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. Thursday's game will also be live on KLAA AM 830.
TV: Links to broadcasts for each game can be found on via ucirvinesports.com
Thursday's telecast will be on Fox Sports West with announcers Sam Farber and Richie Schueler
Saturday's broadcast will be courtesy of BigWest.TV

751 - You're looking at the nation's rebounding leader with 751. Jonathan Galloway became the 24th 'Eater with 500 career rebounds on a squad that ranks 9th in the NCAA in rebounds per game, 24th in defensive, and 34th in offensive
3 - UC Irvine has had 3 20-point scorers on the season, all within the last four games. Evan Leonard  has produced two of them setting new career highs each time. Eyassu Worku tied a career high with 20 points in the win over Long Beach State
105 - UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton have met 105 times in the programs' histories, the most-played opponent in program history with the squads meeting every season since 1976-77, ahead of LBSU whom UCI has faced exactly 101 times
7th - To this point in the season, UC Irvine has gone through the 7th-toughest schedule in the NCAA. Its non-conference slate alone ranks as the 11th-toughest with six 2017 NCAA Tournament teams and 12 matchups away from home

PRIMETIME MATCHUP FEATURES ORANGE COUNTY RIVAL FOR 106TH TIME
A rare second straight home game appears as UC Irvine will welcome Cal State Fullerton to the Bren on Thursday night, a matchup that will begin at 7:30 p.m. with FOX Sports West televising the game and KLAA AM 830 will broadcast over the radio in unison with KUCI 88.9 FM.
For the Anteaters and Titans, it will be the 106th meeting, the most for the program against any one opponent, and the 99th time in the regular season which CSF has the slight edge over, 53-52, but UCI still defends home court all-time, 26-23. The Titans got the better of UCI in the last meeting winning 56-54 in Fullerton to snap a 9-game Anteater winning streak in the series.

Cal State Fullerton returned to a winning season in 2016-17 going 17-15 overall and finishing third in the Big West at 10-6. Behind head coach Dedrique Taylor in his fifth season, he has the Titans flashing winning signs once again with an 9-5 mark to this point in the season atop the conference thus far with a three-point win over UC Riverside and a four-point overtime victory against Cal Poly. The 9-win road has taken down names like Utah Valley, Harvard, and Portland while also battling in some hard-fought losses to USC, Saint Mary's, and Georgia along with a split with Oregon State.

CSF comes up near the middle of the pack in most categories with emphasis at the free throw line in which it is very effective at getting to and also doesn't allow its opponent much access committing the fewest fouls in the conference. The Titans also do a lot of their business in the paint coming in near the bottom in the country in three-point tries and makes, and it forces its opponent to as well with a very low three-point percentage allowed.

The Titans are led by a dynamic scoring duo of Kyle Allman, last week's Big West Player of the Week, and Khalil Ahmad who are each among the Big West's top six scorers each averaging over 16 points a game. They are joined by sophomores Jamal Smith, Austen Awosika, and Jackson Rowe who each play over 24 minutes a game. Awosika is the team's assist leader while Rowe, along with senior Arkim Robertson, control the glass. Rowe has proven effective as the team's third-leading scorer with 13.1 points per game while ranking within the conference's top five shooters overall and from three-point range.

'EATERS LOOK TO EXTEND SERIES WIN STREAK AT CSUN
UC Irvine returns to the road over the weekend with a bus ride to Northridge to duke it out with CSUN in the Matadome seeking a seventh straight win over the Matadors.

CSUN finished 2016-17 with an 11-19 record helped in large part to a 7-9 Big West record placing them sixth. It has its work cut out to get back to that mark this year going 3-11 through non-conference play which includes a loss at Montana by the identical score UCI fell to the Griz by, 86-68. According to the NCAA RPI rankings, CSUN ranks 351st which is dead last of the 351 Division I schools stemming from those three wins and just one against a Division I opponent (Morgan State).

CSUN began Big West play with a 21-point defeat at home against Hawai'i, and will travel to Long Beach State on Wednesday before welcoming UC Irvine. The series between the Matadors and Anteaters will see its 59th meeting Saturday night with UCI holding a 34-24 all-time edge. Head Coach Russell Turner is 10-4 all-time against CSUN including wins in each of the last six. CSUN does hold the slight edge at home winning 14 times to UCI's 13 wins.

Aligned with the team's record, CSUN's stats rank near the bottom in most categories. They're last in the conference in steals and rebound margin and among the bottom third in FG%, FT%, FG defense, assists, blocks, rebounds, and biggest of all - turnovers forced where they have created the third-least in the country.

The Matador scoring attack is last in the Big West at 66.1 points per game, but it does tout three players scoring at least 10 points a game. Senior forward Tavrion Dawson leads that corps with 15.8 points a contest, and he picked up Big West Player of the Week honors to wrap up the 2017 calendar year. His 5.9 rebounds per game lands second on the squad behind senior guard Michael Warren who is the rebound (6.5 RPG), steals (19), and free-throw (86.0%) leader for the club while putting home 12.9 points per game. Terrell Gomez completes the trio with 10.7 points per game mostly from three-pointers (29-for-57) adding team highs in minutes (32.5 MPG) and assists (48).

CHART-TOPPERS
The Anteaters completed its 16-game non-conference ledger Thursday night. It's non-conference schedule ranks as the 11th-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.

The 'Eaters continue to rebound well with 41.7 per game (9th in NCAA) ranking 24th in defensive rebounds per game and 34th in offensive. The +6.9 rebound margin ranks 33rd as UCI has hauled in 751 total rebounds to lead the nation. The 'Eaters have three of the conference's top seven rebounders and are 1 of 2 teams (UCSB) to have a pair of 100-rebound players in Jonathan Galloway (135) and Tommy Rutherford (101).

The Anteaters continue to set the standard in blocks with 84, 26th-most in the NCAA and second the Big West. UCI averages 4.7 per game led by Jonathan Galloway whose 34 rank 38th nationally and is 60th in the nation with 1.89 per contest.

UCI has begun a return to its field goal defensive prowess. After a slow start to the season, opponents now average 40.3% per game, 49th in the NCAA and tops among Big West programs. UCI ranked sixth in the nation in that stat in 2016-17.

The Anteaters had a lot of program and individual marks reset in the explosive 86-73 victory over Long Beach State Saturday night:

· UC Irvine sharpshooters made 11 three-pointers in the first half leading to 51 points, most in a first half this season and most in any half against a Division I opponent.

· The 'Eaters finished with 14 three-pointers in the contest which tied a Bren Events Center high set twice (2005 vs. Santa Clara, 2001 vs. UC Davis). The total fell two shy of the all-time program record of 16 also set twice (1999 at Cal State Fullerton, 1996 at New Mexico State)

· John Edgar Jr. posted career highs with 15 points and 10 rebounds, leading to his first career double-double, and amassed 30 minutes played and three assists, each career highs as well. UC Irvine has four double-doubles this season from four different players

· Evan Leonard dropped in 21 points eclipsing a career high of 20 he set in the win over Idaho. His totals came from making a career high eight field goals and shattering his high for three pointers with five made. He also set a career high with six assists over his five he dished out at Denver

· Elston Jones was under the radar with eight points setting a high since joining the 'Eaters. His career high nine points was set during his sophomore season at Utah State, 2015-16. He added eight rebounds, five of which were offensive where he leads the team with 40 on the year

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.