'Eaters Host Life Pacific, Head to Santa Clara

Monday, November 12

Irvine, CA

7:00 PM

UC Irvine

Life Pacific

'Eaters Host Life Pacific, Head to Santa Clara

November 11, 2018 | Men's Basketball

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
Life Pacific at UC Irvine
Monday, Nov. 12 | 7 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) | Irvine, Calif.
KUCI Radio | Video | Live Stats | Tickets

UC Irvine at Santa Clara
Thursday, Nov. 15 | 7:00 p.m.
The Leavey Center (4,700) | Santa Clara, Calif.
KUCI Radio | Video | Live Stats

Game Notes

UC Irvine continues its non-conference schedule with two games this week. The Anteaters host Life Pacific Monday, Nov. 12 (7 p.m.) before making the short trip to Santa Clara Thursday, Nov. 15 (7 p.m.)

OPENING TIPS
> The Anteaters opened the season with a 2-0 record, for the first time since 2015, after wins against Idaho and Texas A&M last week
> After defeating Texas A&M, the Anteaters extended their road-winning streak to six games which marks the fifth-longest active road-win streak in DI
> The Warriors, who are members of the NAIA's Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC), have opened the season with a 2-1 record. LPC recently earned a win against Embry-Riddle and fell to San Jose State
> This will be the second meeting between Life Pacific and UCI, the two teams played in Dec. 2016 where the 'Eaters won a 101-43 decision
> Head coach Tim Cook is in his fourth season at the helm of the Warriors
> Santa Clara is 0-1 to start the season after an 81-64 loss to Prairie View. The Broncos finished 2017-18 with an 11-20 record and 8-10 in the WCC
> The Broncos return five players and have nine newcomers on the roster. SCU's returning seniors are guards KJ Feagin and Matt Hasser and forward Henrik Jadersten
> UCI and SCU have met four times since the series started in 2004. The Anteaters are a perfect 4-0 all-time against the Broncos
> The two teams last met in 2016 when UCI earned a 58-55 win. John Edgar Jr. had 13 points and Jonathan Galloway grabbed eight rebounds
> Herb Sendek is in his third year as head coach of the Broncos

With a win Monday … UCI would open the season with three-consecutive wins for the first time since the 2015-16 season

WEEK ONE WINS
> UCI opened the 2018-19 campaign with two wins
> The Anteaters defeated Idaho at home, 86-68, after out-scoring the Vandals 56-34 in the second half
> UCI shot 54 percent (34-63) overall as Eyassu Worku led the 'Eaters with 18 points on 8-12 shooting from the floor
> The Anteaters then went on the road to hand Texas A&M a 74-73 loss in College Station
> UCI trailed by as much as 14 points but came back to earn the one-point victory on a Worku jumper with 6.4 seconds left to play
> Max Hazzard tied a career-high five 3-pointers on the night and led the 'Eaters with 19 points
> UCI shot 52.7 percent from the floor and held the Aggies to 36.4 percent overall

HOMELESSNESS AND HUNGER DRIVE
UC Irvine Athletics, in conjunction with other campus partners, will participate in several events during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Nov. 9-17.
Fans can bring non-perishable food items to the men's basketball game on Monday (Nov. 12) against Life Pacific at 7:00 p.m. and the women's basketball game on Tuesday (Nov. 13) versus UNLV at 5:00 p.m. All items will benefit the FRESH Basic Needs Hub on campus. Fans that donate will receive a #TogetherWeZot wristband as a thank you from UC Irvine Athletics.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
> Through two games, UCI is shooting 53.4 percent from the floor and 41.5 percent from behind the three-point line
> Junior Max Hazzard is averaging 15 points per game and tied a career-high five three-pointers made against Texas A&M last Friday

NEWS AND NOTES
> Head coach Russell Turner returns for his ninth season at the helm. Turner upped his career win total to 157 becoming the third coach in UCI history to eclipse 150 wins in a career and he's done it in just eight seasons averaging nearly 20 wins a season. He trails to Anteater coaching greats Bill Mulligan (163 career wins) and Pat Douglass (197 career wins) who each reached the 150-win plateau in their 10^th season
> The Anteaters have amassed a 64-17 record at home over the last six years
> UCI plays 14 games at the Bren including three DI non-conference opponents in December
> Seven postseason teams dot the 2018-19 schedule
> The Anteaters were picked to finish first in the Big West Preseason Poll garnering 10 of the 24 first-place votes and 192 points
> Evan Leonard and Tommy Rutherford were selected to the six-member preseason all-conference team
> UCI returns all five starters and 12 letterwinners
> UCI returns 94.30 percent of its offense in 2018-19, the eighth best mark in the nation. The Anteaters are 1 of 14 teams nationally that return 90% or more offensively
> Defensively, UCI finished the 2017-18 season fifth in the NCAA in rebounds per game with a 41.2 average. The Anteaters also ranked third in defensive rebounds per game (29.2), sixth in total rebounds (1,443) and 10^th in rebounding margin (+7.5)
> The Anteaters were fifth in the nation last year allowing opponents to shoot 38.9% from the field. UCI is 1 of 10 schools to keep opponents under 40%, and 1 of 4 to keep them under 39%
> UCI finished with the stingiest scoring defense in the conference allowing 67.1 points per game. UCI also led the conference in rebounding for the fifth time in program history and fourth in the last five years
> Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook ranked UC Irvine No. 1 in its Big West preseason poll. It also picked Tommy Rutherford and Jonathan Galloway to the preseason all-conference team

ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS
> The Big West's two-time Defensive Player of the Year Jonathan Galloway returns for his final season, he led UCI in rebounding (7.6) and blocked shots (47) a year ago, becoming the 14^th Anteater to reach 600 career rebounds.
> Galloway has averaged 225 rebounds per season, a total that would put him near 1,000 career rebounds and well beyond the program's all-time leading rebounder, David Baker, standing 159 rebounds ahead of Galloway with 926
> Along with Galloway, three All-Big West selections return this season, headed by forward Tommy Rutherford on the first team, guard Evan Leonard on the second team, and guard Eyassu Worku honorable mention
> Leonard is the team's returning leading scorer at 13.6 points per game, topping the team in scoring in 15 games with 27 double-digit scoring games and nine times scoring 20 or more.
> Leonard finished among the Big West's leaders in scoring, 10^th at 13.6 ppg, as well as ninth in FT percentage (.793), eighth in 3-point percentage (.396), fourth in threes made (67), and third in overall steals (48)

NEW FACES
> UCI added four to the roster this season including grad transfer Robert Cartwright
> Cartwright graduated from Stanford last spring, playing three season for the Cardinal. He led Stanford in assist to turnover ratio at 2.14 last season, averaging 4.7 points and 2.3 assists
> The Anteaters also welcome freshmen JC Butler, Devin Cole and Aiden Krause
> Head coach Russell Turner announced the addition of Alex Young to his staff in 2018-19. Young returns to his alma mater as video coordinator. He was a four-year member of the UCI men's basketball team and graduated in 2016 as the only player in school history to record over 1000 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebound. Young was also a part of UCI's 2015 NCAA Tournament Team

UP NEXT
UCI travels to Fort Meyer, Fla. to compete in the Gulf Coast Showcase Nov. 19-21.