Anteaters Open Season With Idaho, Texas A&M, Life Pacific

Tuesday, November 6

Irvine, CA

7:00 PM

UC Irvine

Idaho

Anteaters Open Season With Idaho, Texas A&M, Life Pacific

November 04, 2018 | Men's Basketball

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
Idaho at UC Irvine
Tuesday, Nov. 6 | 7:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000) | Irvine, Calif.
KUCI Radio | Video | Live Stats | Tickets

UC Irvine at Texas A&M
Friday, Nov. 9 | 6:30 p.m. PST
Reed Arena (12,989) | College Station, Texas
KUCI Radio | Video | Live Stats

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

Game Notes

UC Irvine begins its 2018-19 regular-season campaign this week. The Anteaters host Idaho Tuesday, Nov. 6 (7 p.m.) at the Bren Events Center before traveling to College Station, Texas to face Texas A&M Friday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. PST.

OPENING TIPS
> The Anteaters are coming off their sixth-straight winning season after finishing with an 18-17 overall record in 2017-18
> UCI and Idaho open their respective seasons Tuesday night with the Vandals coming off a 2017-18 season that saw them finish 22-9 overall and 14-4 in the Big Sky Conference
> The Vandals lost their top seven active scorers from last season. Don Verlin is in his 11^th season as head coach of Idaho
> UCI is 16-5 all-time against the Vandals. The two teams met last season, Dec. 21, in Irvine, as the 'Eaters earned a 67-59 win. Evan Leonard had 20 points while Jonathan Galloway grabbed 13 rebounds
> The Anteaters and Aggies matchup for the third time ever as the all-time series is split 1-1. UCI dropped an 88-66 decision the last time the two teams met in Dec. 2008
> Texas A&M made an appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16 last season, finishing the year with a 22-13 overall record. The Aggies are led by 7^th-year head coach Billy Kennedy

With a win Tuesday … UCI would win its season-opener for the first time since the 2015-16 season
With a win Friday … The Anteaters would extend their active road-winning streak to six games

LOOKING AHEAD
> UCI hosts Life Pacific Monday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center
> The Warriors, who are members of the NAIA's Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC), have opened the season with a 1-1 record
> 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 at the helm of the Warriors'

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 fourth 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
> UCI has one of the longest active road winning streaks among Division I men's basketball teams. The Anteaters are one of just 10 teams with five or more consecutive wins on the road. UCI finished last season with five-straight road wins. The 'Eaters first road game of the 2018-19 season is at Texas A&M on Nov. 9
> 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

EXHIBITION EVALUATION
> UCI passed its first test of the season after defeating La Verne in an exhibition game, 112-57, last Friday
> Eyassu Worku finished with a game-high 20 points while Collin Welp, Darrian Traylor and Elston Jones had 19, 12, and 12 points respectively
> Robert Cartwright dished out 11 assists while Jonathan Galloway grabbed eight rebounds
> UCI shot 75.9 percent (22-29) overall in the first half

UP NEXT
UCI hosts Life Pacific Monday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.