Game #17

UC Irvine (8-8, 1-1) at Cal State Fullerton (8-8, 0-1)
Thursday, January 15, 2015 – 7:30 p.m.
Titan Gym (4,000) – Fullerton, Calif.

Series Record:  Fullerton leads 52-47
Last Meeting:  UCI won 62-44 (3/6/14 at Fullerton)

Radio:  KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan & Steve Henkle)
TV:  Fox Sports Prime Ticket (Mark Rogondino, Corey Maggette, Rahshaun Haylock)

Audio / Video / Live Stats


UCI, FULLERTON MEET FOR 100^TH TIME:  Orange-County rivals UC Irvine (8-8. 1-1) and Cal State Fullerton (8-8, 0-1) meet for the 100^th time Thursday night in a Big West Conference game at Titan Gym.

Fullerton leads the series, 52-47, but UCI has won the last five meetings, including both contests last season, 72-54 in Irvine (1/16/14) and 62-44 in Fullerton (3/6/14).

3 STRAIGHT ON THE ROAD:  Beginning Thursday night at Fullerton, Coach Russell Turner's UCI squad is playing its next three games on the road.  The 'Eaters travel to CSUN next Thursday and Hawai'i a week from Saturday (Jan. 24).

UCI will return home to host Cal Poly Jan. 29 and UC Santa Barbara Jan. 31 at the Bren Events Center. 

UCI SPLITS TO OPEN BIG WEST PLAY:  The Anteaters split their first two conference games at home last week to open Big West play.

UCI lost to Long Beach State, 88-82, last Thursday as the 49ers outscored the 'Eaters, 23-10, in the final 3:45.

Junior guard Alex Young scored a career-high 24 points for UCI while senior forward Will Davis II added 13.

Sophomore guard Jaron Martin scored a career-high 16 points and Young added 14 in Saturday night's 69-55 victory over UC Riverside.

UCI opened each half with a 10-0 run.

ANTEATER NOTES

● UC Irvine is shooting 56.5 percent from the field in the last four games.  The Anteaters rank 22^nd in the nation in field-goal percentage for the season at .486.

● Senior forward Will Davis II, with eight rebounds in last Saturday's win over UC Riverside, became just the sixth player in the 50-year history of UCI basketball to record 1,000 points and 700 rebounds.  Davis ranks sixth in Anteater history with 704 rebounds and he is 21^st with 1,111 points.  He is UCI's career leader in blocked shots with 192.  Davis is one of four UCI players averaging in double figures at 10.4 points per game and he leads the team in rebounding with a 5.8 average.  He is shooting 50 percent from the field on the season.

● Junior guard Alex Young is fourth in UCI history with 366 career assists and he is 24 of 38 (.632) from the field in the last four games.  Young averaged 19.0 points in the two games last week, scoring a career-high 24 in last Thursday's loss to Long Beach State, hitting 8 of 13 shots.  Young was named Most Outstanding Player of the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas Dec. 21-22.  He hit the game-winning jumper with 1.7 seconds left in the 72-70 championship win over Green Bay Dec. 22 and added a season-high eight assists.  Young also was named Big West Player of the Week after that performance.  He had career-high six steals in the Dec. 13 loss to UT Arlington, including five in the first 5:16 of the game.

● Young, who leads UCI in scoring at 11.9 points per game, has averaged 15.0 points and 5.2 assists in the last six games.  He leads UCI with 28 steals this season and ranks 15^th in UCI history with 92 for his career.   Young has scored 842 career points.

● Sophomore guard Jaron Martin has made his first collegiate starts in the last eight games and he scored a career-high 16 points in last Saturday night's win over UC Riverside.  He tied his career high with four threes in that game.   Martin, who had a career-high four assists in last Thursday's loss to Long Beach State, was named to the South Point Holiday Hoops All-Classic team in Las Vegas Dec. 21-22.

● Senior guard Travis Souza leads the 'Eaters with 33 threes on the season and has hit 20 of 35 in the past eight games.  He has 108 career threes to rank 16^th in UCI history.  Souza ranks second in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .478 on the season.   He had a career-high five assists in last Thursday's loss to Long Beach State.

● Senior post John Ryan, who has started the last 11 games, is 9 of 14 from the field in the past four games and is shooting 63.1 percent for the season.

● 7-6 sophomore center Mamadou Ndiaye played in both games last week after missing the previous nine contests with a sprained foot. He averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in the two games, hitting 7 of 11 shots.  Ndiaye scored a career-high 21 points in the Nov. 29 win at Loyola Marymount, hitting 10 of 11 from the field.  He is shooting 68.1 percent from the floor this season.

● Sophomore guard Luke Nelson, who is averaging 11.1 points, has missed the last five games due to a facial injury sustained in practice and is expected to return soon.  Nelson was Big West Conference Freshman of the Year last season.

● Junior guard Aaron Wright scored a season-high 11 points in the Jan. 3 loss at New Mexico State and recorded a career-high four steals in the Dec. 29 loss at Oregon. He had a season-high five assists against Long Beach State last Thursday.

● Junior guard Dominique Dunning recorded his first double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the Dec. 31 win over Hampden-Sydney.  The 10 rebounds marked a career high, as did his three assists.  He averaged 6.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in last week's two games.

● Junior forward Mike Best scored a season-high 10 points, hitting 5 of 6 from the field, in the Dec. 31 win over Hampden-Sydney.

ON THIS DATE

● On this date 28 years ago, Jan. 15, 1987, Kevin Floyd scored 24 points and Frank Woods added 15 points and 11 rebounds in UCI's 76-70 win over Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym.

● Floyd was 9 of 15 from the field.  Mike Hess had 13 points and six assists while Scott Brooks scored 11 points.  Henry Turner led the Titans with 25 points.