UC Irvine (17-10, 9-4 Big West) at
UC Davis (22-4, 12-1 Big West)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 24
Time: 2:30 p.m. (PST)
Location: The Pavilion (5,931) - Davis, Calif.
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UC Irvine Game Notes

The UC Irvine women's basketball team will have a chance to close the gap between itself and league-leading UC Davis when it travels north for a 2:30 p.m. showdown with the Aggies on Saturday, Feb. 24.
 
TIP-INS
• As of Feb. 21, UC Irvine's 13-game improvement from last year is tied for the best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I.
• With three games still to play, the 'Eaters have already matched the program's fourth-highest win total.
• UCI needs three more victories to record the third 20-win season in school history and first since 1984-85.
• At 9-4, UC Irvine is second in the Big West standings, and has its most conference wins in four years.
• The Anteaters hit the century mark for the second time in three outings with a program-record tying 107 points vs. Cal Poly.
• Freshmen Tahlia Garza (64.6) and Jordan Sanders (58.8) own two of the league's top-three FG% in Big West games.
• The Anteaters are 13-0 when Sanders reaches double figures in scoring. She ranks second on the team with 10.3 ppg.
• Junior Morgan Green is tops on the squad and second in the conference with 23.2 points per outing.
• Green has eight 20-plus point performances and is tied for second in school history with three 30-point games.
• UC Irvine's roster features 10 newcomers with five true freshmen and five transfers.
 
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
• Eleven of UC Irvine's 14 players are averaging at least 10 minutes per contest.
• Ten Anteaters have scored at least 100 points this year with nine averaging at least 5.0 per outing.
• All but two 'Eaters have led the team in scoring in a game this season.
 
WITH A WIN VS. UCD...
• UC Irvine would pick up its 10th Big West win, tying for the third-most in program history.
• UCI would be 18-10, marking its best record through 28 games, and its most overall wins since 1994-95 (19).
• The Anteaters would snap a six-game skid against the Aggies with its first victory in the series since March 7, 2015.
 
THE TURNAROUND
In just her second year at the helm, head coach Tamara Inoue has already turned around a UCI program that finished with a losing record in five of the last six seasons. Through 27 contests, the 'Eaters have made a 13-game improvement from 2016-17, making them one of only five NCAA Division I programs to see a plus-10 difference in the win column so far this year. UC Irvine's resurgence didn't come until about a month into the current campaign as it started a tough non-conference slate at 2-5, but has gone 15-5 since Nov. 30. The Anteaters have more than doubled their win total from each of the last three years.
 
THE STREAK
The Anteaters put together a seven-game win streak from Jan. 20-Feb. 15, marking the third-longest in program history. During that stretch, the 'Eaters outscored their opponents by an average of 16.0 ppg.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
UC Davis (22-4, 12-1 Big West) was last in action on Saturday, Feb. 17, when it defeated Hawai'i on the road, 68-56. Junior Morgan Bertsch leads a trio of Aggies in double figures with 19.9 points per game. Seniors Rachel Nagel and Pele Gianotti are averaging 11.4 and 11.1 ppg, respectively, while Gianotti is also tops on the team with 5.8 rebounds per outing.
 
SERIES RECORD VS. UCD
This will be the 35th all-time meeting between UC Irvine and UC Davis. The 'Eaters trail the series, 26-8, and are looking to snap a six-game skid against the Aggies. UCD won the first meeting of the season, 76-67, at the Bren Events Center on Jan. 4. Yazzy Sa'Dullah paced the Anteaters with 19 points and six rebounds. UCI is 4-11 when playing in Davis.

AROUND THE BIG WEST
With three regular-season games remaining, UC Irvine, which was picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll, is in sole possession of second place in the Big West standings. The 'Eaters are three games behind league-leading UC Davis (12-1), while they are a half-game ahead of Cal Poly which is in third at 8-5. The top two teams will receive a bye into the Big West Tournament semifinals at the Honda Center. The third and fourth-place teams also receive a first-round bye into the quarterfinals at Titan Gym.
 
CENTURY NOTES
UC Irvine reached the century mark for the first time in 39 years with a 100-81 victory at Long Beach State on Feb. 3. Just two games later, the 'Eaters posted their highest scoring total in the NCAA Division I Championship era, and tied an overall program record that was set back in 1979, with 107 points against Cal Poly (Feb. 15). UCI is the only Big West member to hit the century mark, and is one of 27 NCAA Division I teams to have multiple 100-point games against fellow DI opponents this year.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
The 'Eaters are 8-4 in true road games. Their eight road wins are a new program record as the previous best was seven, which was set in 1984-85, and later matched in 1986-87, 1994-95 and 2000-01.
 
POY CANDIDATE
Junior Morgan Green is making her case for Big West Player of the Year honors with an impressive Anteater debut season. In conference action, Green ranks second in the league in scoring (23.2 ppg), first in 3-pointers made (3.2/game), second in steals (3.1 spg), second in free throw percentage (85.3) and third in assists (3.9 apg). The 5-foot-7 guard has lit up the competition for eight 20-plus point games, including three 30-point performances.
 
30 ROCK
In just her second appearance of the season, Morgan Green broke onto the scene with a career-high 31 points at Hawai'i (Jan. 11). She connected on nine of her 15 attempts (5-9 3FG, 8-9 FT), while adding five rebounds and four steals against the Rainbow Wahine. It was UCI's first 30-point performance since Camille Buckley in 2014. Three weeks later, the San Jose native dropped 30 in a season-low 27 minutes played at Cal State Fullerton. Green was extremely efficient from the field, shooting 71.4 percent overall (10-14), and 60 percent from beyond the arc (3-5). She went on to match her season-high of 31, and pulled down a season-best nine rebounds, in a 76-63 win over UC Riverside on Feb. 10. Green's three 30-point efforts are tied for the second most in program history.
 
SEEING GREEN
Morgan Green, who made her long-awaited UC Irvine debut on Jan. 4, has reached double figures in scoring in all 13 games she has played, and leads the squad at 23.2 ppg. She owns two streaks of four-straight 20+ performances, which is the longest by an Anteater since Mikah Maly-Karros surpassed the 20-point mark in six consecutive outings in 2010. During Green's most recent stretch from Jan. 31-Feb. 15, she put up impressive numbers, averaging 29.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.8 steals per contest, while shooting 47.5 percent from the field, 43.6 percent from long distance and 89.3 percent from the free throw line.
 
On Jan. 15, Green became the first 'Eater to earn Big West Player of the Week honors in three years after registering 28.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 1.5 assists in wins over UH and UCSB. In addition, Green was tabbed the College Sports Madness BWC Player of the Week, an honor Andee Ritter earned last year (Jan. 2, 2017).
 
JORDAN EFFECT
The 'Eaters are 13-0 when freshman Jordan Sanders scores at least 10 points. She sparked UC Irvine's recent seven-game win streak by reaching double figures in each of those contests. The Springfield, Mo., native recorded a season-best 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting in a 107-66 victory vs. Cal Poly. She also had the best all-around game of her young career against CSUN, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and three steals. It was Sanders' first career double-double, and she made the feat even more impressive by not committing a turnover in 29 minutes played. In the team's 17 wins, Sanders is averaging 12.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks, while shooting 53.9 percent from the field.

CHART CLIMBER
Junior Andee Ritter has moved up six spots on UC Irvine's all-time charts this year, most recently tying Kelly Meggs' No. 3 mark with 138 career triples. Ritter is 10 away from taking over the second slot, and is ultimately chasing Kathy Lizarraga (1988-92), who owns the school record at 198. The Medford, Ore., native already broke Lizarraga's 28-year old single-season program record with 87 3-pointers last year, and tied the Anteaters' single-game high with a career-best seven treys at UCR on Jan. 7, 2017.
 
THE CLOSER
Junior Deijah Blanks has been UCI's go-to player in clutch situations. It started in the season opener when she banked in a half-court shot at the final buzzer to give the 'Eaters an 87-84 victory over Utah State. Blanks also made the game-winning free throw with two seconds remaining to secure a 75-74 triumph against Pepperdine. The San Diego native then hit a game-tying jumper in the final 10 seconds before getting to the charity stripe with 0.2 ticks on the clock to seal a 67-65 win at SDSU. Although her late heroics weren't needed in an 84-79 victory at Seattle, Blanks finished with a season-best 22 points, while making some key plays down the stretch to stymie a late Redhawk rally.
 
DEFENSIVE MENTALITY
The Anteaters, who rank second in the Big West in steals, have forced their opponents into 20 or more turnovers 15 times, including in each of the last six outings. They have also held their adversaries to a single-digit quarter on nine occasions, with two of those coming in a 56-47 win over CSUN. It was UCI's only victory of the year when scoring fewer than 60 points as the 47 allowed were a season low. In addition, the 'Eaters set a program record by giving up just three points in the second quarter of a 72-59 triumph at CSU Bakersfield.
 
LIGHTS OUT
UC Irvine has shot over 40 percent from the floor 16 times this season and is 14-2 in those games. The Anteaters recorded a season-best 58.3 field goal percentage (42-72) in an impressive 107-66 victory over Cal Poly on Feb. 15. They also finished above 50 percent vs. Chapman on Dec. 19 (52.9). Freshman Tahlia Garza has been the most efficient 'Eater with a Big West-leading 60.9 FG percentage.

THREE'S COMPANY
UCI is averaging nearly seven 3-pointers per game, and connected for a season-high 14 against Cal Poly (Feb. 15). On the year, four players have made at least 20 threes, led by Morgan Green's 41. Andee Ritter ranks second with 37 triples, while Autumn Baumgartner (24) and Yazzy Sa'Dullah (21) round out the quartet.
 
SWAT TEAM
The Anteaters rank fourth in the Big West in blocks (3.8/game), with Tahlia Garza anchoring the effort at 1.4 swats per contest. Garza is one block away from cracking UC Irvine's single-season top-10.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine wraps up the regular season next week, heading to CSUN on Thursday, March 1, and hosting Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, March 3.