GAME #20

Cal Poly (10-8, 3-3) at UC Irvine (11-8, 4-1)
Thursday, January 29, 2015 – 7:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) – Irvine, California

Series Record:  UCI leads 24-21
Last Meeting:  Cal Poly won 61-58 (3/14/14 in Anaheim)

Radio:  KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan & Steve Henkle)
TV:  ESPN3 (Trent Schlom, Richie Schueler & Courtney Sweet)

Audio / Video / Live Stats / Tickets

UCI BACK HOME TO HOST CAL POLY, UCSB:  UC Irvine (11-8, 4-1) returns to the Bren Events Center this week to host Cal Poly (10-8, 3-3) Thursday and UC Santa Barbara (10-9, 3-2) Saturday in Big West Conference games at 7:00 p.m.

Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters, with a win at Hawai'i last Saturday night, moved into a tie for first place in the Big West with Long Beach State and UC Davis.

HOMECOMING SATURDAY: Saturday is Homecoming at UCI, currently in its 50^th year.  The 'Eaters, who are 3-0 in Big West road games, have five of their next seven contests at home.

WIN STREAK AT 4:  The Anteaters have won their last four games, including a road sweep at CSUN (80-49) and Hawai'i (78-72) last weekend.

The win over CSUN 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, and the largest margin of victory in a Big West game for the Anteaters since a 92-54 win at Idaho Jan. 12, 2002.

SERIES RECORDS:  UCI leads the series with Cal Poly, 24-21.  The 'Eaters won both regular-season meetings last season, but were knocked out of the Big West Tournament by the Mustangs (61-58) in the semifinals at the Honda Center last March.

UCI trails the series with UCSB, 49-32.  The teams have split each of the last two seasons, winning on their respective home courts both years.

DEFEND THE BREN:  UC Irvine has won 31 of its last 38 games (.816) in the Bren Events Center and is 144-54 (.727) dating back to February 2000.

The Bren Center opened Jan. 8, 1987, when Scott Brooks (current OKC Thunder head coach) scored 43 points in a 118-96 win over Utah State.

ANTEATER NOTES

● As of Wednesday, UC Irvine ranks 13^th in the nation in three-point field-goal percentage at .406, 25^th in field-goal percentage (.483) and 35^th in blocked shots per game (4.9).

● Senior forward Will Davis II is 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 726 rebounds and he is 19^th with 1,160 points.  He is UCI's career leader in blocked shots with 194.  Davis is one of four UCI players averaging in double figures, leading the team with an 11.4 scoring average and also in rebounding at 6.0 boards per game.  Davis, who leads UCI in scoring (13.4) in Big West games, is shooting 52.6 percent from the field on the season to rank third in the league.  In conference games only, he ranks second in the league at 57.1 percent.

● Junior guard Alex Young is fourth in UCI history with 377 career assists.  His three with 1:22 left at Hawai'i Saturday night proved to be the game-winning points as his basket gave UCI a 74-70 lead in the 78-72 victory.  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.  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 ranks second on the team in scoring average at 11.3 points per game.  He leads UCI with 31 steals this season and is tied for 14^th in UCI history with 95 for his career.  Young has scored 867 career points.

● Sophomore guard Luke Nelson, who is averaging 10.8 points, made his first start since Dec. 13 at CSUN last 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 47 in the past 11 games.  He has 114 career threes to rank 14^th in UCI history.  Souza ranks third in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .481 on the season.   He scored 15 points (one shy of his career high) in last Thursday's win at CSUN, hitting 5 of 8 threes.

● Senior post John Ryan, who has started the last 14 games, had a career-high 10 rebounds in Saturday's win at Hawai'i.  He is shooting 56.6 percent from the field for the season.

● Sophomore guard Jaron Martin has hit 9 of 13 threes in the last four games and he ranks second in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .500.  He had 13 points in Saturday's win at Hawai'i, hitting 5 of 6 field goals (3 of 3 threes).   Martin 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.

● Junior guard Dominique Dunning had eight points and four rebounds in Saturday's win at Hawai'i.  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 14 assists in the last five 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 last Thursday's win at CSUN.  He is 6 of 11 from the field in the past three games.  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 three games after playing in the previous two contests.  Ndiaye, who has missed 12 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.

ON THIS DATE

● On this date 17 years ago, Jan. 29, 1998, UC Irvine defeated Cal Poly, 94-90, at the Bren Events Center.

● UCI rallied from a five-point deficit with 2:35 remaining, outscoring the Mustangs, 14-5, down the stretch.

● Lamarr Parker led five Anteater players in double figures with 16 points.

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