THIS WEEK
Big West Conference Games

UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine · Thursday, Jan. 30 · 7:00 p.m. ·  Bren Center
Audio       Live Stats      Video  

Cal Poly at UC Irvine · Saturday, Feb. 1 · 2:00 p.m. ·  Bren Center
Audio       Live Stats     Video

QUICK HITS

UCI returns home to begin a four-game home stand beginning with UC Santa Barbara Thursday (Jan.30) at 7:00 p.m. then Cal Poly on Saturday (Feb. 1) at 2:00 p.m. Both games will be played at the Bren Events Center.

UCI is 4-0 at home this season. Only the Anteaters and Mustangs (8-0) remain undefeated at home this year.

The Anteaters trail both UCSB (58-26) and Cal Poly (29-17) in the series records all-time.

UCI has won just three times in the last 31 meetings against the Gauchos. UCSB won twice last season with a 51-46 victory in Irvine and a 49-41 triumph in Santa Barbara to end the year. UCSB out-scored UC Irvine, 12-4 the final five minutes to defeat the Anteaters in the last outing.

UCSB is 6-12 overall and 1-4 against Big West opponents. The Gauchos are coming off of a 67-62 loss to Cal State Fullerton at home last Saturday.

Cal Poly won both contests last year, taking the first meeting of the year 64-46 in Irvine and then a 76-36 victory in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly outscored UCI 49-14 in the second half in the last meeting. UC Irvine's 36 points was a season-low and the fewest points since UCI scored 24 in a loss to UC Davis on Feb. 12, 2009. The 40-point loss was the largest since Arizona State beat the Anteaters, 75-23 on Dec. 6, 2008. The Anteaters' 14 second half points was also a season-low for a half in 2012-13.

The Mustangs enter the week leading the Big West with a 5-1 league mark and an 11-8 overall record. Cal Poly is riding a three game winning streak and has won five of the last six contests. The Mustangs lone conference loss was to Cal State Northridge (81-76). Cal Poly will travel to UC Davis Thursday before coming to the Bren.

UCI is 9-10 overall and 2-3 in the Big West. With the victory last week, UCI matched last year's win total of nine (9-21).

The Anteaters have played 15 of the first 19 games on the road. UCI will host seven of the last 11 contests at the Bren Center.

Senior guard Jennifer Tsurumoto leads UCI with a 16.2 scoring average. She has scored points in double-digits in the last eight outings and 15 of 18 games this season. Over the last five games, Tsurumoto has averaged 23.6 points.

Last week, UCI snapped a five-game losing streak against Cal State Northridge with an 83-73 victory over the Matadors Thursday night before falling to Hawaii 85-59 on Saturday.

It was the first conference win on the road since the Anteaters beat UC Riverside on Feb. 14, 2013.

Against Northridge, Camille Buckley poured in a career-high 31 points and a season-high 21 rebounds. 14 of her rebounds were on the defensive glass.

Buckley's 31 points matched Jennifer Tsurumoto for the most points scored by an Anteater this season.

Her 21 rebounds were the most in the Big West this season and the most for a UCI player since she grabbed a career-high 22 versus UC Davis on Feb. 2, 2013.

Tsurumoto added 23 points, hitting 14-16 from the line while recording six assists. Methlyn Onogomuho and Jasmine Bernard each recorded eight points, while Lauren Spinazze contributed seven points and tied her career-high with seven rebounds.

The Anteaters out-rebounded the Matadors 52-34. UCI's 52 boards were the third most this season.

The last time an Anteater duo scored 30 or more in one season dates back to Jade Smith-Williams and Mikah Maly-Karros in 2009-10.

At Hawaii, Buckley had a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Tsurumoto followed with 16 points and Kelly Meggs had seven points. UCI made a season-low two three-pointers (2-11) and shot 33.3% (19-57) from the floor for the game, while the 'Bows shot 52.2% (36-69) from the field.

The Anteaters lead the Big West in turnover margin (+3.26). The squad is second in scoring (71.5), offensive rebounds (15.68), assist/turnover margin (0.97), steals (8.63) and rebounding offense (41.8). UCI is third in free throw percentage (.715) and rebound margin (-1.3).

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