Finals Week for Fall Quarter comes up next week for men's basketball, and they will match up prior to that with NCCAA side, Bethesda, Friday night in the Bren Events Center

Storylines
· The Anteaters return home for a matchup Friday night vs. Bethesda (CA) before heading out on a nearly-four-week road trip across the country.
· UCI Toy Toss Game: In support of the UCI Police Department Toy Drive, UC Irvine Athletics will hold our annual Toy Toss game this Friday, Dec. 3^rd. Fans are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy which will be gifted to children being treated at UCI Health and other Orange County children's organizations. Only soft or plush toys may be tossed onto the court at halftime. Other donated items may be left with UCI PD officers at collection areas on site. More information can be found on the UCI Police Department Facebook page.
· Collin Welp was named the Big West Player of the Week. The honor is Welp's third at UC Irvine and first for the team in 2021-22. The recognition stemmed from Welp's performance at Santa Clara, Nov. 27, where he led UCI with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The 10 rebounds are the most from an Anteater in a game this season, and he registered the team's first double-double of the year; his 11th double-double of his career.
· UCI's last game was a gutty, 69-64 victory at WCC opponent Santa Clara on Saturday. After the Anteaters jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the opening minutes, the margin never swung by more than eight points through the game's final 33 minutes and the lead changed hands eight times with five ties throughout.
· The Anteaters trailed by four at halftime Saturday before finishing strong for a five-point win. The last win for UCI when trailing at the half was March 5, 2021 in a road, overtime win at Long Beach State. UCI completed four victories in 2020-21 in which in trailed at halftime. The 'Eaters maintained their spotless all-time record against the Broncos with wins in all six all-time meetings. The Broncos, after starting the season 5-0, dropped their second straight match.
· The contest swung at the 4:55-mark of the second half with the 'Eaters trailing 62-55. From that point, UCI went on a 13-0 run and outscored Santa Clara 14-2 to close out the game for the squad's first win of 2021 when trailing at halftime. During that stretch, UCI's 13 points came from five different scorers where it made 5-of-6 free throws highlighted by a game-tying three-pointer from Justin Hohn at 2:16 and go-ahead three-pointer from DJ Davis at 1:39 to secure the fourth straight win for the Anteaters.
· Saturday's win produced season highs and lows for the Anteaters as a team. UCI's 43 rebounds and 14 offensive rebounds are its most in a game in 2021-22. It also committed a season-high number of fouls (19) and turnovers (13) winning in spite of that. The Broncos were strong forcing the UCI into a season-high nine steals while on the offensive end posting the most field goals (21), free throws (16), free throw attempts (20), assists (14), and highest field goal percentage (42.0%) for any UCI opponent this season.

230 - Head Coach Russell Turner won career game 230 Saturday night vs. Pepperdine. That mark is 5th all-time for wins as a Big West coach
11th - Collin Welp's 11th double-double against Santa Clara earned him a 3rd career Big West Player of the Week honor. He reached 1,200 career points last game, and with 9 points will surpass Jeff Herdman for 20th place on the all-time scoring list
3rd - The Anteater defense has allowed 53.0 points per game to this point - 3rd-lowest in the nation. The defense is also top 20 in FG defense, 3-pt defense, and fewest turnovers committed, and lead the Big West in 3-point percentage on offense
135 - The last matchup with Bethesda (CA) resulted in multiple records broken including the most points in a game in UCI history at 135, and the 80-point margin of victory was also a new UC Irvine record
 
Get To Know the 2021-22 Anteaters
· Nationally, the Anteater defense is among the nation's best. UCI allows 53 points per game which is third-lowest in the NCAA. They've also allowed the 10th-lowest FG percentage (35.6%), committed the 12th-least turnovers (53), allowed the 16th-lowest three-point percentage (25.3%), and have one of the best shot blockers in Austin Johnson whom is tied atop the Big West and 38th in the nation swatting 2.2 shots per game
· Collin Welp continues to climb the Anteater record books. He reached 1,200 career points on Saturday, and now can enter the top-20 on the all-time UCI scoring list with nine more points that would surpass Jeff Herdman's total of 1,222. He can also make a significant leap in the rebounding rankings which he currently stands 20th in UCI history. His 584 career rebounds sits one behind Mark Nelson and two behind Nick Sanden and Jeff Cunningham. Three rebounds would vault him to 17th in program history with assistant coach Michael Wilder next on the list in 16th with 596 career rebounds.
· Team captains were selected by the team for the 2021-22 season as fifth-year Collin Welp and third-year Ofure Ujadughele. Welp was named a captain for a second straight year while it's a first for Ujadughele.
· The 2021-22 Lou Henson National Player of the Year award presented to the top mid-major player annually featured Collin Welp. Welp was 1 of 50 players from across 21 mid-major conferences on the list.
· UCI was selected to finish second in the Big West according to the Coaches Poll. The Anteaters earned four of nine first-place votes finishing one vote behind preseason favorite, UC Santa Barbara. The Preseason Media Poll also selected UCI to finish second, three votes behind UCSB, and with two of the 11 first-place votes.
· Preseason All-Big West featured Collin Welp on both the Coaches' and Media teams. He was 1 of 4 players (Maddox—CSF, Manjon—UCD, Sow—UCSB) to appear on both teams. Dawson Baker earned honorable mention recognition on the media's team.
· The 2020-21 Anteaters had six players recognized on the Big West Winter All-Academic squad. To be eligible, student-athletes must maintain a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA, complete one full year at their member institution, and compete in at least 50% of their team's contests. Four current members of the team were recognized in Isaiah Lee, Collin Welp, Emmanuel Tshimanga, and Ofure Ujadughele. That quartet was joined by alums Jeron Artest and Brad Greene.
· That 2020-21 squad also earned Team Academic Excellence Awards and Honors Court from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). UC Irvine was the only Big West school to earn the distinction. Brad Green was recognized on the Honors Court making it for a second consecutive year.

Preseason Thoughts from Head Coach Russell Turner
· "We're excited for the opportunity to play this season and especially for the opportunity to play again in front of fans because college basketball is so much about that, being a part of your community. I am hoping we will generate a lot of interest from our campus community to be a part of games because that is such a fun part of college basketball."
· "I think we have a good team, a team that should continue to improve throughout the season, and have a chance to be really good at the end of the year. We have real talent on this team, we have a bunch of guys who care, and we have chance to be good. We have a long way to go but we are excited about the opportunity." 
· "We have a young group of talented perimeter players. I am excited about that group and now we have to figure out how that group is going to best fit together. And how that group is going to assert themselves against high quality opposition early in the year. We've got a lot of work to do but I think they are up for the challenge."
· "The front court group we know starts with Collin, since he's such a proven commodity. We know we have to replace Brad Greene, which is no easy replacement. Brad Greene had such an incredible impact during his time at UC Irvine. But we do have depth and talent at the center position. We will have to see how that unfolds because we have a lot of guys who will be competing for a start."

Friday vs. Bethesda (Calif.)
· The Anteaters and Flames renew their rivalry that begun with the first-ever meeting in 2020-21. The 'Eaters set all sorts of records when the schools played in the Bren Events Center on Nov. 28, 2020. UCI pummeled the lower-division school, 135-55, setting school records in points scored, margin of victory, made field goals, and assists with seven 'Eaters scoring in double figures. They set a record for largest margin of victory by a Big West school, and the 70 first half points and 69.1% shooting set Bren records.
· Bethesda is a school of roughly 200 students from Anaheim, Calif. and hails from the National Christian Colleges Athletic Association (NCCAA) similar to the NAIA. The Flames are two years removed from a PCAC title, and the 2020-21 Flames had the nation's leading scorer in the NCCAA in Steve Wooten Jr. averaging 31.4 points per game.
· The 2021-22 Flames enter December with 16 games under their belt. Officially, Bethesda is 1-9 taking on various NAIA and Division II and III schools. Their lone win came against Embry-Riddle, 88-77, which was also their only home game of their 33-game schedule. Seven of their matchups have been deemed exhibitions including losses at Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, and Southern Utah. This week alone, the Flames began with a seven-point loss at Caltech on Monday and a pair of exhibitions at Dixie State Tuesday and Wednesday before taking on UCI Friday.
· Bethesda's offense averages 78.7 points per game in its 10 sanctioned games. Mark Carter leads the charge with 17.1 PPG and 8.8 RPG in 27.8 minutes per game. Christopher Blount joins Carter averaging double-digits, and Sam Skipper is at 9.9 PPG in nearly as many minutes as Carter (25.9). Against UC Riverside, Tyler Goodlow and Alex Herndon led the way with 13 points each. The only returner to the squad from last year's matchup is Eliabe Porta who did not score in 13 minutes against UCI.