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Big West Tournament Central
UC Irvine (27-5, 15-1) vs. UC Riverside (10-22, 4-12)
Thursday, Mar. 14 | 6:00 p.m.
The Honda Center – Anaheim, Calif.
Live Stats | Radio (KUCI & Am830) | Video (ESPN3)

Big West Semifinals
Friday, Mar. 15 | 6:30 p.m.
The Honda Center – Anaheim, Calif.
Live Stats | Radio (KUCI & Am830) | TV – ESPNU

Big West Final
Saturday, Mar. 16 | 9 p.m.
The Honda Center – Anaheim, Calif.
Live Stats | Radio (KUCI & Am830) | TV – ESPN2

Game Notes

OPENING TIPS
> UCI has won 27 of its 32 games, a .844 winning percentage. It is the 'Eaters best winning percentage in program history. The only other team to have only five losses was the 2000-01 squad that finished 25-5

> 27 wins is the most regular-season wins in program history. The school record for most overall wins in a season is 28 set by the 2015-16 team

> If the Anteaters win Thursday they will tie the season record for most wins (28) and also win 14-straight games, the longest winning streak in program history

> Through 16 Big West games, UCI is 15-1 which ties its best conference record. The 2000-01 team also went 15-1 in conference play
> The Anteaters have gone over a year without losing a Big West game on the road (13-straight games), which is a UCI school record. UCI's last conference road loss was against UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 20, 2018)

> UCI became the first team to go undefeated on the road in conference play since Pacific (2004-05), finishing 8-0

> The Anteaters are riding a 13-game winning streak, their longest streak in the Russell Tuner era, and ties their longest with the 2000-01 team

> The Anteaters swept seven-out-of-eight conference series (UCSB, Hawaii, CS Fullerton, UC Davis, UC Riverside, Cal Poly, CSUN)

> UCI is 13-2 in road games this year. 13 road wins ties UCI for the most in Division 1 with Stony Brook

> UCI reached 20 wins faster than any other California DI men's basketball program and currently has the most wins out of any D1 California team

> The starting five lineup of Galloway, Worku, Hazzard, Rutherford and Leonard is undefeated at 11-0

> UCI is 3-1 in televised games this season

> Since 2012-13, UCI is 92-5 when holding an opponent to 60 points or less. The Anteaters are 13-0 in 2018-19 when doing so, and have won 24 straight dating back to last season when hitting that mark

> Nationally, the Anteaters have logged the third best improvement in wins over the previous year with nine.  Only Omaha and Stony Brook have more wins from the previous season each with 11

> UCI's only Big West Tournament win came in 2015 with a 67-58 win over Hawaii, advancing to the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history

> The Anteaters have reached the Big West Tournament Final seven times, including four of the last six seasons

> UCI has reached the tournament semifinals in each of the last seven years

> UCI is receiving votes in the National Coaches Poll for the first time this season

UCI vs. UCR
> UCI and UCR have met four times in the Big West Tournament with the Anteaters winning on all four occasions
> The Anteaters and Highlanders last met in the BWT quarterfinals in 2017, as UCI was the No. 1 seed and UCR was the No. 8 seed. The 'Eaters won the meeting, 76-67
> All four of the Highlanders conference wins this season were accompanied by 10 or more made three-pointers
> UCI swept the home and away series with UCR this season – at home on Jan. 26 (82-64) and away on Mar. 2 68-47
> UCR ended the regular season with a 71-70 win over UC Davis

CHAMPIONS AGAIN!
> UCI clinched the Big West regular-season title, its fourth regular-season crown in the last six years and sixth title overall
> The Anteaters won the title outright in 2013-14 and 2016-17 and shared the crown in 2015-16
> The Anteaters secured the No. 1 seed for the Big West Tournament for the first time since 2017 

'EATERS STACK UP CONFERENCE AWARDS
> Head coach Russell Turner earned his third Big West Coach of the Year award
> Jonathan Galloway made history becoming the first three-time recipient of the Big West's Defensive Player of the Year honor. He was also named to the all-conference first team for the first time in his career
> Elston Jones was named the Best Sixth Player. The first time an Anteater has received the honor
> Max Hazzard earned second team honors for the first time in his career
> Evan Leonard and Tommy Rutherford were named on the Honorable Mention team

ETCHED IN HISTORY
> Jonathan Galloway became UCI's all-time career rebounding leader against UC Riverside (Mar. 2). He tallied 11 rebounds against the Highlanders stretching his career rebound total to 927
> Galloway's record-breaking rebound came on the defensive end with 2:31 left to play. The Anteaters called a timeout as Galloway received a standing ovation from the crowd
> His 927 career boards break the 44-year old school record previously held by Dave Baker (926). Baker is currently the President and CEO of the NFL Hall of Fame
> Galloway's 141 career games are the most played in UCI history he surpassed video coordinator and 2016 graduate Alex Young (139 games). He also surpassed Young becoming UCI's all-time wins leaders with 94

UCI CAPPED REGULAR SEASON WITH WIN OVER CSUN
> In front of a crowd of over 3,000 UCI defeated CSUN, 86-74
> Evan Leonard finished with 17 points while Max Hazzard had 16
> UCI's bench out-scored the Matadors 40-19

'EATERS HIT CENTURY MARK IN WIN OVER CAL POLY
> UCI scored 100 points for the first time of the season in a 110-72 win over Cal Poly Thursday. It's the first time scoring over 100 points since the Anteaters put 112 on Whittier in Nov. 2017
> UCI hit season-highs in points scored, first half points (58), rebounds (57) and assists (25)
> For the first time this season, six players scored in double-digits while Collin Welp had a career-high 19 points
> Evan Leonard finished with 16 points, Robert Cartwright and Max Hazzard had 15 each while Tommy Rutherford and Jonathan Galloway had 14 and 13 points, respectively

RECORDS FALL IN UCI'S ROUT OF RIVERSIDE
> UCI defeated UCR 68-47, clinching the Big West regular-season title outright
> The Anteaters won their 25^th game of the season, marking the most regular-season wins in program history
> Jonathan Galloway became UCI's all-time rebounding leader after his 11^th rebound of the night put him at 927 career boards

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE
> UCI continues to shine on the defensive side of the ball. The Anteaters have held three of their last opponents to under 50 points scored
> The Anteaters are ranked 5th nationally in total rebounds (1303), 5th in field goal percentage defense (38.0) and 22nd in scoring defense (63.8)
> UCI ranks 34th nationally in total blocks and 2nd in the BWC with 141 on the season
> UCI is first in the conference and 9th nationally in rebounds per game, 40.72

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 12.1 points per game and 91 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
> He recorded his 143^rd career three-pointer against Hawaii (2/9/19), moving up to No. 10 in UCI's all-time three-pointers made list. He surpassed Scott Brooks and Travis Souza (142)
 > Max made at least one three-pointer 20-straight games. His streak ended against UC Riverside (3/2)
 
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 25-1 when totaling more or the same rebounds and 2-4 when finishing with less
> UCI is 13-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or less and 20-1 when keeping opponents under 70 points
> Jonathan Galloway has lead the team in rebounding in 19 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 nine times
 
UCI IN THE STATS
> Galloway's 268 total rebounds ranks 51st nationally. He leads UCI with 8.4 rebounds per game, which is second-best in the conference
> Elston Jones has a team-best 53 blocks this season which ranks 70th nationally and second in the BWC
> The Anteaters are No. 6 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, their highest ranking of the year

 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 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 rebounds. Young was also a part of UCI's 2015 NCAA Tournament

THIS AND THAT
> 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
> 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 amassed a 74-19 record at home over the last six years. Since 2012-13, UCI leads all Big West teams with 46 home wins in conference play, going 46-10 in that stretch
> UCI is 8-0 in games that have been decided by five or fewer points this season
> 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)