GAME #21
UC Irvine (15-5, 4-0) vs. Cal State Fullerton (8-8, 1-2)
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 – 7:30 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) – Irvine, California
Series Record: CSF leads 52-49
Last Meeting: UCI won 68-62 (3/5/15 in Irvine)
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan & Steve Henkle)
TV: Fox Prime Ticket (Mark Rogondino, Corey Maggette & Rahshaun Haylock)
Audio / Live Stats / Tickets
ANTEATERS HOST TITANS WEDNESDAY: UC Irvine (15-5, 4-0) hosts Cal State Fullerton in a Big West Conference game at the Bren Events Center Wednesday night.
Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters, who have won five straight games and eight of their last nine, are coming off road wins at Long Beach State (58-54) and UC Santa Barbara (61-52) last week.
UCI rallied from 11 points down in the second half to defeat LBSU Thursday and went on a game-ending 17-0 run to overtake UCSB Saturday for the Anteaters' first win at Santa Barbara in eight years.
BEST START IN 15 YEARS: UCI, 15-5 overall, is off to the program's best start since the 2000-01 team was 17-3 after 20 games en route to a 25-5 record.
IN THE RANKINGS: As of Tuesday morning, UCI ranks eighth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (.374), 21st in scoring defense (63.2) and 38th in blocked shots per game (5.1).
UCI, as of Tuesday morning, has an NCAA RPI of 41st. UC Santa Barbara is 73rd and Hawai'i 86th.
UCI-CSF SERIES: Wednesday night marks the 102nd meeting between the Orange County rivals in UCI's longest-running series.
Fullerton holds a 52-49 series lead, but the Anteaters have won the last seven meetings, including 63-58 at Titan Gym and 68-62 in the Bren Events Center last season.
UC IRVINE NOTES
● UCI has won 56 of its last 58 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less, including 8-0 this season.
● UCI is 12-0 this season when the opposition shoots under 40 percent from the field. The Anteaters have held their first four Big West opponents to 31.6 percent this season.
● UCI, 7-0 at home this season, has won 43 of its last 51 games (.843) in the Bren Events Center and is 237-152 all-time.
● Senior point guard Alex Young, with 14 assists in the two wins last week, has 501 in his career in becoming the 12th player in Big West history to reach 500.
● As of Tuesday morning, Young ranks seventh in the nation in assist/turnover ratio at 4.6. He has eight games this season with no turnovers.
● Young had seven steals in the two victories last week and has 131 in his career to rank fourth in UCI history. He leads the team with 27 steals this season.
● Young, in his third year as a team captain, is 18th on the Anteater career list with 99 threes. He had a career-high nine rebounds in the Nov. 23 win over Santa Clara.
● Young is the 25th player in Anteater history to reach 1,000 career points and he currently ranks 22nd with 1,106.
● Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye, in his UCI career, has 181 blocked shots to rank fifth in Big West Conference history. He ranks 10th in the nation with 50 total blocks this season and 24th in blocked shots per game (2.5).
● Ndiaye, who has a Big West-leading five double-doubles this season, pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds in wins at Utah State (Dec. 12) and Pacific (Dec. 4). He had 13 boards and 11 points in Saturday's win at UCSB.
● Junior guard Luke Nelson is averaging 16.5 points in UCI's four Big West games and has hit 12 of 25 (.480) threes. He is 35 of 37 (.946) from the free-throw line in all games this season.
● Nelson is seventh in Anteater history with 162 threes and 13th with 282 assists. Nelson has scored 955 career points.
● Senior forward Mike Best scored a game-high 20 points in Saturday's win at UCSB, hitting 8 of 13 from the field. He added eight rebounds.
● Freshman forward Brandon Smith is 5 of 9 from the field in Big West action, starting three of the first four league games.
● Junior post Ioannis Dimakopoulos had a career-high six rebounds and tied his career high with three blocked shots in the 84-68 win over UC Riverside Jan. 9.
● Junior guard Jaron Martin scored 11 points in a season-high 26 minutes of last Thursday's 58-54 win at LBSU.
● In the Big West statistics entering the week, UCI ranks No. 1 in scoring defense (63.2), field-goal percentage defense (.374) and blocked shots (5.1 per game).
● Alex Young leads the Big West in assist/turnover ratio (4.6) and Mamadou Ndiaye is first in blocked shots (2.5 per game.
● UCI is idle from competition this weekend before resuming Big West play at CSUN next Wednesday (Jan. 27) at 7:00 p.m.
