GAME #3
UC Irvine (2-0) at UCF (0-1)
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 – 4:00 p.m. (PT)
CFE Arena (10,000) – Orlando, Fla.

Series Record:  First meeting

Radio:  KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan)
TV:  ESPN3

Audio / Video / Live Stats

UCI, UCF MEET IN HEIGHTENED MATCHUP:  From Orange County, California to Orange County, Florida, to 7-6 junior against 7-6 freshman, UC Irvine and UCF meet for the first time Wednesday night in Orlando. 

The game features a battle of two 7-6 centers in the tallest matchup in college basketball history:  UCI junior Mamadou Ndiaye and UCF freshman Tacko Fall. 

UCI enters the game 2-0 after opening at home with wins over UC San Diego, 89-73, and Loyola Marymount, 77-53.  UCF is 0-1 following a 90-85 loss at Davidson last Saturday.

KEEP THE BAGS PACKED:  Beginning Wednesday night, UCI plays 11 of its next 13 games away from home.

The Anteaters host Santa Clara Monday before playing seven straight contests away from the Bren Events Center, where UCI has won 38 of its last 46 games (.826). 

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND HOOPS BUFFET:  UCI competes in the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy Nov. 26, 27 and 29 at Titan Gym and the Honda Center. 

UCI is one of five 2015 NCAA Tournament teams that will compete in the tournament.  The Anteaters open against Boise State, another NCAA tourney team from last season, on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) at 1:00 p.m. at Titan Gym on ESPNU. 

Other NCAA Tournament teams from last season in the field are Final Four participant Michigan State, Arizona, Boise State and Providence.  Evansville, champion of the CollegeInsider.com tournament, is also in the tourney along with Boston College and Santa Clara.

UC IRVINE NOTES

● Wednesday night marks UCI's first game in the state of Florida in almost 45 years (83-69 loss at Florida State, 1/30/71).  

● Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters advanced to the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time in school history last March, narrowly losing to three-time national champion Louisville, 57-55, in the NCAA Second Round at Seattle.  The appearance ended a 38-year drought for UCI, which moved to NCAA Division I July 1, 1977. 

● UCI won the program's first Big West Conference Tournament championship last season with a 67-58 victory over Hawai'i in the title game after defeating UC Riverside in a quarterfinal game and UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals. 

● UCI has won 65 games over the last three seasons, advancing to the postseason each of those years (2013 CIT, 2014 NIT, and 2015 NCAA).  The Anteaters were 21-13 overall last season and 11-5 in the Big West Conference, tying for second place in the regular season. 

● Senior guard Alex Young, in his third year as a team captain, ranks third in the UCI record book with 424 career assists and eighth with 107 steals.  Junior guard Luke Nelson ranks No. 13 in Anteater history with 123 threes while junior center Mamadou Ndiaye has recorded 141 blocked shots and has shot 68 percent from the field in his UCI career.

MAMADOU NAMED TO WATCH LISTS:  UC Irvine's 7-6 junior center, Mamadou Ndiaye, is one of 20 players named to the 2016 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Watch List, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

The award, which is named after Hall-of-Famer and three-time NCAA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, recognizes the top centers in men's college basketball.  A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list members. 

Ndiaye also is one of 30 players selected to the Lou Henson Award Preseason Watch List for the second straight year, announced by CollegeInsider.com. 

The annual award is presented to the Mid-Major Player of the Year in NCAA Division I college basketball.

Henson is the all-time winningest coach at Illinois and New Mexico State, and is one of only 12 coaches in history to take two schools to the Final Four.

UCI ROLLS PAST LMU:  Senior forward Mike Best poured in a career-high 22 points to lead UC Irvine over Loyola Marymount, 77-53, in a non-conference game at the Bren Events Center Sunday. 

Best was 9 of 13 from the field and added a game-high eight rebounds as the Anteaters improved to 2-0 on the season.

Junior guard Luke Nelson scored 12 points and recorded five assists, four rebounds and he tied his career high with four steals. 

Senior Dominique Dunning and sophomore Haroldas Saprykinas added nine points apiece.  It marked a career high for Saprykinas.

Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye had seven points, six boards and four blocked shots while senior guard Alex Young registered seven points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.  Junior guard Jaron Martin added six points. 

UCI has won 49 of its past 51 games when the holding the opposition to 60 points or less.

SEASON-OPENING WIN:  Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye scored 16 points to lead five UC Irvine players in double figures as the Anteaters topped UC San Diego, 89-73, in UCI's regular-season opener LAST Friday night at the Bren Events Center. 

Ndiaye was 6 of 8 from the field and added six rebounds and six blocked shots as UCI improved to 37-14 all-time in home openers.

Junior guard Jaron Martin scored 14 points with junior guard Luke Nelson, junior post Ioannis Dimakopoulos and redshirt freshman forward Jonathan Galloway adding 10 apiece.

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