Jan. 14, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

GAME #17:

UC Irvine (7-9, 2-1) vs. UC Davis (7-9, 1-2)
Thursday, January 17, 2008 - 7:05 p.m.
The Pavilion (7,100) - Davis, California
Series Record: UCI leads 11-6
Last Meeting: UCI won 73-59 (2/22/07 at Irvine)
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, PBP, 14th season)
TV: Comcast Sports Net West (Greg Papa & Dan Belluomini)

GAME #18:

UC Irvine vs. Pacific
Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 7:05 p.m.
Alex G. Spanos Center (6,150) - Stockton, California
Series Record: Pacific leads 34-31
Last Meeting: Pacific won 89-82 (2/1/07 at Irvine)
Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, PBP, 14th season)
TV: Fox Sports Net Prime Ticket (Paul Sunderland & Michael Cage)

UC Irvine begins a stretch of Big West Conference road tests this week facing UC Davis Thursday night and Pacific Saturday evening.

The Anteaters, 6-0 in on-campus games this season, play six of their next seven contests, and seven of the next nine, on the road.

Coach Pat Douglass' squad won both league games at home this past week, defeating UC Santa Barbara, 66-63, Thursday and Cal Poly, 73-69, Saturday. Saturday's victory was No. 160 at UCI for Douglass, who is in his 11th season.

Patrick Sanders and Brett Lauer each scored 34 points in the two victories while Darren Fells recorded a pair of double-doubles, averaging 12.5 points and 12.0 rebounds. Fells leads the Big West and is 23rd nationally in field-goal percentage at .602.

`EATER NOTES

► Guards Chuma Awaji and Trey Harris remain sidelined indefinitely due to academic reasons.

► UCI's nine losses this season have come against teams with a combined winning percentage of .676 (96-46) entering the week. Four of those opponents (Texas A&M, Sam Houston State, Chattanooga and Mississippi State) are a combined 51-13 (.797).

► Senior center Darren Fells leads the Big West Conference in field-goal percentage for all games at .602. That percentage ranks 23rd nationally entering the week. He has scored in double figures each of the last 10 games. With two double-doubles last week, he now has 11 in his career.

Fells has 988 points and 633 rebounds in his career as he is on target to become the 11th player in UCI history to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds. Fells ranks eighth at UCI in career rebounds with 633. Ben McDonald (1980-84) ranks seventh with 670 career boards.

Fells is eighth in the league in scoring average (14.1) and in steals per game (1.50), and ninth in rebounding (5.9).

► Senior forward Patrick Sanders has averaged 17.3 points over the last nine games, including 20.3 over the first three conference games. He has seven blocked shots in the past four games and leads UCI with 14 on the season.

Sanders ranks sixth in the Big West in scoring average (14.9). In his UCI career, he has 876 points and 397 rebounds.

► Junior forward Kevin Bland is first in the Big West in steals with an average of 2.06 per game, which ranks 70th nationally. He ranks eighth in rebounding in the conference with a 5.9 average.

► Junior guard Brett Lauer ranks fifth in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .455. In conference games only, Lauer ranks fourth in free-throw percentage (.909) and eighth in scoring (15.3). Lauer has averaged 13.6 points over the last five games

► UCI ranks second in the Big West Conference in assist/turnover ratio at 0.97.

► The Anteaters, who are averaging 7.9 steals per game, had a season-low three against Cal Poly last Saturday.

► UC Irvine is 155-119 all-time in the Bren Events Center. The Anteaters have won 73 of their last 95 games (.768) in the Bren dating back to February 2000.

STARBUCKS & `EATERS: Three former UC Irvine players have positions with the Seattle Supersonics. Scott Brooks (1985-87) and Brian Keefe (1994-96) are assistant coaches while Bob Thornton (1981-84) is a scout with the organization.

COACH DOUGLASS: Pat Douglass, in his 11th season as head coach at UC Irvine, is four victories away from becoming the career wins' leader in Anteater men's basketball coaching history. He enters the UC Davis game with a UCI record of 160-147.

Douglass leads all Big West Conference coaches with 536 victories at the four-year collegiate level. In his 27th season in the four-year ranks, he is 536-266.

ABOUT UC DAVIS: Coach Gary Stewart's Aggies are 7-9 overall and 1-2 in the Big West. UC Davis lost a pair of road games last week, 82-47 to Cal State Northridge and 71-53 to Long Beach State.

Junior guard Vince Oliver leads the Aggies in scoring at 12.4 points per game while sophomore guard Shane Hanson is averaging 11.6 points.

UCI has won the last three meetings with the Aggies and six of the past seven.

ABOUT PACIFIC: Coach Bob Thomason's Tigers are 11-5 overall and 2-1 in the Big West entering a Thursday night home game with Cal State Fullerton.

Junior guard Steffan Johnson leads the Tigers in scoring with a 15.6 average, followed by junior guard Chad Troyer at 11.8 and junior forward Anthony Brown at 10.9.

The teams split last season with each winning road games. UCI won 67-42 at Stockton, handing the Tigers their worst conference loss in 17 years and their worst home loss in 19 seasons. Pacific avenged the loss less then three weeks later with an 89-82 victory at UCI.

Pacific leads the series 34-31 Thomason and UCI head coach Pat Douglass are long-time friends and were teammates at Pacific.

In the consolation game of the 1971 NCAA West Regional at Salt Lake City, Douglass scored 14 points and Thomason 11 in an 84-81 win over BYU.