GAME #31
UC Irvine (17-13, 10-4) at UC Riverside (7-19, 5-10)
Wednesday, March 1, 2017 – 7:00 p.m.
SRC Arena (2,753) – Riverside, Calif.

Series Record:  UCI leads 38-24
Last Meeting:  UCI won 79-60 (2/18/17 in Riverside)

Radio:  KLAA 830 AM & KUCI/88.9 FM (Michael O'Sullivan & Steve Henkle)
TV:  ESPN3 (Trent Rush & Richie Schueler)


Audio / Video / Live Stats


'EATERS FACE HIGHLANDERS:  UC Irvine and UC Riverside launch the final week of Big West Conference regular-season play as the teams meet at the SRC Arena in Riverside Wednesday night at 7:00 (ESPN3).

The Anteaters, 17-13 overall and 10-4 in the Big West, are tied for the conference lead with UC Davis.  UCI, which has won 12 of its last 16 games, is coming off an 83-80 Homecoming win over CSUN last Saturday night as senior guard Jaron Martin scored 28 points and senior guard Luke Nelson 22.

UCI hosts UC Davis Saturday afternoon at 3:00 (Prime Ticket) on Senior Day in the regular-season finale. 

UCR (7-19, 5-10) is playing its final regular-season game of the season Wednesday evening.  The Highlanders lost to Cal Poly, 84-77, in overtime Saturday.  Secean Johnson led UCR with 20 points and Menno Dijkstra added 17.


THE UCI-UCR SERIES:  UCI leads the series, 38-24, including a 79-60 win at the Bren Center Feb. 18 as Jaron Martin scored 26 points and freshman guard Eyassu Worku a career-high 20.

Brandon Rosser, Alex Larsson, Dikymbe Martin and Koh Flippin scored nine points apiece for the Highlanders.

UCI has won the last four meetings in the series and nine of the past 10.


BIG WEST TOURNEY NEXT WEEK:  The Big West Tournament is next week (March 9-11) at the Honda Center in Anaheim.  First-round matchups will be announced this Saturday night following the conclusion of the regular season.


INSIDE THE NUMBERS

● Senior guard Luke Nelson is tied for first in UCI history with 236 career threes, originally reached by Michael Hunter (2006-10).  Nelson leads UCI in scoring with a 15.9 average and has four 20-point games this season, including 22 in Saturday's win over CSUN.  UCI is 10-2 this season when Nelson is in the lineup.

● Senior guard Jaron Martin, who leads UCI in assists (98) and threes (66), has averaged 22 points in the last three games.  He scored 28 in Saturday's win over CSUN and has nine 20-point games this season, including a career-high 33 in the Dec. 19 overtime loss at New Mexico State.  He has scored 974 points in his Anteater career and has hit 176 threes to rank sixth all-time at UCI.

● Senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos is averaging 11.3 points and 4.3 boards on the season with three double-doubles.  He leads the Big West in field-goal percentage for league games at .556.  Dimakopoulos has 712 points, 312 rebounds and 90 blocked shots in his career.

● Sophomore forward Jonathan Galloway leads UCI in rebounding at 7.6 per game, which ranks second in the Big West for all games.  He has averaged 10.2 boards in the last nine games.


UC IRVINE NOTES

● Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters are 110-64 (.632) since the start of the 2012-13 season (4-plus years) and 58-22 (.725) in Big West games over that span.

● Through Monday's games, UCI is seventh in the nation in field-goal percentage defense at .385, 18th in rebound margin (+7.0), 31st in three-point field goal defense (.313), 40th in scoring defense (65.6) and 63rd in total blocked shots (127).  The Anteaters are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 39.6 to 31.6 in league play.

● UCI has won 69 of its last 73 games when holding the opposition to 60 points or less, including 11-2 this season. The Anteaters are 68-8 in their last 76 games when limiting the opposition to under 40-percent shooting from the field.

● UC Irvine's bench is outscoring the opposition's by an average of 27.3 to 17.7 this season.

● UCI is 8-0 this season when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

● Senior guard Luke Nelson is fifth at UCI in career assists (391), fifth in steals (133) and eighth with 1,417 career points.  His 15.9 scoring average this season is the highest by a UCI player since Darren Moore averaged 17.0 in 2010-11.

● 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). 

● Senior guard Jaron Martin has been named Big West Player of the Week twice this season (Nov. 21 and Dec. 26).  He leads the Big West in assist-turnover ratio at 2.8 in league games.

● 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.

● Sophomore forward Jonathan Galloway recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the 64-47 win over UC Santa Barbara Feb. 8.

● Galloway leads the Big West in offensive rebounds for all games at 2.7 per contest (3.6 in league games).  He had seven offensive boards in Saturday's win over CSUN.

● Freshman guard Eyassu Worku was 8 for 8 from the field, scoring a career-high 20 points, and added five assists in the 79-60 win over UC Riverside Feb. 18.  Worku is averaging 8.0 points and leads UCI in steals with 23.

● Freshman forward Tommy Rutherford registered his first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 11 boards at UC Davis Jan. 28.  He is averaging 6.2 points and 5.2 rebounds, and has averaged 6.0 boards in the last seven games.

● Sophomore forward Brandon Smith is tied for second on the team with 22 steals and also has 18 blocked shots.

● Redshirt freshman guard Max Hazzard is averaging 5.5 points with a career-high 22 in the Jan. 21 win at CSUN.

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