five assists. He tied his career high with three assists in last Saturday's win over Northridge.
Souza recorded a career-high 15 points in 19 reserve minutes during the Jan. 14 loss at UCSB, hitting 5 of 7 threes.
■ Freshman guard COLLIN WOODS tied his career high with nine points in the Jan. 5 win at Pacific, hitting 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Woods first scored nine points against Central Michigan at the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 25. He had seven points at Fullerton Feb. 9. He has hit 19 threes on the season.
■ Freshman forward MARCUS BRADLEY pulled down a career-high five rebounds in Wednesday's loss at Long Beach State.
He scored a season-high six points in the 77-56 loss at Cal Nov. 11 to open the season.
IN THE BIG WEST STATS: UCI ranks first in the Big West in assists at 15.79 per game, second in rebounding (37.5) and blocked shots (4.31), and third in field-goal percentage defense (.418) and three-point field goals made (7.66).
In conference games only, UCI ranks first in assists at 16.33 per game and second in three-point field goals made per game (8.13) and blocked shots at 4.80 per game.
IN THE NCAA STATS: Of 338 NCAA Division I teams through Thursday's games, UCI ranks 19th in assists at 15.79 per game and 56th in three-point field goals per game (7.66).
ABOUT UC RIVERSIDE: Fifth-year head coach Jim Wooldridge's Highlanders are 13-16 overall and 6-9 in the Big West Conference entering Saturday's game.
Senior guard Phil Martin leads UCR in scoring and rebounding at 17.2 points and 5.6 boards per game. Junior guard Robert Smith, a transfer from Santa Clara, is averaging 9.0 points.
The 'Eaters topped the Highlanders, 65-57, in UCI's Homecoming game at the Bren Center Jan. 28. Derick Flowers scored 17 points and Michael Wilder 10 to pace UCI.
Martin had 19 points and eight rebounds for UCR while Kevin Bradshaw added 15 points and eight boards.
The Highlanders had won four straight games in the series prior to UCI's victory earlier this season. The 'Eaters' last win in Riverside was 71-66 Jan. 29, 2009.
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