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Men's Basketball:
Anteaters Host UC Riverside Saturday Night
Jan. 24, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
GAME #19: UC Irvine (7-11, 2-3) vs. UC Riverside (4-13, 1-5) UC Irvine plays a rare home game Saturday night against UC Riverside before beginning a stretch of four consecutive road contests. The Anteaters are 6-0 in on-campus games this season but just 1-11 outside of Irvine (including a home loss to Nevada at the Anaheim Convention Center). UC Riverside is 0-9 in road games this season. UCI lost a pair of Big West Conference road tests last week, 74-57 at UC Davis Thursday and 59-53 to Pacific Saturday. Senior forward Patrick Sanders averaged 16.5 points in the two games and leads UCI with a 15.1 scoring average. Sophomore guard Michael Hunter scored a season-high 15 points at Pacific, hitting 5 of 7 three-point field goals. Senior center Darren Fells recorded his third double-double in the past four games with 13 points and 10 rebounds versus Pacific. Fells currently has 1,005 career points to rank 17th at UCI and his 647 rebounds put him at No. 8 on the `Eaters' all-time list. `EATER NOTES ► Senior forward Patrick Sanders is averaging 18.8 points in Big West play to rank fifth in the conference. Over the past 11 games he has averaged 17.1 points. His overall scoring average of 15.1 ranks sixth in the league. In his UCI career, he has 909 points and 403 rebounds. ► Senior center Darren Fells leads the Big West Conference in field-goal percentage for all games at .592. That percentage ranks 22nd nationally entering the week. He ranks No. 1 in the Big West in offensive rebounds with an average of 2.56 per game and that number jumps to 3.80 in league games only. Fells, who has three double-doubles this season and 12 in his career, leads the Big West in rebounding for league games only with a 9.2 average and he is fifth for all games at 6.1. Fells, who has 1,005 points and 647 rebounds in his career, is the 11th player in UCI history to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds. ► Sophomore guard Michael Hunter, who scored 10 points at UC Davis and 15 against Pacific last week, was 7 of 15 (467) from three-point range in the two games. ► Junior forward Kevin Bland is first in the Big West in steals with an average of 2.06 per game, which ranks 67th nationally. He had four steals in the two road games last week and recorded a team-high seven rebounds against UC Davis. Bland ranks eighth in the Big West in rebounding with a 5.9 average for all games. ► Junior guard Brett Lauer ranks fourth in the Big West in free-throw percentage (.909) for league games only. Lauer had a tough trip from the field, hitting 2 of 15 field goals, including 1 of 11 from three-point range. ► UCI ranks 32nd nationally (of 328 teams) in fewest turnovers per game with a 12.8 average. The Anteaters had a season-low six turnovers last Thursday at UC Davis. ► In the two road games last week, UCI shot 38.7 percent from the field, including 27.5 percent from three-point range. ► 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. ► Guards Chuma Awaji and Trey Harris remain sidelined indefinitely due to academic reasons. ABOUT UC RIVERSIDE: Coach Jim Wooldridge's Highlanders are 4-13 overall and 1-5 in the Big West following a 72-61 loss Wednesday night at Cal State Fullerton. Senior guard Larry Cunningham is the lone UCR player with a double-figure scoring average at 14.6. He had 14 points off the bench against Fullerton and 20 in a 70-66 win over Long Beach State last Saturday. UCI won all three meetings with UCR last season, including a come-from-behind, 53-52 victory in the first round of the Big West Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center. The Anteaters, who lead the series 25-16, have won the last six meetings with the Highlanders.
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