THIS WEEK IN ANTEATER BASKETBALL
UC Irvine (18-10, 11-5) at CSUN (18-10, 11-6)
Premier America Credit Union Arena (2,300) – Northridge, Calif.
Thursday, Feb. 26 - 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |  Live Stats 

UC Santa Barbara (17-11, 10-7) at UC Irvine (18-10, 11-5) 
Bren Events Center (5,000) - Irvine, Calif.
Saturday, Feb. 28 - 7:30 PM | ESPNU |  Live Stats 

UC Irvine takes its final regular season road trip to CSUN Thursday (Feb. 26) for a 7:00 p.m. game at the Premier America Credit Union. The Anteaters return home to take on UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Feb. 28) at the Bren Events Center. Please note game time has been changed to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPNU. James Westling and Corey Williams will be on the call.

STORYLINES
UC Irvine is 18-10 overall and are in a three-way tie at the top of the Big West standings with Hawaii and CSUN at 11-5.

Following Thursday's game, UCI will play the final three games at the Bren Events Center.

Thursday's game pits one of the conference's best defenses against the league's best offenses. UCI holds opponents to a 67.8 scoring average, while the Matadors score at a 82 point clip. The Anteaters are second in the Big West in field goal percentage with a .463 mark.

The glass will be hotly contested as CSUN leads the Big West in rebound average (41.7) followed by UC Irvine (40.4). The Anteaters lead the conference in defensive boards (28.8), while CSUN leads in offensive rebounds (13.1).

Nationally, UC Irvine ranks fourth in blocks (6.0), third in field goal percentage defense (37.8) and ninth in defensive rebounds (28.8).

Senior forward Kyle Evans leads the country in total blocks (96) and block average (3.43). Following last week's games, Evans moved into second on the Big West season block list, moving past Pacific's Michael Olowokandi with 95 in 1997-98. He is also second on the UCI season list, trailing Mamadou Ndiaye's school and Big West record of 106 (2013-14) by just 10 blocks.

CSUN LOWDOWN
CSUN is the hottest team in the Big West, winning seven in a row. The Matadors are 12-1 at home. The Matadors seven game streak has cut right through the Big West's best, winning against UC Davis, UCSD, at Cal Poly, UC Riverside, Hawai'i, and at UC Santa Barbara in overtime erasing a four-point deficit with 16 seconds left in regulation. They took down Long Beach State by two last Saturday setting up this first place battle versus UC Irvine.

The sides met back in December during Bold Week in the second game of conference play. UCI had a monster second half to erased a four-point halftime deficit to win 85-71. The defense shutdown the Matador attack as they shot 31.4% and went 1-for-8 from beyond the arc in the second 20. UCI got 17 points from Derin Saran and a double-double from Kyle Evans of 12 points and 16 boards.

Senior Josiah Davis was named Lute Olson Award National Player of the Week and Big West Player of the Week on Monday.

CSUN is run by a solid quartet all averaging over 30 minutes a game in Big West action. Larry Hughes II is dropping 19.1 PPG in conference play and is ranked 17th nationally in three-pointers made (3.30) and 19th made overall (89). Joshua O'Garro ranks fifth in the country in defensive rebounds (7.59).

TEAM EFFORT
UC Irvine has a balanced offensive attack with four or more players recording double-digit points in 17 games this year. Six different Anteaters have led UCI in scoring this season with Dixon topping the squad 12 times, including dropping 22 points last time out against UC San Diego.

MORE ON DIXON
Redshirt sophomore Jurian Dixon leads UCI and is seventh in the Big West in scoring with a 15.6 mark, recording double-digit scoring in all but four games this season. He has posted 20 or more points five times this season.

He leads the team with 59 three-pointers and ranks fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.393) and seventh in three-pointers made per game (2.1) among Big West players.

EVANS MAKING HIS MARK
Senior Kyle Evans' 96 blocks is 19 more than anyone in the nation. He ranks seventh all-time in UCI blocks with 144, and is now tracking down Brad Greene who totaled 150 from 2016-21.

Evans has recorded three consecutive double-doubles and has 10 on the season. The forward is second in the Big West in field goal percentage (.625) and rebounding with an 8.8 average, while being 23rd in scoring at 12.1 points per game. Against Big West opponents, Evans tops the league with 9.8 rebounds per outings. 

LAST WEEK REWIND
UCI split a pair of games last week, beating Long Beach State 69-58 on the road before falling to UC San Diego, 69-71 at home.

UC Irvine never trailed in the victory over Black & Blue rival Long Beach State. UCI shot 52.2 percent (24-46) from the floor for the game, including 56.5 (13-23) in the second half. The Anteater defense held The Beach to 31.8 percent from the field (21-66) and just 27.6 percent (8-29) in the first 20 minutes.

It was the fifth time this season UCI has held an opponent under 60 points. The Anteaters are 92-4 in Big West games under Coach Turner when they've allowed 60 points or fewer.

Against the Tritons, UCI who trailed by as many as 17 in the first half, rallied in the second, taking a 66-65 lead on a Jurian Dixon three-pointer with 2:05 to play. UCSD would score the next six points as UCI only managed another Dixon three-pointer as time expired.

HENRY EFFECT
Guard Andre Henry continues to shine off the bench.

Henry posted a season-high 19 points to lead UCI against Cal State Fullerton, going 8-8 from the floor with three threes. He added 15 points versus UCSD last Saturday, hitting 6-12 from the field including three from long range.

Henry is the NCAAs active leader in career games played at the same school, seeing action in 140 over his five-plus years. The 2024 Big West Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 9.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game overall.

UCSB ON THE HORIZON
UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine meet for the second time in February closing out the month on Saturday in UCI's Homecoming Game.

The Gauchos took a large lead early only to hang on for a five-point win in the game in Santa Barbara on Feb. 7th. Andre Henry led UCI with 18 points that game, all in the second half, while UCSB got 21 points from Aidan Mahaney in 39 minutes. UCSB followed that with a win over UC Riverside to put them in the mix for the first place, but then dropped three straight at Cal Poly and two straight in overtime vs. CSUN and at Hawai'i.

Mahaney keys the attack with nearly 17 points a game and 35 minutes a game in Big West play. Four other Gauchos are all averaging over 11 points per game. As a team, they top the conference in shooting percentage. The last meeting saw UCSB win the rebouding margin by 10 and hold UCI to its lowest block total of the season.