Sonoma State at UC Irvine
Saturday, November 5, 2016 – 2:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) – Irvine, Calif.
Exhibition Game
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan)
Audio / Video / Live Stats / Tickets
ANTEATERS OPEN 2016-17 SCHEDULE: UC Irvine begins its 2016-17 schedule Saturday afternoon, hosting Sonoma State in an exhibition game at the Bren Events Center at 2:00 p.m.
Seventh-year head coach Russell Turner's Anteaters will open the regular season Nov. 11 facing Utah State in the Bren Center at 7:00 p.m. Three of UCI's first four games are at home before going on the road for 10 of the next 11.
Saturday is an exhibition game for both UCI and Sonoma State, but the two schools have met twice previously in the regular season. The Anteaters won 95-55 in the 1970-71 season opener (12/1/70) at Crawford Court and prevailed again, 51-41, at the Bren Center Jan. 3, 1998.
The Seawolves are coached by Pat Fuscaldo, who is in his 23rd season at Sonoma State. SSU was 14-13 overall last season and posted a 9-11 mark in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). The Seawolves play an exhibition game at Loyola Marymount Friday night before facing UCI Saturday afternoon.
SCHOOL-RECORD WIN TOTAL: The Anteaters won a school-record 28 games last season (28-10) and also set school marks for non-conference victories (15) and road wins (13). UCI earned a share of the 2016 Big West Conference regular-season title, the program's second in the past three years.
UCI has won 93 games over the past four seasons, advancing to the postseason each of those years (2013 CIT, 2014 NIT, 2015 NCAA and 2016 CIT).
The Anteaters competed in the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), advancing to the final. UCI defeated North Dakota (89-86, OT), Louisiana (67-66) and Coastal Carolina (66-47) before falling to Columbia, 73-67, in the championship game. All four contests were on the road.
DEFENSE WAS STRONG AGAIN: Defense was prevalent once again under Coach Turner last season as UCI ranked third in the nation in field-goal percentage defense at .383, 20th in blocked shots per game (5.2) and 43rd in scoring defense (66.1).
LUKE NELSON NAMED TO PRESEASON TEAM: Senior guard Luke Nelson has been named to the Big West preseason all-conference team as voted on by a league media panel.
Nelson, a Big West Player of the Year candidate, earned All-Big West First Team honors last season when he led the Anteaters in scoring at 13.7 points per game. He had six 20-point games in 2015-16, including a career-high 36 points in the Big West Tournament win over Cal Poly when he hit 11 of 15 shots and tied his career high with six three-point field goals.
He also led UCI with 83 threes as a junior and ranked second on the team with 149 assists and 48 steals.
Nelson ranks No. 4 in Anteater history with 204 career threes, fifth with 361 assists, eighth with 115 steals and 17th with 1,226 points.
UCI was picked to finish second in the Big West preseason poll as Long Beach State was selected first, CSUN third and UC Santa Barbara fourth.
MORE FAMILIAR FACES: Other veteran players returning include senior guard Jaron Martin, who averaged 8.3 points last season, has hit 106 threes in the past two years, including 61 in 2015-16.
Ioannis Dimakopoulos, a 7-2 senior center, averaged 5.2 points last season and has blocked 57 shots over the past two years.
Jonathan Galloway, a 6-10 sophomore forward, had at least five rebounds in 11 games last season, including a career-high 13 in the CIT win at Louisiana.
Sophomore forward Brandon Smith played in 36 games with five starts in Big West contests last season while sophomore guard Spencer Rivers saw action in 10 games.
Returning redshirts are guards Max Hazzard and Darrian Traylor, both with four years of eligibility remaining.
YOUTH INFUSION: Seven true freshmen who have joined the UCI program all earned an array of impressive accolades during their high school careers as they look to make immediate contributions on the collegiate level this season.
The incoming class includes 6-5 John Edgar Jr. (Ayala HS), 6-10 Brad Greene (Lone Pine HS), 6-1 Evan Leonard (Cerritos HS), 6-10 Adam Liberman (Valley Torah HS), 6-8 Tommy Rutherford (Grossmont HS), 6-4 Justin Wertner (St. George's, Tenn., Independent School) and 6-2 Eyassu Worku (Los Alamitos HS).
Elston Jones, a 6-9 junior forward, has transferred to UCI from Utah State, where he averaged 4.2 points last season and played in 59 games over the past two years. Per NCAA transfer rules, he must sit out this season. Jones is a graduate of Millennium High School in Goodyear, Ariz.
NEW STAFF MEMBERS: Coach Turner completed his staff with the hiring of three new members this summer.
Blaine Taylor was named an assistant coach, James Blake director of operations and Pat Flesher director of administration.
Ryan Badrtalei, the veteran member of the Anteater staff, returns for his eighth season as an assistant coach and his 12th overall with the program, while Michael Wilder, who has served as the basketball program's director of administration the past two years, has been promoted to assistant coach.
Taylor was a highly-successful head coach at Montana and Old Dominion, leading those programs to a combined 380 wins and 11 postseason appearances in 19 seasons. He won 141 games in seven years at Montana from 1991-98 and recorded 239 victories in 12 seasons with Old Dominion (2001-2013), including an NCAA Tournament first-round win over Notre Dame in 2010. He is the winningest coach in Old Dominion history.
Blake served as head coach from 2010-15 at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. He was associate head coach at Columbia College in 2009-10 after serving as an assistant coach in the Big West Conference at CSUN from 2007-09.
Flesher joined the UCI staff as director of administration after serving the past three years at UNC Greensboro, including the last two as director of operations.
OTHER NOTABLE UC IRVINE STATS
● The 'Eaters have blocked 590 shots over the past three seasons for an average of 5.5 per game.
● Last season, UCI was 20-1 when limiting the opposition to under 40-percent shooting from the field and has won 56 of its last 59 games when holding the opponents to below 40 percent.
● The 'Eaters have won 58 of their last 60 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less, including 10-0 last season.
● UCI was 11-2 at home last season and has won 47 of its last 57 games (.825) in the Bren Events Center.
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