Radio: Live broadcasts will be available on KUCI 88.9 FM and ucirvinesports.com
with play-by-play from Trent Rush
TV: Links to broadcasts for each game can be found on via ucirvinesports.com
Wednesday's telecast will be shown on FOX Prime Ticket, Saturday's telecast will be shown on ESPNU, and both will be broadcasted by the team of Sam Farber and Richie Schueler

950 - UC Irvine has snapped up 950 rebounds this season, fourth in the nation trailing leaders Michigan State and Green Bay by 20, and also stands 7th in the nation in rebounds per game averaging 41.3
3 - Tommy Rutherford has led the team in scoring for three consecutive games which included a career high 20 vs. Cal Poly, 1 of 6 20-point efforts from the Anteaters this season
100 - Jonathan Galloway's is climbing up UC Irvine's all-time rankings as he swatted away his 100th career block with two at CSUN. He recently became the program's 24th player with 500 career rebounds passing Mamadou Ndiaye  for 18th place with 585
39.8 - UC Irvine is allowing its opponents to shoot 39.8% from the field this season, 1 of 22 schools to hold its opponents under 40%, 1 of 9 mid-major-level programs, and the only school with a record under .500

UC Irvine has two televised games this week starting Wednesday night at Long Beach State. The Black and Blue Rivalry matchup is slated for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff on FOX Sports Prime Ticket.

This year's Black and Blue Rivalry Series is led by the Anteaters, 8-7, after eight meetings between the schools over six different sports. The schools also meet in a women's basketball game Saturday at Long Beach State. A home win for the 49ers Wednesday will give them two points while a road win for UC Irvine will extend its series lead by three points.

The televised attention will continue Saturday night with a national broadcast on ESPNU against Cal State Fullerton starting at 7:00 p.m. The 'Eaters were featured on ESPNU just under two weeks ago with a hard-fought 12-point loss at UCSB.

UCI is still searching for its first win on television this season falling once on ESPNU at UC Santa Barbara, twice on the Pac-12 Network at UCLA and Arizona State, and once regional with a home loss on Fox Sports West earlier this month to Cal State Fullerton. The 'Eaters have one more guaranteed broadcast with FOX Sports Prime Ticket covering its Feb. 22 home matchup with UCSB. More games could be added with Wild Card opportunities on the team's remaining matchups at UC Riverside, at Hawai'i, home vs. UC Davis, and as many as three games in the Big West Tournament.

The 'Eaters and 49ers met in the first week of Big West play, and leapt out with a scorching hot start putting up a 20-point halftime advantage, leading by as much as 23 points, and finishing LBSU for a convincing 13-point victory.

Since that night, the 49ers have taken off landing on the top of the Big West standings now at 6-2 winning five of the last six games and going 3-1 on the road. LBSU has taken advantage of two matchups with CSUN, winning at home by 10 and on the road by four, a seven-point win at UC Riverside, and a 16-point rout of Cal Poly. Around those competitors rolling out losing conference records, LBSU did take a win off Cal State Fullerton at home by eight, and went into hostile UC Davis drawing its only other conference loss by nine.

All-in-all, Long Beach State is back to .500 overall at 12-12 and has made a lot of hay in the Big West with big matchups still remaining at Hawai'i and Cal State Fullerton, hosting UC Davis, and has still yet to face UC Santa Barbara.

Gabe Levin, who put up 20 points in the first matchup, took home player of the week two weeks ago, and continues to sit in the conference's top five in scoring (4th - 16.8 PPG) and rebounding (5th - 7.1 RPG), and is 1 of 2 players (K. Allman Jr. - CSF) to average at least 20 points in conference matchups.

LBSU has taken over a lot of the Big West stat sheets in conference play leading with an average of 78.8 points per game, 7.5 steals per game, and a +9.8 rebounding margin while also sitting top three in FG%, FT%, rebounding, and blocks per game. The 'Eaters will also enter the Walter Pyramid where it has struggled to escape winning 12 times in 43 trips including a loss last season, 72-63, and have averaged just 59 points a game in the team's last three trips to Long Beach.

UC Irvine was upended on its home court back on Feb. 11, 67-64, to Cal State Fullerton.

Since the meeting, CSF has gone through the ringer facing UC Santa Barbara twice, both resulting in losses, and slipping at LBSU by eight. It has retained some bright spots with a home win over UC Davis by 15, and most recently making the tough trip to Hawai'i and scoring a three-point win. The Titans are 5-3 in Big West play, but have a lot of competition as six schools have winning records.

Kyle Allman Jr. has been a big reason for their conference success scoring a pair of player of the week honors. The junior is leading the Big West with 22.1 points per game in Big West play shooting 55% from the field and from 3pt, and a Big West-best 36 minutes a game in conference matchups.

The Titans haven't wowed in any statistical categories in conference play, they've simply made their shots (1st - 49.8 FG%), played defense (3rd - 43.2 FG% allowed), and scored more points (3rd - 74.0 PPG). CSF is the only team shooting better from three than UCI's 38% at 39.2%, but do not show up in the top three in any other category and in fact fall near the bottom with a negative scoring margin (7th - -0.5), rebounding margin (6th - -0.1), and turnover margin (7th - -2.2).

ANT-ALYTICS
UC Irvine's non-conference schedule ranks as the eighth-toughest in the NCAA equipped with 12 games away from home and six tournament teams from a year ago. The trek covered 11,715 miles with the Anteaters playing games in 10 different states.
Anteater rebounding averages 41.3 per game, seventh in the nation, and has grabbed 950 total rebounds, fourth-most in the NCAA. UCI's 29.0 defensive rebounds per game is 12th-best in the nation, offensive rebounds stand at 12.4 per game, 48th-best, and 16th-best rebound margin at +7.4.

Jonathan Galloway reached 100 career blocks in the win at CSUN. His team is two blocks away from 100 on the season, 51st-in the nation.

Galloway also joined the Anteater 500-rebound club, the 24th all-time in program history. He's currently at 585 career rebounds, surpassing Mamadou Ndiaye for 18th on the all-time list, and he's tied with Mark Nelson and one behind Nick Sanden and Jeff Cunningham. He's approaching the 600-rebound club and would become the 14th Anteater to reach it and surpass current assistant coach, Michael Wilder, along the way and his total of 595 rebounds.

UC Irvine slid its field goal percentage defense down to 39.8% this season, 20th-best in the NCAA. UCI is 1 of 22 programs allowing under 40% from the field, 1 of 9 in mid-major programs, and the only of those schools with a record under .500. UCI ranked sixth in the nation in that stat in 2016-17.

Through six conference games, the 'Eaters lead the Big West rebounds per game (40.7), defensive rebounds per game (29.7), rebound margin (T1st - +9.7), scoring margin (+7.1), scoring defense (63.0), and FG% defense (39.7%). They're among the top three in 3-point FG percentage (2nd - 38.0%), 3-pointers made (3rd - 7.4 per game), 3pt defense (3rd - 27.7%), offensive rebounds per game (2nd - 11.0), and assists per game (2nd - 13.4).

Anteater leaders through six conference games include Rutherford in FG% (9th - 53.7%), rebounding (10th - 6.3 RPG), and blocked shots (T9th - 0.9 BPG)...Galloway in blocked shots (T9th - 0.9 BPG), rebounding (3rd - 8.0 RPG), offensive rebounding (2nd - 3.0 ORPG), and defensive rebounding (T6th - 5.0 DRPG...Evan Leonard in steals (T3rd - 1.9 SPG), 3-pointers made (T6th - 1.9 3PM per game), and scoring (T14th - 13.0 PPG)...Max Hazzard  in 3PT% (4th - 48.5%) and 3-pointers made (2nd - 2.7 3PM per game)...Eyassu Worku in scoring (11th - 14.3 PPG), assists (T7th - 3.6 APG), and assist-to-turnover ratio (9th - +1.2)...all while no 'Eaters fall within in the top 15 in minutes per game (Worku, 18th - 30.7)
ANTEATERS ROLL WITH ASTRONOMICAL DEFENSIVE EFFORT TO BEAT UC RIVERSIDE
40 points allowed to the Highlanders is the fewest allowed to a Division I opponent since Feb. 15, 2006 vs. UC Riverside (W, 63-37)

The 39-point victory over UC Riverside is the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent since Nov. 11, 2005 vs. Mississippi Valley State (54 points - 94-40)

It was the third-straight game and seventh time this season Rutherford has lead the team in scoring

Sixth-straight game UCI has lead at the half, UCI is 4-2 in those games

The 'Eaters allowed 19 first half points and 21 second half points to the Highlanders, the lowest total for each half all season. This coming on the heels of a 24-point first half at UCSB which stood as the low vs. a Division I opponent until the UC Riverside game

Galloway and Rutherford each recorded a double-double, and it was the second of the season and third of the career for each

UCI has used the same starting lineup (Galloway, Edgar Jr., Rutherford, Leonard, Worku) in each of the last 11 games

UCI has attempted less than 10 free throws in 3 of 7 Big West games (9 at UCSB, 6 vs. LBSU, 5 at CSUN). UCI is 53-for-79 from the line in conference games averaging 7.6 FTM and 11.3 FTA per game

UCI was outrebounded for just the fourth time on the year vs. UCSB, and the -12 rebounding margin is its largest disparity previously held at -8 (Montana). It followed that up with its best rebounding margin of the season, +25 vs. UCR, led by 55 rebounds eclipsing the season high of 54 set vs. Whittier

UC Irvine committed just nine turnovers at UCSB, the third time this season with less than 10 turnovers in a game (8 vs. Chapman, 9 vs. Idaho). The 'Eaters committed exactly 10 vs. UCR including a season-low one in the first half

The loss to UCSB was only the second this season in which UCI committed fewer turnovers than its opponent (Cal State Fullerton)

Evan Leonard's 35 minutes vs. UCSB eclipsed his previous career high of 33 set against Nevada. Riley Welch set a new personal best with 14 minutes vs. UCR. He also converted both technical foul shots improving the team's record to 4-0 in games where Welch has scored

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 had a tough non-conference schedule featuring six teams that saw action in the NCAA Tournament last season. The ledger clocks in as the 11th-toughest in college basketball this season.