Road Runs Through Utah State, UTRGV for Men's Basketball

UPCOMING GAMES

Game Notes

UC Irvine Anteaters (4-6)
at Utah State Aggies (4-5)
Wednesday, Dec. 6 | 6:00 PM
Dee Glen Smith Spectrum (10,270) - Logan, Utah
Video | KUCI 88.9 FM | Live Stats

UC Irvine Anteaters (4-6)
at UTRGV Vaqueros (4-6)
Saturday, Dec. 9 | 5:00 PM
UTRGV Fieldhouse (2,500) - Edinburg, Texas
Video | KUCI 88.9 FM | Live Stats

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. Wednesday's broadcast is courtesy of the Mountain West Network. Saturday's broadcast is courtesy of the WAC Digital Network

POINTS IN THE PAINT
428 - UC Irvine has hauled in 428 rebounds this season, 2nd in the country behind Duke (450). It also stands 15th nationally with 42.8 rebounds per game and 14.1 offensive rebounds per game
0 - Through 10 games, UCI has used 6 different starting lineups and has had 9 or more scorers in 9 games, but have seen 0 players put up a 20-point performance with a high of 19 from Rutherford and Leonard
36.4 - UCI is averaging 75.4 points per game on the offensive end with nearly half of it coming from the bench (36.4) and from the paint (35.2)

UTAH BROUHAHA
One of the legitimate historical rivals in UC Irvine men's basketball history returns as UC Irvine and Utah State matchup for the third straight season. The Anteaters and Aggies have met 60 times which marks the 7th-most meetings against a single opponent in program history behind only Pacific (83) in terms of non-conference foes.

Utah State, much like Pacific, was once a Big West Conference member alongside UCI and even dates back to the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) which the Aggies joined in 1978. Since leaving in 2005, UCI and USU have met four times with the teams splitting, 2-2. The all-time record is nearly a split with UCI winning 28 times and Utah State 32. The squads even met six times in a conference tournament which they also split, 3-3.

Utah State officially joined the Mountain West Conference in 2013, but have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2011. They've made 13 appearances since starting their rivalry with UCI in 1978, but have just one win in that stretch. USU finished 14-17 last season, but still boasted a 10-5 record at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum annually known as one of the toughest arenas to play in in the nation.

The 2017-18 Aggies are 4-5 through the early going with single digit losses to Portland State, Valparaiso, BYU, and Weber State in addition to a 13-point loss at Gonzaga and a quality neutral-site wins over Northeastern and New Hampshire. The Aggies specialize from deep averaging 8.4 threes made per game. They've also been successful at getting to the free throw line 210 times, but are shooting just 63.3%. Defensively, USU is middle-of-the-pack, but fall near the bottom in blocked shots with just 12 total on the season.

The squad centers around 6-5, 210-lb sophomore guard Sam Merrill who averages 34.6 minutes per game and 15.3 PPG. He's hucked it up from three going 19-for-55 this year, and is joined by sophomore Koby McEwen (27 MPG, 13.8 PPG) and junior DeAngelo Isby (23.6 MPG, 11.6 PPG) on the scoring end. The blocks down low feature senior Alex Dargenton who has over half of his rebounds on the offensive end, and junior Dwayne Brown Jr. who averages 6.8 rebounds per game despite standing 6-6.

SOUTH TEXAS SQUABBLE
UC Irvine's week ends in Edinburg, Texas for a first-time meeting with WAC representative UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday evening. UTRGV lies roughly 20 miles from the border of Mexico as a campus of 28,584 students in a city of 87,650 people.

The school is actually a merger of two schools—UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville– with the merger happening in 2012 and the school officially opening in 2015. The merger also brought the UTPA Broncs and UTB Ocelots together to form the UTRGV Vaqueros. For the 'Eaters, this is their 15th game all-time in the state of Texas which will take place in the 10th different city, a place where UCI is 4-11 all-time.

UTRGV is coming off a 10-22 record last season, and second-year head coach Lew Hill as the Vaqueros at 4-6 so far with losses to Georgia Tech, SMU, and No. 9 Texas A&M, but a two-point win over Rice on Saturday stopped a four-game skid. It's the first matchup between UCI and UTRGV as UCI has now faced every WAC school except for Utah Valley. UTRGV and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will square off for a second time this season on Wednesday.

UTRGV is an opportunistic defense with the 12th-most steals in the country and nearly eight steals a game. The game could focus around the free-throw line as UTRGV is top 10 in the NCAA in terms of shot and made FTs. On the other side, UTRGV has also committed the most fouls in the country at over 25 per game

UTRGV runs much like the 'Eaters in that six different players average over 20 minutes per game. The offense runs through senior guard Nick Dixon who has made 66 of 77 shots from the line helping him to 212 points this season, fourth-most in the nation. Xavier McDaniel Jr. is the other Vaquero averaging in double figures at 11.5 PPG while being the team's leading rebounder at 7.1 RPG, and Javon Levi has 33 assists and a 1.94 A/T ration.

'EATER EXPLOITS
The leader at halftime has not won the game in two of the last four UCI contests. Northern Arizona held a six-point lead on UCI only for the 'Eaters to come back for the six-point win. Saturday vs. Nevada, UCI relinquished a two-point halftime lead before eventually falling by 11 points.

UC Irvine's depth has been on full display this season with six different starting lineups. UCI has had nine different 'Eaters score in nine games this season including 10 or more in seven games with as many as 12 against Chapman and Whittier. The bench has averaged 36.4 points per game this season. In the 10 games, the team's leading scorer has come from the bench four times, and of the 33 different times an Anteater has scored in double figures this season, 14 of them have come off the bench.

CHART-TOPPERS
Through 10 games for the 'Eaters, they fall behind on Duke (450) in total rebounds with 428. UCI is 15th nationally in rebounds per game (42.8) and offensive rebounds per game (14.1) while only producing a double-digit rebounder in five of those 10 games. Elston Jones has led the team in each of the last four games.

The Anteaters continue to set the standard in blocks with 51, 10th-most in the NCAA and leading the Big West. UCI averages 5.1 per game led by Jonathan Galloway whose 17 rank 38th nationally and is 100th in the nation with 1.7 per contest.

UC Irvine's 148 assists lead the conference and are 22nd in the NCAA. Eyassu Worku leads the charge with 43 assists, 42nd nationally, and his assist-to-turnover ratio is third in the Big West at 2.26 which also leads the squad.

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.

UCI has a tough non-conference schedule featuring six teams that saw action in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Schedule

Road Runs Through Utah State, UTRGV for Men's Basketball

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Players Mentioned

Jonathan Galloway

Elston Jones

Tommy Rutherford

Brandon Smith

Eyassu Worku

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