'Eaters Head to Saint Mary's This Weekend

UPCOMING GAMES

Game Notes

UC Irvine Anteaters (4-8)
at Saint Mary's Gaels (8-2)
Saturday, Dec. 16 | 5:00 PM
McKeon Pavilion (3,500) - Moraga, Calif.
TheW.tv | KUCI 88.9 FM | Live Stats

Series record: 5-6 | Last Meeting: L, 84-53, Dec. 11, 2016 at #12 SMC

Radio: Live broadcasts will be available on KUCI 88.9 FM and ucirvinesports.com with play-by-play from Trent Rush for each game this week
TV: Links to broadcasts for each game can be found on via ucirvinesports.com
Saturday's broadcast is courtesy of the West Coast Conference and TheW.tv

514 - UC Irvine has hauled in 514 rebounds this season, 2nd in the country behind Duke (545). It also stands eighth nationally with 42.8 rebounds per game, 14.2 of them from the offensive end

0 - Through 12 games, UCI has used 8 different starting lineups and has had 9 or more scorers in 10 games, but have seen 0 players put up a 20-point performance with a high of 19 from Rutherford and Leonard

11 - Jonathan Galloway has registered a block in 11 straight games with multiple blocks in seven. He ranks 29th in the nation with 23 blocks, and is the team's rebounding leader at 7.5 a game

4-0 - The Anteaters are 4-0 when recording at least 20 free throw attempts in a game this year. UCI averages 18.75 FTA a game and stands at the bottom of the Big West shooting 64.9% from the line

GAEL-FORCE WINS
The road runs along to Northern California to face Saint Mary's on Saturday. Prior to the season, Saint Mary's seemed to be UCI's toughest competition on the schedule with a No. 22 preseason ranking after reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. The Gaels started strong with five straight wins including one over Cal State Fullerton, but consecutive losses to Washington State and Georgia dropped them from the rankings. The Gaels have picked it up since with wins against Cal, Sac State, and Seattle to sit at 8-2.

This will be the fourth straight year UCI and SMC meet with the Gaels winning by three, 10, and 31 points last year as the 12th-ranked team. All-time, UCI is 5-6 against Saint Mary's, 2-5 in Moraga, Calif., in a series that began in 1978. UCI won five straight contests from 1994 to 2002, but are winless in the last three against a program that has won eight NCAA Tournament games over the last eight years.

Saint Mary's as a team has a heavy international influence, primarily from down under with seven players hailing from Australia. SMC also does few things poorly, in fact they're the best in the country at securing the ball averaging just 8.3 turnovers per game. Their 17.1 assists per game fall within the top 40 nationally leading to the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the land at 2.06. That charge is led by senior guard Emmett Naar who is averaging 9.1 assist per game, second-best in the NCAA, and has the ninth-best A/TO ratio while playing the fourth-most minutes.

Naar is also the best free throw-shooter on the 12th-best free throw-shooting team in the nation at 79.2%. The Gaels shoot well all-around as the 26th-best from beyond the arc and ninth-best on all field goals led by their star down in the paint, 6-11, 255-lb senior Jock Landale, who is averaging 21.3 points per game while also pulling in 9.4 rebounds a game producing four double-doubles this year.

CHART-TOPPERS
The 'Eaters continue to rebound well with 42.8 per game (8th in NCAA) ranking 36th in defensive rebounds per game and 18th in offensive. The +7.8 rebound margin ranks 37th.

The Anteaters continue to set the standard in blocks with 59, 15th-most in the NCAA and leading the Big West. UCI averages 4.9 per game led by Jonathan Galloway whose 23 rank 29th nationally and is 59th in the nation with 1.92 per contest.

UCI has begun a return to its field goal defensive prowess. After a slow start to the season, opponents now average 39.3% per game, 46th in the NCAA. UCI ranked sixth in the nation in that stat in 2016-17.

NEWS & NOTES
Brandon Smith was named to the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament Team scoring 18 points, dishing out four assists, and adding a pair of steals over an average of 21.5 minutes in the split against Rider and Northern Arizona.

Under head coach Russell Turner, UCI has won 114 games over the last five years, advancing to the postseason each of those years (2013 CIT, 2014 NIT, 2015 NCAA, 2016 CIT and 2017 NIT).

UCI has recorded five consecutive 20-win seasons, including 21-15 in 2016-17. In the past five seasons, UCI is 114-66 overall and 60-22 in Big West Conference games. The 'Eaters were 12-4 in Big West play last season, winning those 12 by an average of 18.0 points.

UCI was 11-2 at home last season and has won 37 of its last 44 games (.841) in the Bren Events Center. UCI will play 13 home games in 2017-18, however they do navigate a 16-game non-conference ledger where 12 games will be away from home including two different five-game road stretches.

UCI has won a conference-best 60 Big West games over the last five seasons (60-22, .732).

UCI has won outright, or shared, the Big West regular-season title three of the last four years, including the last two.

The Anteaters were picked to finish first in the Big West Preseason Poll garnering 14 of the 26 first-place votes, however, no 'Eaters were represented on media Preseason All-Big West squad. College Sports Madness named three Anteaters to its Preseason All-Conference squad including Tommy Rutherford, Eyassu Worku, and Jonathan Galloway. Russell Turner was also mentioned as Preseason Coach of the Year for the publication.

The Anteaters ranked sixth in the nation last season in field-goal percentage defense at .383. The Anteaters were 17^th in rebound margin (6.7) and 29^th in scoring defense (64.8).

The 'Eaters have blocked 744 shots over the past four seasons for an average of 5.2 per game. UCI returns three of its top four shot-blockers from last season.

The 'Eaters have won 72 of their last 77 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less. Entering the season, UCI was 71-9 in its last 80 games when limiting the opposition to under 40-percent shooting from the field.

Schedule

'Eaters Head to Saint Mary's This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Jonathan Galloway

Tommy Rutherford

Brandon Smith

Eyassu Worku

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