IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine hit a school and Bren Events Center record 18 three-pointers in a 86-52 victory over Denver Saturday.
 
Six different Anteaters knocked down a shot beyond the arc, including Max Hazzard who went 10-17 from long range on his way to a career-high 32 points.
 
UCI improved to 10-2 overall, while Denver fell to 4-8.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Max Hazzard's career-best 10 three-pointers is a Bren Events Center record and one shy of the UCI and mark of 11 set by Chris Brown against New Mexico State on Mar. 13, 1994. It is also one short of the Big West Conference record held by Brown and Cal State Fullerton's Bobby Brown versus Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 16, 2006)
>Hazzard's 10 threes is tied for fourth most in the country this season  
>UCI's 18 three-pointers bettered the school record of 16 previously set against Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 13, 1999 and versus New Mexico State on Feb. 17, 1996 
>UCI's 19 threes is tied for 19^th most in the country this year (4 teams have hit 23)
>UCI had a season-high eight blocked shots, led by three from Elston Jones and three by Solomon Ruddell, which is a career-high for the redshirt freshman
>Elston Jones finished with a team-best seven rebounds
>Eyassu Worku dished out a season-best seven assists
>The 'Eaters shot 51.4 percent (18-35) from behind the arc and 46.3 percent (31-67) overall
>UCI's defense held Denver to just 28.6 percent (16-56) from the field and 26.7 percent from three-point range


TURNING POINTS
FIRST HALF
>Max Hazzard buried three consecutive three-pointers to give UCI an early 9-0 lead at 17:19
>A rebound tap-back by Jonathan Galloway was followed by another Hazzard trey to extend the Anteaters margin to 14-0 until Denver's Taelyr Gaitlin finally got the Pioneers on the board (14-2) at 15:22
>Hazzard matched his career-high with his fifth three-pointer at 11:54 (22-7) and set a new personal best with his sixth at 10:25 (27-9)
>As a team, UCI would hit 11 threes, capped by Hazzard's seventh with 34 seconds remaining

SECOND HALF
>Hazzard hit two more three-pointers to give UCI a 58-20 lead with 17:05 to play
>Denver went on an 11-0 run to get to 65-35 at 9:06 only to watch another Hazzard triple stop the momentum at 8:29
>A 9-1 Pioneer streak would follow to get to 72-44 at 6:10
>Darrian Traylor would hit three-straight 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the game to seal the 34-point, 86-52, victory
>Traylor and Hazzard each had three 3-pointers in the half  
 
HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER ON TONIGHT'S WIN
"We played really well tonight against Denver's zone. I thought we shot a lot of good shots, especially from three-point range. I was most pleased with Max Hazzard's defense tonight, believe it or not, he was challenged defensively and he really stepped up and did not allow them to take shots."
 
NOTES
> Hazzard hit more threes in this game than the team has had in a game all year. Six of his threes in the first half 
>Hazzard's 32 points is the most since Jaron Martin had 33 points against New Mexico State (12/19/16)
>Head coach Russell Turner won his 167 career victory which moved him to a tie for ninth in the Big West coaching all-time record book
>UCI's 34 point win is the largest since the Anteaters beat Life Pacific 87-34
>Tonight was the final home game of 2018 as UCI will close out the year with the next three games on the road
>Evan Leonard made his first start of the season
>Darrian Traylor tied a career-best three 3-pointers made
>UCI held Denver to the fewest points scored by an opponent in the first half since Champan (16 points, 11/14/14)
 
UP NEXT
>UC Irvine will hit the road, traveling to Eastern Michigan Wednesday (Dec. 19) and Butler Friday (Dec. 21)