GAME #27
UC Irvine (14-12, 7-3) at Hawai'i (12-11, 6-4)
Saturday, February 11, 2017 – 9:30 p.m. (PT)
Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) – Honolulu, Hawaii

Series Record: UCI leads 10-7
Last Meeting: UCI won 84-56 (1/7/17 in Irvine)

Radio: 830 AM KLAA & KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan)


UCI FACES HAWAI'I SATURDAY: UC Irvine faces Hawai'i Saturday night in a matchup of last season's co-Big West Conference regular-season champions.

Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters are coming off a 64-47 home win over UC Santa Barbara Wednesday night that snapped a three-game losing streak. Senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos scored 15 points, senior guard Luke Nelson 11 and sophomore forward Jonathan Galloway registered his first double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Following the UH game, UCI hosts UC Riverside next Saturday (Feb. 18) at 9:00 p.m. (ESPNU) in the Bren Events Center.


THE SERIES: UCI leads the series, 10-7, including an 84-56 win at the Bren Events Center Jan. 7. Jaron Martin and Ioannis Dimakopoulos scored 12 points apiece for the Anteaters, who shot 57 percent from the field. Matthew Owies led the Rainbow Warriors with 13 points while Gibson Johnson added 11.


LAST 2 NCAA TEAMS FROM BIG WEST: Saturday night's game features the last two teams from the Big West to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.

UCI advanced to the NCAA Division I tourney for the first time in 2015, falling to three-time national champion Louisville, 57-55, in Seattle, Wash.

Hawai'i knocked off Cal, 77-66, last March before falling to Maryland, 73-60, in games at Spokane, Wash.


3 OF LAST 5 AT HOME: Following Saturday night's game, UCI plays three of its last five regular-season contests at home, where the Anteaters have won 34 of their last 41.

The regular-season finale against UC Davis March 4 at the Bren Events Center will begin at 3:00 p.m. with coverage on FOX Prime Ticket.


INSIDE THE NUMBERS

● Senior guard Jaron Martin leads UCI in scoring (13.4), assists (86), threes (50), steals (20) and minutes played (767). Martin has seven 20-point games this season, including a career-high 33 in the Dec. 19 overtime loss at New Mexico State. He has scored 902 points in his Anteater career and has hit 160 threes to rank No. 8 in UCI history.

● Senior guard Luke Nelson is averaging 13.3 points in eight games this season, missing 19 with a hamstring injury, including the season's first 15 contests.

● Senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos is averaging 11.5 points and 4.3 boards on the season with three double-doubles. He has 673 points, 295 rebounds and 86 blocked shots in his career.

● Sophomore forward Jonathan Galloway leads UCI in rebounding at 7.3 per game, which ranks second in the Big West. He has 56 rebounds in the last five games and had his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 boards in Wednesday's win over UC Santa Barbara.

● Freshman guard Eyassu Worku is averaging 7.7 points and is tied for the team lead with 20 steals. Freshman forward Tommy Rutherford is averaging 6.6 points and 5.2 boards, redshirt freshman guard Max Hazzard is averaging 5.8 points, Galloway 4.6 and freshman guard Evan Leonard 4.1 points.


UC IRVINE NOTES

● Through Thursday's games, UCI is 11th in the nation in field-goal percentage defense at .385, 16th in rebound margin (+7.4), 49th in scoring defense (65.9) and 58th in total blocked shots (112).

● For all games, UCI ranks first in the Big West in scoring defense (65.9), field-goal percentage defense (.385), three-point field goal defense (.323), scoring margin (+4.2), rebound margin (+7.4), and blocked shots (112 total, 4.3 per game).

● UC Irvine's bench is outscoring the opposition's by an average of 28.1 to 18.3 this season.

● In the past 13 games, the Anteaters have outrebounded the opponents by an average of 41.5 to 29.2. UCI has averaged 40.6 rebounds in conference play, including 11.8 offensive boards per game.

● UCI is 7-0 this season when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

● UCI's eight-game winning streak from Dec. 22 to Jan. 21 was the program's longest in 11 years.

● UCI has won 67 of its last 70 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less, including 9-1 this season. The Anteaters are 67-7 in their last 74 games when limiting the opposition to under 40 percent from the field.

● UCI, 8-2 at home this season, has won 34 of its last 41 games in the Bren Events Center.

● Senior guard Jaron Martin has been named Big West Player of the Week twice this season (Nov. 21 and Dec. 26).

● Senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos was named Big West Player of the Week Jan. 23 after averaging 19 points, 8 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots in wins over Cal Poly and CSUN.

● Dimakopoulos was 6 of 7 from the field in Wednesday's win over UCSB and he is shooting 59.4 percent in league play. He leads UCI in scoring in Big West games at 13.3.

● 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 ninth in UCI history with 1,332 career points, fourth in career threes (221), fifth in assists (382) and fifth in steals (130).

● Sophomore guard Spencer Rivers had three assists in Wednesday's win over UC Santa Barbara and has five games of at least three assists this season.

● Redshirt freshman guard Max Hazzard scored a career-high 22 points in the Jan. 21 win at CSUN.

● Freshman forward Tommy Rutherford recorded his first double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds in the Jan. 28 loss at UC Davis. He had a career-best 14 boards in the Dec. 14 loss at Nevada.

● Freshman center Brad Greene pulled down 13 rebounds in 24 minutes of action over the last two games.