‘Eaters Upend Aggies 83-72, Win Fourth-Straight

Thursday, February 6

Irvine, Calif.

7:00 PM

UC Irvine

15-9,7-1Big West

UC Davis

9-15,3-5Big West

Team	1	2	F
UC Davis	33	39	72
UC Irvine	44	39	83

‘Eaters Upend Aggies 83-72, Win Fourth-Straight

February 06, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine won the battle in the paint, defeating UC Davis 83-72 on Thursday night at the Bren Events Center.

Brad Greene recorded his second-straight double-double, scoring a team-high 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Greene leads the Big West conference with six double-doubles on the season.

The Anteaters (15-9), with their fourth-straight win, improve to 7-1 in conference play and remain atop the Big West standings. UC Davis falls to 3-5 in the Big West and 9-15 overall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Collin Welp (13), Tommy Rutherford (12), and Evan Leonard (10) each scored in double-digits. Rutherford also added nine rebounds, narrowly missing his first double-double of the season
Leonard paced the 'Eaters with six assists
UCI held advantages in points in the paint (34-18) and assists (24-12)
After getting out-rebounded in the first half 12-11, the Anteaters held a 26-14 advantage in the second half and 37-26 overall.
UC Davis shot 16-19 (84.2%) from the free throw line, while the Anteaters were a season-low 56.3% (9-16).
Elijah Pepper was the leading scorer for UC Davis scoring 12 points, while Stefan Gonzalez added 11.

TURNING POINTS
First Half

The Aggies capitalized on three UCI turnovers to jump out to a quick 8-3 lead (18:10).
A three-pointer from Jeron Artest and buckets from Worku and John Edgar Jr. would help the 'Eaters take their first lead of the game, 12-10, with 13:13 remaining.
The Anteaters stayed hot, going on an 11-3 run and extending the lead to ten points, 23-13 (8:24). Leonard contributed five points to the streak, including a steal which he took the distance for a score.
UC Davis continued to battle, using a pair of three-pointers to key a 9-2 run, cutting the Anteater lead to 25-22 with 5:49 to play.
A layup by Rutherford and treys from Edgar Jr. and Welp helped the 'Eaters score eight of the final ten points in the half and extend the lead to 44-33 at the break.
Artest scored nine points, surpassing his career-high in the first half alone.

Second Half

Greene (7 pts) and Rutherford (6 pts) took control to begin the second half, leading the Anteaters on a 13-2 streak to push the lead to 20 points, 57-37, at 15:51.
Five points from Matt Neufeld helped the Aggies counter with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 13 points, 63-50, with 12:05 to play.
After a jumper from Welp extended the 'Eaters lead back to fifteen points, UC Davis used a 10-0 run to push within five points, 73-68, at 3:20.
The Anteaters bounced back to score the next six points to regain a double-digit lead, and would not relinquish the advantage, locking down an 83-72 victory.

NOTES

The Anteaters sweep the home-and-away series with the Aggies, and have won four-straight against UC Davis since Jan 2019.
UC Irvine wins their 11^th consecutive Big West home game.
Six of the Anteaters seven conference wins have been by 10+ points.

UP NEXT
The Anteaters go back on the road to battle UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 7pm on ESPNU.