Box Score
GAME #38
UC Irvine (28-9) at Columbia (24-10)
CIT Championship Game
Tuesday, March 29, 2016 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Levien Gymnasium (2,700) – New York, N.Y.
Series Record: First meeting
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Dave Popkin, Kyle Macy & Kevaney Martin)
Audio / Live Stats
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TUESDAY VIEWING LOCATIONS: Anteater-Friendly Viewing Locations for Tuesday's game will be on-campus at the Newkirk Alumni Center and off-campus at the Newport Rib Company. Game time is 4:00 p.m. (PT) on the CBS Sports Network and will also be broadcast live on KUCI/88.9 FM.
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ANTEATERS, LIONS MEET IN CIT FINAL: UC Irvine (28-9) takes on Columbia (24-10) in the championship game of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Tuesday night in New York.
This is the fourth straight year that UCI has advanced to the postseason, competing in the 2013 CIT, 2014 NIT and 2015 NCAA.
Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters have won a school-record 28 games this season and have also set school marks with 15 non-conference victories and 13 road wins.
UCI has won 18 of its last 22 games entering Tuesday night's contest.
UCI defeated Coastal Carolina, 66-47, in a CIT semifinal at Conway, S.C., Sunday night. Luke Nelson led the Anteaters with 15 points and Alex Young added 11 in the win as UCI limited the Chanticleers to 27.4 percent from the field.
The Anteaters had earlier CIT wins at North Dakota (89-86, OT) March 16 and at Louisiana (67-66) March 23.
SCHOOL-RECORD WIN TOTAL: UCI's 28 wins this season have set a new school record and the Anteaters have won 93 games in the last four seasons, including 48 Big West contests.
UCI has registered its fourth straight 20-win season for the first time in history.
THE SERIES: Tuesday marks the first meeting between UCI and Columbia.
NABC ALL-DISTRICT HONORS FOR MAMADOU: Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye has also been named to the All-District 9 second team by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. UCI's career leader in blocked shots with 218, he is averaging 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds this season.
UC IRVINE NOTES
● Senior guard Alex Young, who turned 22 Monday (March 28), needs two rebounds to become the first player in UCI history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in his career.
● UCI's CIT travels this season have gone to Grand Forks, N.D., back to California, then to Lafayette, La., back to California, off to Conway, S.C., then by bus and plane Monday to New York.
● UCI shared the Big West Conference regular-season title with Hawai'i this season as both had 13-3 league marks. The Anteaters have won outright, or shared, four Big West regular-season championships.
● UCI is 20-1 this season when the opposition shoots under 40 percent from the field. The Anteaters have won 56 of their last 59 games when limiting the opponents to under 40 percent from the floor.
● UCI has won 58 of its last 60 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less, including 10-0 this season.
● Sixth-year head coach Russell Turner earned career win No. 100 with the Anteaters in UCI's 80-62 victory over Norfolk State Dec. 22 to claim the championship of the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational in El Paso, Texas. Turner is currently 118-89 at UCI, including 93-50 since the start of the 2012-13 season.
● As of Monday morning, UCI ranks fourth in the nation (of 351 teams) in field-goal percentage defense (.383), eighth in total blocks (194), 19th in blocked shots per game (5.2), 24th in total assists (550) and 38th in scoring defense (65.9).
● Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye is 10th in the nation in total blocks (87) and 22nd in blocked shots per game (2.42).
● Senior guard Alex Young is 39th nationally in assist/turnover ratio at 2.79 and he has 10 games this season with no turnovers.
● Tuesday's game at Columbia will be the UCI's 38th of the season, setting a new school record. The 2012-13 team played 37 games (21-16).
● Columbia is 24-10 overall with CIT wins over Norfolk State (86-54), Ball State (69-67) and NJIT (80-65).
● Maodo Lo leads the Lions in scoring at 17.0 points per game and has hit 94 threes. Alex Rosenberg is averaging 13.9 points, Grant Mullins 13.1 and Luke Petrasek 10.0. Coach Kyle Smith's Lions have hit 328 threes and are shooting 37.9 percent from beyond the arc.
● UCI senior point guard Alex Young, who tied his career high with nine assists in the Feb. 24 win over Long Beach State, has a school-record 570 in his career to rank sixth in Big West Conference history. He has played in a school-record 138 games over the past four seasons.
● Young has 153 steals in his career to rank fourth in UCI history. He has recorded at least two steals in 15 games this season. Young, in his third year as a team captain, is 14th on the Anteater career list with 128 threes. He hit a career-high five threes (in eight attempts) in last Wednesday's 67-66 win at Louisiana.
● Young currently ranks 10th in UCI history with 1,314 points. He scored a career-high 36 points on 14-of-19 shooting in the Feb. 13 win over CSUN.
● Junior guard Luke Nelson became the 26th player in UCI history to reach 1,000 points last month and he now is tied for 18th with 1,213 in his career. Nelson has six 20-point games this season and eight in his career. Nelson is 84 of 97 (.866) from the free-throw line in all games this season to lead the Big West.
● Nelson is tied for fourth in Anteater history with 201 threes and ranks fifth with 357 assists. He tied his career high with 10 assists in the Feb. 17 win at Fullerton. Nelson and Alex Young are two of the four players in UCI history to record 1,000 career points and 300 assists (Jerry Green and Ben McDonald).
● Nelson tied his career high with four steals against UC Davis Feb. 27 and is eighth in UCI history with 111 career thefts.
● Junior center Mamadou Ndiaye has 218 career blocked shots to rank No. 1 in the UCI record book and third in Big West Conference history.
● Ndiaye, who leads the Big West with six double-doubles this season, tied his career high with 14 rebounds in the Feb. 27 win at UC Davis.
● Ndiaye has 546 rebounds and 870 points in 85 career games. His 546 boards rank 19th in UCI history.
● Senior forward Mike Best has averaged 13.4 points in the last seven games. He hit the game-winning jumper with 3.6 seconds left at Louisiana last Wednesday and tied his career high with 22 points in the CIT win at North Dakota.
● Senior guard Dominique Dunning, who had a career-high six assists in the win over CSUN Feb. 13, has 27 assists and just nine turnovers in his last 23 games.
● Junior post Ioannis Dimakopoulos ranks second on the team with 34 blocked shots, including a career-high six in the Jan. 27 win at CSUN.
● Junior guard Jaron Martin is second on the team with 61 threes this season and ranks 18th in UCI history with 110. Martin has averaged 14.0 points in the last four games.
● Redshirt freshman forward Jonathan Galloway had career highs of 13 rebounds and four blocked shots in last Wednesday's win at Louisiana.
● Senior guard Aaron Wright had a season-high six assists in the Feb. 17 win at Fullerton and added 12 points. He tied his career high with four steals in the Jan. 7 win over UC Davis. Wright had six points, six rebounds and three assists in the March 16 CIT win at North Dakota.
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