FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine (12-9, 4-1) at UC Davis (8-13, 2-3)
Thursday, Jan. 30 |7:00 p.m.
The Pavilion | Davis, Calif.
AM830/KUCI Radio | Live Stats | BigWest.TV
 
CS Fullerton (8-13, 3-3) at UC Irvine (12-9, 4-1)
(Hall of Fame Presentation)
Saturday, Feb. 1 |7:30 p.m.
Bren Events Center (5,000)| Irvine, Calif.
AM830/KUCI Radio | Live Stats | KDOC-TV | Tickets

Game Notes
 
UC Irvine will end January with a game at UC Davis Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. The Anteaters will host CS Fullerton Saturday, Feb, 1 at 7:30 p.m. on KDOC-TV.
 
OPENING TIPS
> The Anteaters dropped their first Big West game of the season to Long Beach St. Wed. (Jan. 22), 63-56, after opening the season 3-0 for the first time since 2017. UCI bounced back to defeat Cal Poly Sat. (Jan. 25), 74-67 
> Head Coach Russell Turner became the winningest coach in UCI history after notching his 198th career win against CS Fullerton. Turner reached win 198 in 55 fewer games than Pat Douglass who held the record at 197. He also became just the 7^th coach in Big West history to notch 200 wins against Cal Poly (Jan. 25), and 8^th coach to reach 100 Big West wins
> The Anteaters loss to LBSU (Jan. 22) broke a two-year Big West road game win-streak (14-straight games)
> The loss also snapped a 16-game BWC winning streak. The streak was longest in UCI history
> The 'Eaters are 10-1 when leading at halftime but have struggled to win when trailing at half time, going 1-7
> Evan Leonard has led the team in scoring in the last three games and is averaging a team-high 15.2 ppg in conference play. He averaged 9.5 ppg in non-conference action
> UCI has won four of its last five games played at the Bren by margins of 10+ points. The Anteaters are 82-21 at home over the last seven years and 7-1 this season
Career Milestones
> Senior Tommy Rutherford became the 30th Anteater to hit the 1,000 point mark against CS Fullerton (1/15/20). Rutherford eclipsed the 600 rebound mark against Pacific (Dec. 28) and is second in the Big West in active rebounds (634). He is the 13^th Anteater to score 1,000 career points and grab 600 rebounds
> Senior Evan Leonard became the 28^th player in school history to accumulate 1,000 career points after scoring 15 against CBU. He is 6^th in the Big West in active career points and second in career steals (122)
> Senior guard Eyassu Worku became the 29th Anteater to reach 1,000 career points after scoring 10 against Pacific Union. Worku became the 10th Anteaters in school history to eclipse 300 assists. He did so at Colorado Monday, Nov. 18. He is the Big West's second active career leader in assists (353) and 6^th in scoring
> This is the only time in program history that three players in the same graduating class have eclipsed 1,000 career points
> Brad Greene set a new Bren Events Center record against Hawaii (Jan. 11) when he pulled down 21 rebounds. It was the ninth time in UCI history an Anteater grabbed 20+ boards
> RS sophomore Collin Welp comes off the bench and leads UCI in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg)
> UCI has out-rebounded all but four of its opponents this season. The Anteaters rank 7th nationally in rebounding margin (+9.3) and 11th in total rebounds (860)
> UCI is 8^th nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 37.2% shooting from the field
 
With a win Thursday… Win three-straight against the Aggies … Improve to 5-1 in the BWC for the second-straight year … Win its fourth road game of the season

LATE RALLY LIFTS UCI OVER CAL POLY
> UCI won its fifth-straight game against Cal Poly defeating the Mustangs, 74-67, last Saturday
> Eyassu Worku dished out a career-best 10 assists marking the first time an Anteater has hit double-digit assists since Luke Nelson in 2016
> Collin Welp and Evan Leonard led the team in scoring with 18 points
> Turnovers continued to plague the Anteaters as the Mustangs scored 19 points off of UCI's 12 mishaps

SHOOTING WOES DOOM 'EATERS IN LOSS AT LONG BEACH
> UCI shot a season-low 33.8% from the field in a 56-63 loss to Long Beach St. (Jan. 22)
> Collin Welp, UCI's leading scorer, was held to just two points, his lowest of the season
> Evan Leonard led the 'Eaters with 14 points while Tommy Rutherford and John Edgar Jr. each had 10
> UCI was out-rebounded for the second-straight game and committed 16 turnovers which the Beach got 16 points from

ABOUT THE AGGIES
> UC Davis is 2-3 in Big West play, losing two-straight last week. The Aggies are 8-13 on the season. UCD has lost three conference games by a combined total of 11 points
> Freshman Ezra Manjon is averaging 19.6 ppg in Big West games, No. 2 among BW players, and shooting 55.7% over that span
> Joe Mooney is averaging a team-best 14.2 ppg on the season while Elijah Pepper averages 5.5 rpg
> UC Davis ranks first in the conferce in 3fg percentage (.370)
> UCI is 25-18 all-time against the Aggies and won both meetings against them in 2019 including a 64-48 decision at Davis Feb. 28, 2019 to secure the BWC regular-season title

ABOUT THE TITANS
> UCI and CSF will meet for the second time this season as the Anteaters won a 74-61 decision at Titan Gym on Jan. 15
> CSF has won all three of its games since meeting the Anteaters on Jan. 15 and sits 3-3 in the conference. The Titans opened Big West play 0-3
> CSF is 8-13 on the season. UCI holds a 57-55 lead in the all-time series and has won four-straight meetings with the local rival
> The Titans lead the conference in 3fg percentage defense (31.2%)

BREN RECORD FALLS IN 74-60 WIN OVER HAWAII
> Brad Greene recorded his conference-best fourth double-double, pulling down a career-high 21 rebounds, a Bren Events Center record and the most since Bob Thorton had 22 in 1984. He added 13 points in the win
> Greene is one of 6 players in the country to grab 20+ rebounds this season and one of 9 all-time at UCI
> Greene was named the Big West Player of the Week (Jan.13) for his record-breaking performance

QUICK HITS
> Tommy Rutherford is UCI's active games played leader with 129 consecutive games
> Collin Welp has led the team in scoring in 15 games
> Eyassu Worku is ranked 26^th nationally and second in the Big West in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.63)
> Welp ranks second in the Big West in three-point fg percentage at 45.9%
 
SENIOR LEADERS
> Eyassu Worku, Evan Leonard, Tommy Rutherford and John Edgar Jr. have all played together since they were all sophomores in 2017-18. The four seniors have started a combined 275 games
> Through 21 games, Worku leads the team with 84 assists (4.0 apg) and is second in scoring (11.9 ppg). Leonard is third on the team in scoring (11.6) while Rutherford is fourth (9.6 ppg)
> Worku, Leonard and Rutherford are All-Big West Conference selections
> Rutherford is shooting a team-best 65.3% (79-121) from the floor while Worku is shooting 42.2% from three-point range
 
THE WELP EFFECT
> RS Sophomore Collin Welp comes off the bench and is UCI's leading scorer (14.0 ppg) and rebounder (6.7 rpg). He is averaging 24.6 minutes per game. Welp had a career-high 18 rebounds against Detroit Mercy (11/24) and has posted two double-doubles on the season. He finished with a career-high 31 points and 7 three's made against Eastern Michigan (Nov. 30)
 
BRAD IS BACK
> Coming off a redshirt season in 2018-19, RS junior Brad Greene is making an immediate impact for UCI. He is averaging a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game and is fifth in scoring (8.3 ppg). Greene has a conference-best four double-doubles this season and grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds against Hawaii (Jan. 11)

UP NEXT
> UCI will play its second game against UC Davis Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center