18 - The Anteaters are preparing for their first game after an 18-day layoff from their game vs. Duquesne. The 'Eaters will not play at home until January 11 marking 39 days between home games
9 - Collin Welp has jumped 9 spots in the Anteater all-time scoring list starting the season 26th and now 17th after 24 points at USC surpassing Mike Heckman, Johnny Rogers, and Darren Fells in one outing. He's jumped to 17th all-time in rebounds at USC as well hitting 600 exactly
58.2 - After leading the NCAA in scoring defense in early December, the Anteater defense is still top 20 in the NCAA allowing 58.2 points per game along with other impressive ranks standing 9th in FG defense, 23rd in 3-point defense, and leading the Big West with 7.7 steals per game
5-4 - UCI finished non-conference play with a 5-4 record including one postponement. This is the fourth season of head coach Russell Turner's 12 now with a winning non-conference record, and each of the previous three finishing in a Big West regular season title for the Anteaters
  
The 2021-22 Anteaters
· Non-conference play featured a spotless home record of 4-0 including impactful wins over Boise State holding them to 50 points and a 34-point victory over Pepperdine.
· UCI's tough road slate sent them to New Mexico State to start the year as well as Fresno State and nearly overtaking an undefeated, 10th-ranked USC squad in the Galen Center. UCI scored one road victory defeating a stout Santa Clara squad with a late-game 14-2 run.
· The 'Eaters played in Akron, Ohio at the LeBron James Arena at St. Vincent/St. Mary's High School taking on Duquesne in a loss. Their road trip of 27 days away from the Bren Events Center was cut short as its trip to Buffalo to end it was postponed due to health and safety protocols
· The Big West announced the Big West Game of the Week that will be televised on Spectrum SportsNet. One matchup will be broadcasted each Saturday at 1:00 p.m. during conference season with UCI featured twice: February 19 vs. Hawai'i and March 5 at CSU Bakersfield.
·  Collin Welp named the Big West Player of the Week November 29. The honor was Welp's third at UCI and UCI's first in 2021-22 stemming from his performance at Santa Clara where he led with 17 points and 10 rebounds; UCI's first double-double of the year and his 11th career double-double.
· Team captains were selected for the 2021-22 season as fifth-year Collin Welp and third-year Ofure Ujadughele. Welp is a captain for a second straight year while it's a first for Ujadughele's.
· 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 Greene was recognized on the Honors Court making it for a second consecutive year.

Thursday at UC Davis
· UCI and the Aggies meet for the first time since the 2019-20 season when the 'Eaters defeated UC Davis at home on their way to a Big West title. UCI holds the all-time series lead against the Aggies, 27-18, including 14-7 under coach Turner. The series is even at 9-9 in matchups in the University Credit Union Center, or The Pavilion
· The Aggies are looking to get back to their Big West title ways like in the 2017-18 and 2014-15 seasons which included their first and only NCAA Tournament berth. UCD is hovering around .500 in conference play over the last three seasons last winning 10 Big West games in 2017-18. They went 6-4 in non-conference with big wins over Utah State, EWU, Oregon State, and a pair over Pacific, but also rough losses to Pepperdine and Division II Academy of Art.
· UC Davis is also opening Big West play after their matchups vs. UC Riverside and at Hawai'I were canceled. Head Coach Jim Les is in his 11th season with his squad picked to finish fourth this season.
· The Aggies are led by preseason All-Big West sophomore guard Ezra Manjon averaging 14.5 points per game and 3.1 assists. He's helped by sophomore Elijah Pepper (14.4 PPG, 21 3PTM), junior Christian Anigwe (10.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG), and junior Caleb Fuller (10.6 PPG, 3PTM) as their core four. UC Davis excels at shooting beyond the arc and generating steals. They're top three in the Big West in threes made and percentage made while the Aggies have forced 15.4 turnovers per game, second in the conference, and have 70 steals which is third.

Saturday at UC Riverside
· UC Irvine and UC Riverside meet up for the 75th time in the history of the programs with UCI up 49-25 in the series. The first-ever game for UCI was an 85-71 win over UC Riverside. The 'Eaters have had success at the SRC Arena all-time going 17-13, and head coach Russell Turner is 21-6 against the Highlanders. The sides met three times last year with UCI winning twice and the teams splitting at Riverside. UCR finished non-conference at 6-4 including a buzzer-beater win at Arizona State. Coach Magpayo as has wins over UTEP and Cal Baptist with close losses to Oregon and Saint Mary's.
· Zyon Pullin leads the Highlander charge as a preseason All-Big West team member with UCR picked to finish third in the preseason. He's averaging 12.2 points per game to lead the team along with a team-high 47 assists and his 7.1 rebounds per game as a 6-4 junior. RS-Junior Flynn Cameron joins with 26 threes made and 11.3 PPG and 8.4 PPG and 8.5 RPG from RS-Junior Callum McRae. UC Riverside is similar to UCI excelling at defensive rebounding (7th in the NCAA), 3FG defense (6th in NCAA), and the top rebounding team in the Big West at 40 per game.