UC Irvine (17-11, 9-5 Big West) at
CSUN (14-14, 7-7 Big West)
Date: Thursday, March 1
Time: 7 p.m. (PST)
Location: The Matadome (2,000) - Northridge, Calif.
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Cal State Fullerton (8-19, 3-11 Big West) at
UC Irvine (17-11, 9-5 Big West)
Date: Saturday, March 3
Time: 2 p.m. (PST)
Location: Bren Events Center (5,000) - Irvine, Calif.
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UC Irvine Game Notes

The UC Irvine women's basketball team wraps up the regular season this week, starting with a 7 p.m. road game at CSUN on Thursday, March 1. UCI then welcomes Cal State Fullerton to the Bren Events Center for a 2 p.m. showdown on Saturday, March 3. The Anteaters will honor their lone senior, Sydney Hua, prior to her final home game.
 
TIP-INS
• As of Feb. 26, UC Irvine's 13-game improvement is tied for the best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I this year.
• The Anteaters' 17 wins are tied for the fourth-most in program history.
• If UCI goes 2-0 this week, it will clinch the No. 2 seed and a double bye into the Big West Tournament semifinals.
• The 'Eaters have secured their best conference finish in four years as they can place no lower than fifth.
• UC Irvine needs three more victories to record the third 20-win season in school history and first since 1984-85.
• The Anteaters tied a 39-year old single-game program-record with their 107-point effort in a win over Cal Poly on Feb. 15. 
• Freshmen Tahlia Garza (1st, 64.7) and Jordan Sanders (4th, 56.0) own two of the league's top-five FG% in Big West games.
• The 'Eaters are 13-1 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.
 
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 eight averaging more than 5.0 per outing.
• All but two 'Eaters have led the team in scoring in a game this season.
 
WITH A WIN VS. CSUN...
• UC Irvine would pick up its 10th Big West victory, tying for the third-most in program history.
• The 'Eaters would move into a tie for second in the conference standings and secure a top-three Big West Tournament seed.

AROUND THE BIG WEST
Heading into the final week of the regular season, UC Irvine can finish anywhere from No. 2-5 in the Big West standings. The 'Eaters control their own destiny as they can secure the No. 2 seed with a pair of wins this week. UC Davis has already locked down its second-straight Big West regular-season title. The top-two finishers receive a double bye into the Big West Tournament semifinals at Honda Center, while the third and fourth-place teams will get a bye into the quarterfinals at Titan Gym.
 
SCOUTING THE MATADORS
CSUN (14-14, 7-7 Big West) dropped a 56-54 decision to Hawai'i in its only game last week. Junior Channon Fluker leads the Matadors with 19.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per outing. Senior Tessa Boagni is also averaging 12.3 points and 7.2 boards per contest.
 
SERIES RECORD VS. CSUN
This will be the 53rd all-time meeting between UC Irvine and CSUN. The Matadors hold a slight 28-24 edge in the series as the Anteaters closed the gap with a 56-47 win at the Bren Events Center on Jan. 27. Jordan Sanders paced UCI in the victory with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
 
A GLANCE AT FULLERTON
Cal State Fullerton (8-19, 3-11 Big West) earned a split last week, defeating UC Riverside, 71-62, before falling at Cal Poly, 63-56. The junior duo of Hannah Thompson and Daeja Smith have anchored the Titan offense with 12.9 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Thompson has made a team-best 70 3-pointers, while Smith is also tops on the squad with 8.9 rebounds per outing.
 
SERIES RECORD VS. CSF
This will mark the 77th all-time meeting between UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton. The 'Eaters evened up the series at 38-all earlier this year with a 76-60 triumph at Titan Gym (Jan. 31). Morgan Green led the way with 30 points on a 10-of-14 shooting performance.
 
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 this year, and is one of 27 NCAA Division I teams to have multiple 100-point games against fellow DI opponents.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
The 'Eaters are 8-5 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 fifth 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 13-1 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 passing Kelly Meggs for sole possession of third with 139 career triples. Ritter is eight away from taking over the No. 2 position, 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 six of the last seven 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 61.0 FG percentage.
 
LET'S GET IT STARTED
UCI didn't disappoint in its season opener on Nov. 10. The 'Eaters erased a 13-point deficit in the final minutes, and Deijah Blanks capped the rally with a half-court shot that banked in at the buzzer for the 87-84 victory over Utah State. Blanks' game-winning play was featured at No. 1 on SportsCenter's Top 10. It was UC Irvine's first season-opening victory since 2013-14 when it topped South Dakota at home, 68-64.
 
UP NEXT
The Big West Tournament will take place next week, starting with the first round and quarterfinals, March 6-7, at Titan Gym. The semifinals and championship game are then set for March 9-10 at Honda Center in Anaheim.