Box Score

 

GAME #19

UC Irvine (10-8, 3-1) at Hawai'i (14-6, 2-2)
Saturday, January 24, 2015 – 7:00 p.m. (HT)
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) – Honolulu, O'ahu

Series Record:  UCI leads 6-5
Last Meeting:  UCI won 60-56 OT (2/20/14 in Honolulu)

Radio:  KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan)


Audio / Video / Live Stats

 

UCI TAKES ON HAWAI'I:  UC Irvine (10-8, 3-1) plays its third straight road game Saturday night, facing the University of Hawai'i in Honolulu.

Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters have won three in row, including 80-49 at CSUN Thursday night.  UCI is 2-0 in Big West road games this season.

Sophomore guard Luke Nelson scored 16 points, senior guard Travis Souza added 15 (all in the first half on five threes) and senior forward Will Davis II recorded 11 points and seven rebounds.

The win was UCI's largest margin of victory over an NCAA Division I school since a 33-point win over Harvard (81-48) Dec. 28, 2006.

It was the largest margin of victory in a Big West game for UCI since a 92-54 win at Idaho Jan. 12, 2002.

Hawai'i is 14-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big West following an 84-76 win over conference-leading UC Davis Thursday night.  The Rainbow Warriors had 18 steals in the game.

UCI has a 6-5 edge in the series with Hawai'i and both meetings last season were overtime decisions.  The Rainbow Warriors spoiled the Anteaters' Homecoming with a 90-86 win at the Bren Center (1/25/14) and UCI won 60-56 in Honolulu (2/20/14).

HOME COURT AWAITS: Following Saturday's game, UCI has five of its next seven at home, beginning with Cal Poly Thursday night and UC Santa Barbara next Saturday in the Homecoming game.

COACHES VS. CANCER WEEK:  This week is the annual Suits & Sneakers Awareness Week as part of the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer fight.

In addition, UCI players and coaches are wearing dark blue ribbons in memory of Vince Correa and awareness of colon cancer.  Vince, husband of UCI Assistant Athletic Director/Development, Kara Correa, passed away last Friday after a year-long battle with the disease.


ANTEATER NOTES

● As of Friday, UC Irvine ranks 24^th in the nation in field-goal percentage at .481 and 27^th in three-point field goal percentage (.392).

● Senior forward Will Davis II recently 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 718 rebounds and he is 21^st with 1,143 points.  He is UCI's career leader in blocked shots with 193.  Davis is one of four UCI players averaging in double figures at 11.1 points per game and he leads the team in rebounding with a 5.9 average.  Davis, who leads UCI in scoring (12.5) in Big West games, is shooting 51.5 percent from the field on the season to rank third in the league.

● Junior guard Alex Young is fourth in UCI history with 374 career assists.  Young scored a career-high 24 points in the Jan. 8 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 is tied with Davis for UCI's scoring lead at 11.1 points per game.  He leads UCI with 29 steals this season and ranks 15^th in UCI history with 93 for his career.  Young has scored 852 career points.

● Sophomore guard Luke Nelson, who is averaging 11.0 points, made his first start since Dec. 13 at CSUN Thursday, scoring 16 points and adding four assists.  Nelson, who was Big West Conference Freshman of the Year last season, has missed six games this season due to illness and injury.

● Senior guard Travis Souza leads the 'Eaters with 39 threes on the season and has hit 26 of 45 in the past 10 games.  He has 114 career threes to rank 14^th in UCI history.  Souza ranks second in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .494 on the season.   He scored 15 points (one shy of his career high) in Thursday's win at CSUN.

● Senior post John Ryan, who has started the last 13 games, is shooting 59.5 percent from the field for the season.

● Sophomore guard Jaron Martin has hit 18 of 37 threes in the past 10 games.  He ranks third in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .468.  He scored a career-high 16 points in the Jan. 10 win over UC Riverside and tied his career high with four threes in that game.   Martin, who had a career-high four assists in the Jan. 8 loss to Long Beach State, was named to the South Point Holiday Hoops All-Classic team in Las Vegas Dec. 21-22.  Martin has started nine games this season.

● Junior guard Dominique Dunning has 26 rebounds in the past six games.  He recorded his first double-double with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in the Dec. 31 win over Hampden-Sydney.

● Junior guard Aaron Wright has 11 assists in the last four games, including a season-high five in the Jan. 8 loss to Long Beach State.  He 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.

● Junior forward Mike Best is shooting 55.6 percent from the field.  He scored a season-high 10 points, hitting 5 of 6 from the field, in the Dec. 31 win over Hampden-Sydney.

● Sophomore post Ioannis Dimakopoulos had six points and three rebounds in Thursday's win at CSUN.  He scored a season-high 11 points in the Dec. 6 win over Sacramento State.

● 7-6 sophomore center Mamadou Ndiaye re-injured his left foot and has missed the last two games after playing in the previous two contests.  Ndiaye, who has missed 11 games this season, scored a career-high 21 points in the Nov. 29 win at Loyola Marymount, hitting 10 of 11 from the field.  His status is listed as day-to-day. 

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