FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine (15-5, 3-1) at Hawai'i (11-6, 2-1)
Wednesday, Jan. 23 | 9:00 p.m. PST
Stan Sheriff Center – Honolulu, O'ahu
Live Stats | Radio (KUCI) | Video 

UC Irvine (15-5, 3-1) vs. UC Riverside (7-13, 1-3)
Saturday, Jan. 26 | 7:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center – Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats | Radio (KUCI & AM830) | Video 

Game Notes
 
OPENING TIPS
> UCI has won 15 of its first 20 games, a .750 winning percentage. It is the 'Eaters best start since the 2015-16 team started 15-5.
> The Anteaters are No. 10 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll. UCI was ranked as high as No. 7 on the year
> UCI has not lost on the road to Hawaii since Feb. 11, 2016
> The Anteaters have amassed a 70-19 record at home over the last six years
> UCI erased an 18-point deficit to defeat CSUN on the road, 74-68, last Saturday. 18 points is the largest deficit overcome in a win for the 'Eaters this season
> The Anteaters have gone over a year without losing a Big West game on the road. UCI's last conference road loss was against UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 20, 2018)
> Since 2012-13, UCI is 87-5 when holding an opponent to 60 points or less. The Anteaters are 8-0 in 2018-19 when doing so, and have won 19 straight dating back to last season when hitting that mark
> UCI is 6-2 at the Bren Events Center this season
> Before falling to Butler (Dec. 21), the Anteaters had a 10 game road-winning streak which ended as the second-longest active road-win streak in DI
> Head coach Russell Turner earned his 168th career win against EMU, which moved him to ninth in the Big West's all-time career wins list
> The 18 three-pointers recorded by the 'Eaters against Denver set a school and Bren Events Center record, besting the previous mark of 16 recorded on Feb. 13, 1999 vs. Cal State Fullerton
 
With a win Wednesday … UCI would win three-straight against the Rainbow Warriors … Improve to 6-1 in the month of January … Extend its Big West Conference road winning-streak to eight games
 
ABOUT THE RAINBOW WARRIORS
> UH is 11-6 on the season and 2-1 in the Big West after dropping their last game to UC Riverside last Saturday. The Rainbow Warriors have conference wins over CSUN and CS Fullerton
> UCI has won four of the last five games against UH including the a 68-67 decision in the first round of the Big West Tournament last March
> The 'Eaters hold a 13-8 lead in the all-time series
> Eddie Stansberry leads the 'Bows wit 13.4 ppg while Jack Purchase and Zigmars Raimo averages 11.9 and 11.2 points per game
> Zigmars has a team-high 6.8 rpg while Drew Buggs averages a Big West-high 5.5 assists per game
> Hawaii shoots 45.3 percent from the field and averages 34.3 rebounds per game
 
ABOUT THE HIGHLANDERS
> UCR is 7-13 on the season and 1-3 in Big West play. The Highlanders only conference win was against Hawaii, 75-71
> UCI has won eight-straight against UCR and leads the all-time series 42-24. The 'Eaters have not lost to the Highlanders since Feb. 14, 2015
> Martin Dikymbe is the only UCR player to average double-digits in scoring with 16.3 points per game
> Ajani Kennedy has a team-best 4.8 rebounds per game
> The Highlanders are shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and average only 67.8 points per game and 31.6 rebounds per game
 
UCI EARNS COMEBACK VICTORY AT CSUN
> UCI trailed CSUN by 18 points early in the second half but came from behind to earn a 74-68 victory
> The 'Eaters out-scored the Matadors 43-21 in the second half, closing on the 14-3 run
> Eyassu Worku finished with a team-high 17 points while Collin Welp, Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard had 14, 13, and 13 points, respectively
> UCI grabbed a season-best 51 rebounds
 
SECOND HALF STRUGGLES DOOM UCI AGAINST LBSU
> UCI led LBSU 32-30 at halftime but was out-scored 50-38 in the second half to suffer its first conference loss of the season, 80-
70
> It was UCI's first loss when winning the battle of the boards (13-1)
> Jonathan Galloway tied a career-high 14 rebounds while Evan Leonard finished with 16 points, hitting 4-9 from long distance
> The loss snapped a three-game winning streak against the 49ers
 
HISTORIC START
> UCI recorded its 10th win on Dec. 15th, the earliest date on the calendar in the history of the program. Only two Anteater teams have registered 10 wins by the end of December. They include the current 2018-19 team (12/15), the 2015-16 team (12/22)
> In the history of the program, the only UCI squad with more wins in its first 12 games was the 1981-82 team which began 12-1
> The Anteaters 12 regular season non-conference wins ties for the most in program history, The 1981-82 team also had 12 regular season non-conference wins
 
HAZZARD'S HOT START
>Hazzard leads the team with 11.8 points per game and 49 three-pointers made
>He notched back-to-back 20+ point performances scoring 28 against Pacific and 23 against UTRGV
> He has hit five or more three-pointers in four games this season
>Hazzard's 10 three's against Denver was one shy of tying the single-game UCI and Big West records of 11 3-pointers. The UCI record was set by Chris Brown against New Mexico State on Mar. 13, 1994 while the BWC mark is held by Brown and CS Fullerton's Bobby Brown
>His 10 threes are tied for fourth most in the country this season
>Max Hazzard was named the Big West Player of the Week twice this season. He earned the first honor of the season (Nov. 12) and again on Dec. 17.
 
RECORD NIGHT
> UCI defeated Denver at home by a score of 86-52. The 34-point victory was the most since the 'Eaters beat Life Pacific, 87-53, (Nov. 12)
> The Anteaters set a new school record in single-game 3-pointers with 18, breaking the previous record of 16 three's recorded on Feb. 13 1999 against Cal State Fullerton
> Max Hazzard set a new Bren Events Center record after hitting a career-best 10 three-pointers. He ended the night with a career-high 32 points on 10-17 shooting from long range
 
ROAD STREAK HALTED
> UCI's 10 game road winning streak was snapped after a 71-54 loss to Butler (Dec. 21)
> 10 games was the second-longest active road winning streak in the country this season
> UCI picked up notable road wins this season against Texas A&M, Saint Mary's and Eastern Michigan
 
QUICK HITS
> UCI is 14-1 when totaling more or the same rebounds and 1-4 when finishing with less
> The Anteaters are 15-1 when finishing with more assists and 0-4 when totaling less
> UCI is 8-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or less
> Jonathan Galloway has lead the team in rebounding in 13-out-of-20 games
> UCI Elston Jones has tallied at least one block in 17-out-of 20 games
> Max Hazzard has led UCI in scoring a team-best five times
 
IN THE STATS
> Galloway's 159 rebounds per game ranks 55th nationally. He leads UCI with 8.0 rebounds per game, which is second-best in the conference
> Elston Jones has a team-best 33 blocks this season which ranks 53rd nationally and second in the BWC
> The Anteaters are ranked 4th nationally in total rebounds (807), 16th in field goal percentage defense (37.8) and 33rd in scoring defense (64.7)
> UCI ranks 34th in total blocks and second in the BWC with 87 on the season

 
APPROACHING THE TOP
> Galloway is 91 rebounds away from becoming UCI's career rebounds all-time leader. Dave Baker currently holds the top spot with 926 career rebounds
> Jonathan Galloway is No. 4 in all-time rebounds with 835, recently surpassing Darren Fells (780).
> His 130 career games played are just 9 away from UCI's all-time games played record (139) which is currently held by video coordinator and 2015 graduate Alex Young
 
NEWS AND NOTES
> Head coach Russell Turner moved to second in UCI's all-time career when he earned his 164thwin against St. Mary's (11/28)
> The last time the Anteaters opened the Big West season with an overtime game was in 2012-13 where they defeated UC
Davis 69-58
> John Edgar Jr. was named to the Gulf Coast Showcase All-Tournament Team after averaging 12 points per game and three rebounds per game including hitting a season-high 16 points against Toledo in the championship game
> 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 great and Pat Douglass (197 career wins) who reached the 150-win plateau in his 10th season
> 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 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 10th 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
> 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 14th Anteater to reach 600 career rebounds.
> Galloway has averaged 225 rebounds per season, a total that would put him near 1,000 career rebounds
 
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 UC Santa Barbara for an ESPNU game Thursday, Jan 31 at 8 p.m.