UC Irvine at Cal State Fullerton
Thursday, Jan. 26 | 7:00 p.m. PT
Titan Gym | Fullerton, Calif.
AM 830 | Live Stats | Watch (Spectrum SportsNet) | Tickets | Notes

CSUN vs. UC Irvine
Saturday, Jan. 28 | 6:00 p.m. PT
Bren Events Center | Irvine, Calif.
AM 830 | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Tickets | UC Irvine Notes | CSUN Notes

UC Irvine is set to rematch both Cal State Fullerton and CSUN this week to close out January. The contest against CSUF will be played on the road on Thursday Jan. 26 before the Matadors make a trip to the Bren Events Center on Saturday Jan. 28.

ABOUT THE TITANS
 > Cal St. Fullerton has started the season 10-11, opening Big West play with a loss at home to UC Santa Barbara
> The Titans won three consecutive conference games before the Jan. 11 meeting, most notably defeating Hawaii  79-72 in overtime
> Since their last meeting, Cal St. Fullerton has dropped three of their last four contests and they were all determined by five points or fewer
> The Titans have played in four overtime contests this season with two of them happening in conference play
> CSUF won the Big West Conference Championship last season to advance to the NCAA March Madness tournament
> Latrell Wrightsell Jr.  is Cal St. Fullerton's leading scorer, averaging 15.7 points per game on 101-234 shooting (0.432)
> Wrightsell Jr. ranks fourth in the Big West in scoring, eighth in field goal percentage, and tops the league in three-point field goals per game (2.5)
> Jalen Harris is one of three Titans to have competed in all 21 games and is averaging 14.1 points a game
> Vincent Lee leads the Titans  in boards, recording 5.3 rebounds a game
> Cal St. Fullerton was picked to finish seventh in the Big West preseason media poll
> Latrell Wrightsell Jr. was named the Big West Player of the Week on Nov. 21st

ABOUT THE MATADORS
> CSUN holds a 4-16 record on the season, with non-conference wins coming against La Sierra, Whittier, and San Diego
> The Matadors picked up their first conference victory over Cal State Fullerton on Saturday Jan. 21, defeating the Titans in overtime 69-66
> CSUN fell to UC San Diego 65-57 in Northridge on Thursday Jan. 26
> Atin Wright is CSUN's leading scorer, averaging 14.4 points per game on 95-241 shooting (0.394)
> Wright surpassed the 800 career point mark in the win over the Titans 
> Dionte Bostick helps the Matadors offense with 12.4 points per game while shooting at a 0.380 clip from the field
> De'Sean Allen-Eikens leads the Matadors off the glass, tallying 5.6 rebounds a game
> Allen-Eikens tied his career high 22 points against Cal State Fullerton
> CSUN was picked to finish eleventh in the Big West preseason media poll

RESUMING PLAY
After playing four games in a nine day stretch, UC Irvine paused game action after their contest against Hawai'i and will resume play on Thursday Jan. 26 where the Anteaters will travel to Orange County foe Cal. State Fullerton for their second meeting of the season.
 
BREAKING AWAY
After an intense week of action, UC Irvine along with UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, and Hawai'i have all separated themselves from the rest of the league. The Gauchos (7-1) and the Anteaters (6-1) are the only one loss teams in league play sitting first and second in the standings, respectfully.
 
EXTRA SPECIAL
For two consecutive contests, UC Irvine has outscored their opponents in all five specialty stat categories and are looking to extend it to three games. The last time UCI and CSUF met, the 'Eaters won the battle in three categories and were only outnumbered by one point in the remaining two.
 
OWNING THE SHOT FROM BEHIND THE ARC
Thursday's game between UCI and Cal State Fullerton will pit together the top two three-point shooting teams in the Big West. The Anteaters lead the league at a 0.387 clip (135-359) while the Titans have knocked down 167 shots (167-446, 0.374) from range.
 
BAKER TOOK OVER CONTROL VS. THE TITANS
Despite leading after the half, UCI found themselves down by 10 in the second stanza to Orange County foe, Cal. State Fullerton. In the 33-18 Anteater run over the final 8:56 minutes, Dawson Baker scored 15 of his 17 points helping UCI take back control of the contest. Baker's two three-pointers and his five made free throws proved to be the momentum shift the 'Eaters needed to win, 70-65.
 
BIG NIGHT FOR A BIG MAN
Akiva McBirney-Griffin scored a career high 11 points in the 76-68 win against Hawai'i, the first double figure performance of the redshirt freshman's career. The forward's five boards, four field goal makes, seven field goal attempts,  three free made free throws, and four attempts from the line are all career bests.
 
CAREER LEADER BOARD WATCH
With 105 made three-pointers in his career, junior DJ Davis is just eight makes away from catching Brett Lauer (2007-09) for 18th all-time.
 
ON THE LINE
Both Dawson Baker (3-3) and Justin Hohn (2-2) shot perfect from the free throw line in the win over the Rainbow Warriors. With their perfect shooting, Baker set a new high of 12 consecutive free throws made while Hohn set a new streak of six straight.
 
IN STATE BEASTS
According to College Basketball Reference on Jan. 25, UCI sits in the top seven schools who have the most points per game scored by in-state players (48.4). The other teams are UNI (68.5), Youngstown State (59.0), Northern Colorado (54.3), Eastern Michigan (53.4), Georgia State (51.6), and Kent State (48.5).
 
HIGHLY EFFICIENT SHOOTING
UCI has shot over a 0.500 clip in four of their conference contests (CSU Bakersfield— 0.550, UC Davis—0.561, Long Beach St.—0.507, and CSUN—0.528). The Anteaters efficiency on the floor ranks them 55th nationally in effective field goal percentage (0.539)
 
ALL ABOUT THE ROTATION
The 'Eaters, who are a strong scoring team receive a lot of momentum from the second and third rotations. UCI is ranked 22nd nationally in bench points per game (28.00).
 
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
UC Irvine finds themselves among the best in another specialty statistical category, landing 51st in the nation in fast break points, averaging 12.68. UCI joins UC Davis (T-21st) and Long Beach State (T-21st) who are also top-50 nationally.
 
PUT IT IN THE PAINT
UCI has outscored their opponents by 222 points when scoring in the paint (UCI 714, Opp. 492). The Anteaters average 37.57 points in the paint per game and have scored 40 or more points in the paint over the last three contests (CSUN– 40, UC Santa Barbara– 40, and Hawai'i– 44).
 
MR. CONSISTENT
After his performance against UC Santa Barbara, Dawson Baker set a new streak of 14 consecutive games scoring in double figures. Baker has recorded 18 double digit scoring games this season and has posted 40 in his career thus far. After reaching the 600-career point mark against Fresno State on Dec. 3, the guard eclipsed the 700-point mark against Cal State Fullerton. The junior is also 26 points away from 300 on the season and 46 away from 800 career points. Baker is averaging 14.4 points a game, 16.1 in league play.
 
3J DAVIS
A consistent force behind the arc, DJ Davis leads the team and league in three-point shooting making 44 of his 110 attempts from deep. Davis is a prolific shooter at the free throw line as well, ranking second in the Big West for his 54-62 shooting at the stripe (0.871). The guard is having his highest scoring season, only posting 227 points his freshman campaign. With 266 tallies on the season, Davis surpassed the 700 career point mark with his 18-point performance against Hawai'i.
 
DISHIN' DIMES
Pierre Crockrell II tied his career high 10 assists in the victory over The Beach for the 'Eaters first double-digit assist game of the season. The senior is averaging 4.8 assists per game, is 11 away from 100 assists on the season earned his 400th career dime in the win over the Rainbow Warriors. Crockrell II surpassed the 600-career point mark on his made free throw at CSUN.
 
SEEING DOUBLE
Almost a full calendar year after the Anteaters last double-double, Devin Tillis notched two consecutive and the first and second of his career. Tillis posted the first in the 70-65 win over Cal St. Fullerton (10 pts, 12 reb.) and the second at CSUN (10 pts., 11 reb.). The redshirt sophomore has 118 boards on the season to average 6.2 a game. Tillis has tallied six double-digit scoring efforts in 19 games.
 
NET WORTH
The first NET ranking of the season was released on Monday Dec. 5. The 'Eaters are one the highest ranked Big West team within the top-100 sitting at 94. UC Santa Barbara sits at 89.

LEADING THE BIG WEST
Several Anteaters sit in the top ten of the Big West individual statistical rankings. DJ Davis is second in the league in three-point field goals per game (2.3) and free throw percentage (0.871). Pierre Crockrell II tops the Big West in assists (4.7) and assist/turnover ratio (2.3).  Dawson Baker is fourth in field goal percentage (0.479) and eighth in scoring (14.4), while Dean Keeler is tenth in blocks (0.8). Devin Tillis (6.2) and Bent Leuchten (6.1) are ninth and tenth respectively in rebounds.
 
NATIONAL STATISTICS 01.25.23
UC Irvine is ranked top-50 nationally in the following categories: scoring margin (35th, 10.2), rebound margin (34th, 5.4), field goal percentage (31st, 0.478), and three-point field goal percentage (15th, 0.387).