FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine (21-5, 9-1) vs. UC Santa Barbara  (17-6, 6-3)
Saturday, Feb. 16 | 9:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center – Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats | Radio (KUCI & AM830) | TV (ESPN2)

Game Notes
 
WHITE OUT THE BREN
Fans are encouraged to wear white to Saturday's game against UC Santa Barbara!
 
OPENING TIPS
> UCI has won 21 of its first 26 games, a .808 winning percentage. It is the 'Eaters best start in the Russell Turner era and the best since the 2000-01 team started 23-3. The 2000-01 went on to finish 20-5 on the season
> Through 10 Big West games, UCI is 9-1 its best conference record through 10 games since the 2000-01 team also started 9-1 in conference play
> UCI reached the 20-win mark at the earliest date on the calendar in program-history. In terms of fewest games played to get to a 20-win total, only two previous Anteater teams have gotten there faster—2000-01 (23) and 1981-82 (24)
> UCI reached 20 wins faster than any other California men's basketball program
> The Anteaters have amassed a 72-19 record at home over the last six years. Since 2012-13, UCI leads all Big West teams with 44 home wins in conference play, going 44-10 in that stretch
> The Anteaters are riding a seven-game winning streak, their longest of the season
> The starting five lineup of Galloway, Worku, Hazzard, Rutherford and Leonard is undefeated at 7-0
> UCI is 8-0 in games that have been decided by five or fewer points this season
> UCI is 1-1 in televised games this season
> After defeating UCSB 66-62 in overtime Jan. 31, UCI is 3-1 in OT this season and 3-0 in Big West overtime situations
> UCI has been in four OT games this season, the most since the 2002-03 team also went into overtime on four occasions. That team also went 3-1 in extra-man situations
> The Anteaters have gone over a year without losing a Big West game on the road (10-straight games). UCI's last conference road loss was against UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 20, 2018)
> UCI 10 road wins are second most in the nation only behind Stony Brook (11). The 'Eaters are 10-2 on the road
> UCI erased an 18-point deficit to defeat CSUN on the road, 74-68. 18 points is the largest deficit overcome in a win for the 'Eaters this season
> Since 2012-13, UCI is 89-5 when holding an opponent to 60 points or less. The Anteaters are 10-0 in 2018-19 when doing so, and have won 21 straight dating back to last season when hitting that mark
> 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 Saturday ... UCI would sweep the home and away series with UC Santa Barbara … Win eight-straight Big West games ... The Anteaters would win four-straight against the Gauchos
 
ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
> UCSB is 17-6 on the season and 6-3 in the Big West. The Gauchos are tied for second with Cal State Fullerton in the conference standings
> UCSB will play at UC Riverside Thursday before making the trip to Irvine
> The Anteaters beat the Gauchos in overtime on Jan. 31, 66-62, at the Thumerdome. UCI handed UCSB its first home loss of the season. Since that meeting, the Gauchos are 2-1 most recently dropping a home game to UC Davis, 61-57
> Max Hazzard scored eight points in OT to help the 'Eaters defeat the Gauchos and finished with a team-best 15 points while Jonathan Galloway had eight rebounds including six on the offensive side
> UCSB leads the Big West in rebounding margin (7.8), scoring defense (64.1) and scoring margin (9.8) as well as three-point field goal defense (.279)
> Amond Davis leads UCSB with 13.8 points per game while Amadou Sow averages 6.6 rebounds per game
 
ANTEATERS IMPRESS ON HOMECOMING
> Nine of the 10 Anteaters that played recorded at least two points with all 10 grabbing at least one rebound in UCI's 67-56 victory over Hawaii on Homecoming
> Elston Jones posted his second career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds
> Max Hazzard led the Anteaters in scoring for the eighth time this season with 13 points while Jonathan Galloway had 13 rebounds
> UCI held UH to just 18 points in the first half and controlled the boards, 40-28
 
'EATERS SWEEP SERIES WITH CAL STATE FULLERTON
> Jonathan Galloway posted his fourth double-double of the season with a career-high 14 points and 11 rebounds in UCI's defensive 63-50 win over CSF
> Max Hazzard finished with 19 points, hitting 4 three's all in the second half
> The 'Eaters trailed 18-21 at the half but out-scored the Titans 42-32 in the second frame to seal their 20th win of the season
 
APPROACHING THE TOP
> Galloway is 37 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. 2 in all-time rebounds with 889, recently surpassing Will Davis II (852)
> His 136 career games played are just 3 away from tying UCI's all-time games played record (139) which is currently held by video coordinator and 2015 graduate Alex Young
 
UCI IN THE STATS
> Galloway's 213 total rebounds ranks 43rd nationally. He leads UCI with 8.2 rebounds per game, which is second-best in the conference
> Elston Jones has a team-best 44 blocks this season which ranks 49th nationally and second in the BWC
> The Anteaters are ranked 2nd nationally in total rebounds (1038), 7th in field goal percentage defense (38.3) and 31st in scoring defense (64.7)
> UCI ranks 25th in total blocks and first in the BWC with 116 on the season
 > UCI is first in the conference and 22nd nationally in rebounds per game, 39.92
 > The Anteaters are No. 9 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll. UCI was ranked as high as No. 7 on the year
  
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, including 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
> 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
 
HAZZARD'S HOT START
>Hazzard leads the team with 12.2 points per game and 66 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
>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
 
MORE ON MAX
> Hazzard ranks 67^th nationally in three-pointers made with 66
> He recorded his 143^rd career three-pointer against Hawaii last Saturday, moving up to No. 10 in UCI's all-time three-pointers made list. He surpassed Scott Brooks and Travis Souza (142)
 > Max has made at least one three in 18-straight games
 
RECORD NIGHT
> UCI's 34-point, 86-52, defeat of Denver at home 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
 
QUICK HITS
> UCI is 18-1 when totaling more or the same rebounds and 2-4 when finishing with less
> UCI is 10-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or less and 17-1 when keeping opponents under 70 points
> Jonathan Galloway has lead the team in rebounding in 12 games
> UCI Elston Jones has tallied at least one block in all but four games
> Max Hazzard has led UCI in scoring a team-best eight times
 
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). His 168th career win against EMU moved him to ninth in the Big West's all-time career wins list
> 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 at2.14 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 rebounds. Young was also a part of UCI's 2015 NCAA Tournament Team
 
 UP NEXT
> UCI hosts Cal Poly for the first time this season Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.