GAME #21
UC Irvine (11-9, 4-0) at Cal Poly (5-12, 0-3)
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 – 7:00 p.m.
Mott Athletics Center (3,032) – San Luis Obispo, CA

Series Record:  UCI leads 29-21
Last Meeting:  UCI won 84-64 (3/10/16 in Anaheim)

Radio:  AM830 KLAA & KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan)


Audio / Video / Live Stats

UCI GOES ON THE ROAD:  UC Irvine begins a stretch of four of the next five games on the road Wednesday night at Cal Poly and travels to CSUN Saturday evening.

The Anteaters, the only undefeated team in the Big West Conference at 4-0, have a six-game winning streak following an 87-67 home win over Cal State Fullerton Saturday night.

Senior guard Luke Nelson scored 20 points and senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos added 19 as UCI shot a season-best 62.3 percent from the field.

The 'Eaters have won 33 of their last 39 home games.

Cal Poly is 5-12 overall and 0-3 in the Big West as the Mustangs fell at UC Santa Barbara, 58-53, last Saturday.


THE SERIES:  UCI leads the series with Cal Poly, 29-21, as the Anteaters have won the last five meetings.

UCI defeated the Mustangs three times last season: 78-72 (OT) in San Luis Obispo (2/3/16), 72-62 in Irvine (3/3/16) and 84-64 in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim (3/10/16).

The Anteaters have won their last three games at the Mott Athletics Center in San Luis Obispo.


UCI PARTNERS WITH AM830 KLAA:  UCI Athletics has announced a partnership with AM830 KLAA to carry the majority of the remaining games this season, beginning with the Cal Poly game Wednesday night.

AM830 is the flagship station for Angels' baseball, the Anaheim Ducks and carries a variety of weekly sports programming.  In addition, KUCI/88.9 FM will continue to carry all Anteater games.


INSIDE THE NUMBERS

● Senior guard Jaron Martin leads UCI in assists (69), threes (43), steals (17) and minutes played (589).  Martin, who is averaging 13.7 points, has five 20-point games this season, including a career-high 33 in the Dec. 19 overtime loss at New Mexico State.  He has scored 828 points in his Anteater career.

● Martin has hit 153 threes in his career to rank No. 8 in UCI history.

● Senior guard Luke Nelson leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points through five games after missing the season's first 15 with a hamstring injury.

● Senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos is averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 boards on the season.  He has two double-doubles and is shooting 53.8 percent from the field.

● Freshman guard Eyassu Worku is averaging 7.9 points and is second on the team with 15 steals and minutes played with 454. Freshman forward Tommy Rutherford is averaging 6.4 points and 5.1 boards, and is second on the team with 18 blocked shots.

● Redshirt freshman guard Max Hazzard is averaging 5.1 points, freshman guard Evan Leonard 4.3 points, and sophomore forward Jonathan Galloway leads the team in rebounding at 6.5 boards per game, is averaging 4.1 points and has 20 blocked shots to lead the team. 


UC IRVINE NOTES

● UCI's depth has been prevalent all season as the Anteaters' bench has outscored the opposition's reserves by an average of 28.9 to 18.2.  UCI's bench advantage in the first four Big West games is an average of 29.2 points to 18.8.

● As of Tuesday morning, UCI is 18th nationally in field-goal percentage defense at .389, 30th in rebound margin (+6.6) and 54th in scoring defense (66.0).  The Anteaters have outrebounded their last six opponents by an average of 40.3 to 26.0.

● UCI ranks first in the Big West in scoring margin (+3.5), scoring defense (66.0), field-goal percentage defense (.389), three-point field goal defense (.325), rebounding margin (+6.6), and total blocked shots (81). 

● In the four conference games, UCI has shot 53.6 percent from the field to 39.4 percent for the opponents.

● Jonathan Galloway is third in the conference in rebounding (6.5) and fourth in blocked shots per game (1.0) while Ioannis Dimakopoulos is fifth in field-goal percentage (.538). Jaron Martin is fifth in three-point field goals made per game (2.2) and assists per game (3.5).  He is sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.384) and eighth in scoring (13.7).

● UCI has won 65 of its last 68 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less, including 7-1 this season.

● The Anteaters have won 64 of their last 71 games when limiting the opposition to under 40 percent from the field.

● UCI is 6-0 this season when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

● Senior guard Jaron Martin has been named Big West Player of the Week twice this season (Nov. 21 and Dec. 26).  He has had at least four assists in 10 games this season.

● Senior guard Luke Nelson was named to the Big West preseason all-conference team.  He earned All-Big West first team honors last season when he led the Anteaters in scoring at 13.7 points per game and in threes (83). 

● Nelson ranks 12th in UCI history with 1,301 career points, fourth in career threes (216), fifth in assists (373) and fifth in steals (125).

● Sophomore forward Brandon Smith had a career-high three steals in Saturday's win over Fullerton and tied his season high with nine points.

● Redshirt freshman guard Max Hazzard has averaged 3.5 assists in the last six games while sophomore Spencer Rivers has seven assists in the last three contests.

● Freshman center Brad Greene is shooting 69.8 percent from the field and freshman forward Tommy Rutherford 62.5 percent.

ON THIS DATE:

Twenty-one years ago, on Jan. 18, 1996, UCI knocked off New Mexico State, 74-66, at the Bren Events Center as Raimonds Miglinieks had 20 points and nine assists.

Miglinieks hit 6 of 10 threes and added four steals.  Brian Keefe scored 18 points and Kevin Simmons 16.

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