THIS WEEK
Big West Tournament
Walter Pyramid—Long Beach, CA
Lowest Remaining Seed vs UC Irvine · Wednesday, Mar. 12 · approx. 8:30 p.m.
Audio Live Stats ESPN3
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
TOURNEY TIME: UC Irvine, the fourth seed, will face the lowest remaining seed in the quarterfinals on Wednesday (Mar. 12) at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State.
The highest remaining seed of the first day will take on No. 3 Hawai'i in a 6:00 pm showdown at the Pyramid. The other first round winner takes on the Anteaters 30 minutes following the first game.
The two advancing clubs will then head to Honda Center for the semifinals on Friday, March 14. The lowest remaining seed takes on No. 1 Cal State Northridge at 12:00 pm, with the highest remaining seed set to take on No. 2 Cal Poly after that matchup.
AT THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT: UCI has competed in 24 Big West Tournaments, compling an 11-22 record.
SNAPPING THE STREAK: UCI has lost its opening game in the last seven attempts at the tournament. The last time UCI won a Big West Tournament game dates back to 2005 when the Anteaters defeated Utah State, 75-63. Current UCI assistant coaches Lauren Yadon and Annie Mai and Director of Operations Miranda Forry were members of the 2005 team.
ONE SHINIG MOMENT: UCI won the Big West Tournament in 1995. The Anteaters defeated Long Beach State (71-60) in the first round, Cal State Fullerton (69-67) in the semifinals and Pacific (65-53) in the championship.
LAST TIME AT THE TOURNEY: UCI's last appearance at the Big West Tournament was a 61-51 loss to UC Santa Barbara at the Bren Center in 2012 when first round games were played at the top four seeds.
ON THE RECORD: UCI is 16-14 overall and 9-7 in the Big West. The Anteaters finished in a tie for fourth place with UC Davis but received the No. 4 seed by beating the Aggies twice this season. The Anteaters' 16 wins is the most since the 2002-03 team went 17-12 overall.
LUCKY NUMBER 4: It is the second time in 10 years that UCI has finished in the league's Top 4. The Anteaters were tied for third in 2011-12 with a 9-7.
BREAKING IT DOWN: The Anteaters are 6-11 on the road this season, 9-2 at home and 1-1 on a neutral court.
FINISHING STRONG: The Anteaters have won two in a row and four of the last five outings.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONOREES: Senior forward Camille Buckley was named to the All-Big West first-team, while senior guard Jennifer Tsurumoto was named honorable mention.
Buckley was a second team honoree in 2013. It is Tsurumoto's first league accolade.
VERSUS THE FIRST FOUR: With UCI's opponent unknown until the completion of Tuesday's games, here is how the Anteaters stack up against all four teams playing in the first round.
UCI is 2-0 this season against UC Davis winning 79-73 in overtime at home and 68-55 in the regular season finale at Davis. All-time, the Aggies hold a 19-6 series advantage over UCI, but the Anteaters have won five of the last six meetings between the two schools.
The Anteaters and Aggies have met once in the tournament with UC Davis topping UCI, 72-45 in a quarterfinal game on March 8, 2012 at The Pavilion.
UCI beat UC Santa Barbara twice this season, but the Gauchos hold a 58-28 series lead overall. In the first meeting of the year, UCI won 77-60 at home then notched a 77-73 victory on the road.
The Anteaters and Gauchos have met five times in the post-season with the UCI winning three times. UCI and UCSB are the only two current members of the conference to play in the first two Big West Tournaments held in 1984 and 1985.
The Anteaters trail Long Beach State, 51-13 all-time, splitting a pair of games this year. Each team won on their home court as the Forty-Niners captured a 84-75 victory in overtime at the Pyramid then UCI had a 78-58 win at the Bren.
UCI and LBSU have met in five previous Big West tourneys with the
Anteaters having a 3-2 advantage. The last time the two teams faced off in the post season, LBSU won 76-64 in 2007.
UCI leads the series with Cal State Fullerton 35-34, going 2-3 in meetings with the Titans in the post-season. CSUF won the last meeting at the tournament, 61-43 in 2009. The Titans toppled UCI 75-58 in Fullerton then the Anteaters beat Fullerton 78-72 last week in UCI home finale.
BEAST MODE: Forward Camille Buckley has proven to be the most dominant player in the conference. She is averaging 18.0 points overall and 11.8 rebounds per outing and is currently ranked 11th in the country in rebounding.
Buckley averaged a double-double in conference play with a league-leading 20.7 point scoring average and 13.8 rebound mark. In Big West games, she ranked third in field goal percentage (.471), fourth in steals (1.44) and led the league in offensive (5.94) and defensive (7.88) rebounds per game.
The senior leads the conference with 17 double-doubles and is ranked 17th nationally in that category. She has recorded a double-double in seven straight games.
The forward has been named Big West Player of the Week three times this season.
MEGGS NAMED BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Kelly Meggs captured Big West Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors as she averaged 20.0 points and shot better than 70 percent in a pair of victories last week.
The 5-7 guard hit 13 of 18 shots from the floor (.722) and was 11-15 from three-point range (.733). Against Fullerton, Meggs scored 18 points on a career-best six three-pointers then returned two nights later to register a team-high and season-high tying 22 points against UC Davis.
MORE ON MEGGS: Kelly Meggs was recognized with the 2013 Sportsmanship Award. Each school's Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) voted for a male and female representative who best displayed Sportsmanship during the 2013 calendar year.
FROM DOWNTOWN: UCI has averaged 9.3 three-pointers per contest over the last four outings. UCi had a season-high 10 threes against Santa Barbara and Cal Poly on the road.
The Anteaters rank third in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage (.326).
Meggs leads the team with 47 from long range and has knocked down at least one in all, but three games this year. Over the last three games, Meggs is 16-25 from beyond the arc (.640).
Meggs ranks third in UCI career three-pointers made (135) and second in attempted (396). Her 47 treys are tied for sixth best in a season and 129 attempted is 10th.
Vanessa Aguilar has 44 three-pointers followed by Tsurumoto with 41. Madison McKenney has drained 31 from beyond the arc and Lauren Spinazze has hit 22.
SENIOR CITIZENS: Six of the nine active players on the roster are seniors (Camille Buckley, Jennifer Tsurumoto, Jasmine Bernard, Vanessa Aguilar, Kelly Meggs and
Lauren Spinazze). Forward Jazmyne White was lost for the season with a knee injury on Jan. 9.
The senior class has scored 80% (1,750-2,187) of the team's points this year.
BUCKLEY IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Buckley owns the single season records for rebounds (341), free throw made (183) and attempted (240). She ranks tied for sixth in free throws made (278) and eighth in attempted (382) in the career-record books.
DYNAMIC DUO: Both Buckley and Tsurumoto have scored a career-high 31 points this year. 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.
RUN AND GUN: The Anteaters have scored 90 or more points three times this season, a feat which has never been done. UCI recorded 90-plus twice in 1983-84 and 1979-80. In 1979-80, the Anteaters scored 100 or more in both contests.
SCORING MACHINE: The Anteaters are ranked second in the Big West in scoring at a 72.9 clip. The current school record for scoring average is 70.1 points per game set by the 1983-84 club.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: UCI leads the league in turnover margin at +3.37. UCI has had fewer than 10 turnovers five times this year.
LAST WEEK: UCI seniors dominated last week in UCI's wins over Cal State Fullerton (78-72) and UC Davis (68-55).
Against the Titans, Jen Tsurumoto lead the team with 20 points, going 10-12 from the line and firing a career-high seven assists. Camille Buckley recorded 19 points and 24 rebounds, just two shy of her own school record for boards. Buckley went 9-11 from the floor and grabbed 17 defensive rebounds. Kelly Meggs totaled 18 points, knocking down a career-high six three-pointers, while Jasmine Bernard totaled 13 points, shooting 6-12 from the floor.
Versus Davis, Meggs tied her season-high with 22 points, knocking down 5-8 from long distance. Buckley posted 18 points and 14 rebounds plus five steals. Lauren Spinazze added nine points and Tsurumoto had eight points and a career-high eight assists.
PROVING THEM WRONG: The Anteaters were picked eighth in the Big West Conference preseason poll selected by media members.
