FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine (14-9, 6-1) vs. UC Davis (9-14, 3-4)
Thursday, Feb. 6 |7:00 p.m.
Bren Events Center | Irvine, Calif.
KUCI Radio | Live Stats | ESPN3 | Tickets
 
UC Irvine (14-9, 6-1) at UC Santa Barbara (14-8. 3-4)
Saturday, Feb. 8 |7:00 p.m.
The Thunderdome | Santa Barbara, Calif.
AM830/KUCI Radio | Live Stats | TV: ESPNU

Game Notes

OPENING TIPS
> The Anteaters remain atop the Big West standings with a 6-1 record and improved to 14-9 overall after a 2-0 week, notching double-digit wins over UC Davis (80-65) and CS Fullerton (91-61)
> UCI's 91-61 win over CS Fullerton (Feb. 1) was the first 30-point against a DI team for the 'Eaters this season
> The Anteaters rank 1st nationally in rebounding margin (+10.0) and 8th in total rebounds (939). UCI has out-rebounded all but four of its opponents this season
> The 'Eaters are 12-1 when leading at halftime but have struggled to win when trailing at half time, going 1-7
> UCI has won 10-straight Big West home games, its last loss came on Jan. 16, 2019 against LBSU
> Since 2012-13, UCI is 97-6 when holding opponents to 60 points or less and 4-1 in 2019-20 when doing so
> Evan Leonard has led the team in scoring in three out of the last five games and is averaging a team-high 14.4 ppg in conference play. He averaged 9.5 ppg in non-conference action
> UCI has won five of its last six games played at the Bren by margins of 10+ points. The Anteaters are 83-21 at home over the last seven years and 8-1 this season
> The Anteaters have won 5 of their 7 Big West games by margins of 10+ 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 (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg)
> UCI is 8^th nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 37.2% shooting from the field
> UCI has tried out six different starting lineups this season, the starting five of Leonard, Worku, Rutherford, Greene and Edgar Jr. has the best record at 6-4
> The Anteaters loss to LBSU broke a two year Big West road game win-streak without losing (14-straight games). The loss also snapped a 16-game BWC winning streak. The streak was longest in UCI history
 
With a win Thursday… Win four-straight against the Aggies… Improve to 6-1 in the BWC for the second-straight year … Win its seventh-straight home game … Sweep the home-and-away series with UCD … UC would have its longest-winning streak (4 games) of the season … Win 11-straight Big West home games

BIG MEN BOOST UCI OVER CSF
> Brad Greene recorded his team-best 5^th double-double with a career-high 18 points and 12 rebounds in UCI's 30-point, 91-61, win over the Titans
> UCI had its best three-point field goal shooting percentage (63.6%) of the season and swept the home-and-away series with CSF
> Tommy Rutherford also had 18 points on the night. The Anteaters out-rebounded CSF by more than double, 41-20

OFFENSE IGNITES IN WIN OVER UC DAVIS
> Five Anteaters scored in double-digits as UCI soared to an 80-65 victory over UC Davis. Eyassu Worku had a game-high 19 points while Collin Welp notched his fourth double-double of the season (16 points, 10 rebounds)
> John Edgar Jr. (13), Tommy Rutherford (11) and Evan Leonard (10) all finished in double-digits
> UCI controlled the paint, 40-12, and the boards, 38-24. The Anteaters shot 57.6 percent (34-59) from the field

QUICK HITS
> Tommy Rutherford is UCI's active games played leader with 131 consecutive games
> Collin Welp has led the team in scoring in 15 games
> Eyassu Worku is ranked 30^th nationally and second in the Big West in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.51)
> Welp ranks second in the Big West in three-point fg percentage at 45.9%

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
> 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

ABOUT THE AGGIES
> UC Davis and UC Irvine will meet for the second time in a week as UCI won meeting in Davis last Thursday by a score of 80-65. UCI has won three-straight against the Aggies
> After losing to UCI, UCD bounced back to win against Cal Poly, 66-51
> Joe Mooney is averaging a team-best 14.0 ppg on the season while Elijah Pepper averages 5.4 rpg
> UC Davis ranks first in the conference in 3fg percentage (.374) and 3fg percentage defense (32.4). The Aggies also top the Big West in turnover margin (+1.4) and free throw percentage (77.3)
> UCI is 26-18 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 GAUCHOS
> UCI and UCSB will meet for the first time this season. UCSB is coming off a win at LBSU, 87-62, and stands 3-4 in conference play. UCSB got swept by CSUN in the home and away series
> UCI has won four-straight against UCSB and have not lost to the Gauchos since Jan. 20, 2018
> The 'Eaters trail UCSB 41-52 in the all-time series
> UCSB leads the conference in field-goal percentage (46.8%), while Amadou Sow leads the Big West individually in field-goal percentage, 55.5%
> Max Heidegger leads UCSB in scoring with 15.9 ppg while JaQuori McLaughlin and Sow each average 14.1 ppg

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 21+ 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

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 283 games
> Through 23 games, Worku leads the team with 93 assists (4.0 apg) and is second in scoring (12.1 ppg). Leonard is third on the team in scoring (11.7) while Rutherford is fourth (10.0 ppg)
> Worku, Leonard and Rutherford are All-Big West Conference selections
> Rutherford is shooting a team-best 67.4% (89-132) from the floor while Worku is shooting 42.0% from three-point range
 
THE WELP EFFECT
> RS Sophomore Collin Welp comes off the bench and is UCI's leading scorer (13.9 ppg) and rebounder (6.6 rpg). He is averaging 24.2 minutes per game. Welp had a career-high 18 rebounds against Detroit Mercy (11/24) and has posted five 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 7.0 rebounds per game and is fifth in scoring (8.4 ppg). Greene is tied with Welp with a team-best five double-doubles this season and grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds against Hawaii (Jan. 11) and a career-high 18 points against CSF (Feb. 1)

NEWS AND NOTES
> Anteater men's basketball legend, Jerry Green, was inducted into the UCI Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 1
> Eyassu Worku was named to the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational All-Tournament Team in December
> Collin Welp was named to the HoopsHD.com mid-season Big West All-Conference Team
> UCI retired Scott Brooks' number 12 jersey on Nov. 30 against Eastern Michigan
> UCI plays 14 games at the Bren including three DI non-conference opponents
> Six postseason teams dot the 2019-20 schedule including four 20+ win teams
> The Anteaters were picked to finish first in the Big West Preseason Poll with 258 points. UCI tied UCSB with 15 first-place votes
> Evan Leonard was selected to the six-member preseason all-conference team
> UCI returns four starters and nine letterwinners from last year's championship team including seniors Evan Leonard, Eyassu Worku, Tommy Rutherford and John Edgar Jr.
> The 'Eaters finished fourth in the nation allowing opponents to shoot just 38.2% from the field, ranked sixth in the nation in total rebounds (1,478), 13^th in rebound average (39.95) and ninth in rebound margin (7.0)
> in 2018-19 UCI held teams under 50% in field goal percentage in 29 games, had the nation's best two-point defense (opponents shot 40.7%) and were 21^st in points allowed (63.1)
> UCI went 14-0 when holding an opponent to 60 points or less and have won 25 straight games dating back to last season when hitting that mark. Since 2012-13, UCI is 93-5 when doing so
> UCI finished with the stingiest scoring defense in the conference allowing 63.6 points per game. UCI also led the conference in rebounding (39.95 rpg) for the sixth time in program history and five in the last six years years
> The Anteaters return three all-conference selections in seniors Evan Leonard, Tommy Rutherford and Eyassu Worku
> Leonard returns as the team's leading scorer averaging 11.3 ppg last season. He is a two time all-conference selection and was named to the Big West All-Tournament Team in 2018-19. Leonard holds the school record with 44 consecutive free throws made and led the team in steals (48) and three-point field goal percentage (41.4) a year ago
> Worku led the team in assists last year (87) averaging 2.9 assists per game. He started 26 games and averaged 7.0 points per game
> Rutherford, a two time all-conference selection, started 32 games last season averaging 6.7 ppg and 4.3 rpg. He led the team in field goal percentage (53.5) and totaled 26 blocks, averaging 16.1 minutes per game
> Sophomore Collin Welp was named to the Big West All-Tournament Team after scoring a career-high 23 points in the championship game. Last season, he came off the bench to finish third on the team in scoring (8.6 ppg) and shot 51.2% from the field. Welp averaged 15.9 minutes per game and 4.3 rebounds per game
> Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook ranked UC Irvine No. 2 in its Big West preseason poll. It also picked Evan Leonard to the preseason all-conference team
> UCI will see redshirts Brad Greene, Devin Cole and Aiden Krause back in action
> Greene returns to the court after using his red shirt year last season. In 2017-18, he averaged 4.6 ppg and 3.9 rpg.
> The Anteaters add seven newcomers including freshman Jeron Artest, Justin Hohn, Ofure Ujadughele, Isaiah Lee, Emmanuel Tshimanga, Austin Johnson and Dean Keeler

UP NEXT
> UCI travels to UC Riverside for a game on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.