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Men's Basketball:
UC Irvine Hosts Cal State Fullerton Wednesday Night
Feb. 9, 2010 Game #25 UC Irvine (10-14, 3-7) vs. Cal State Fullerton (11-11, 5-5) Series Record: Cal State Fullerton leads 48-41 Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, 16th season) Game #26 UC Irvine vs. UC Davis Series Record: UC Irvine leads 12-11 Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM (Mark Roberts, 16th season) 4 OF NEXT 5 AT HOME: UC Irvine returns to Big West Conference play this week hosting Cal State Fullerton Wednesday night and UC Davis Saturday evening. The `Eaters, who are eighth in the standings, have six league games remaining. The top eight teams compete in the Big West Tournament Mar. 10-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center. UCI, which split non-conference games with Cal State Bakersfield last week, plays four of its next five games at home. The `Eaters travel to UC Riverside Feb. 17 before hosting Marist in a BracketBusters non-conference game Feb. 20 at 4:00 p.m. UCI faces Cal State Northridge Feb. 27 in the Homecoming game and home finale at the Bren Center. MARIST IS BRACKETBUSTER FOE: UCI will host Marist Feb. 20 at 4:00 p.m. in the Bren Center as part of the BracketBusters series. This will be the first meeting between the programs. As part of the series' contract, UCI must play a return game versus the Red Foxes in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. next season.
`EATER NOTES UNDEFEATED LINEUP: UCI is 3-0 this season when starting the lineup it did in Saturday's win over Bakersfield: Patrick Rembert, Michael Hunter, Darren Moore, Eric Wise and Zack Atkinson. IN THE BREN: UCI is 7-4 at home this season and 173-131 all-time in the Bren Center. The `Eaters have won 92 of their last 126 games (.730) in the Bren dating back to February 2000. HUNTER TOP 10 IN 3 CATEGORIES: Senior guard Michael Hunter ranks in the top 10 of three UC Irvine career categories. He is second in three-point field goals (217), third in steals (153) and 10th in assists (279). Ross Schraeder (2002-06) is the UCI leader in threes with 233 and Jeff Gloger (2002-05) tops the career list with 167 steals. UCI CAREER 3-POINT FIELD GOALS UCI CAREER STEALS UCI CAREER ASSISTS 279 Michael Hunter, 2006-present Mike Hess ranks ninth at UCI with 285 career assists. MOVING UP THE SCORING LIST: Hunter is 16th at UCI with 1,197 career points, 15 behind No. 15 Jerry Maras (1,212). Hunter needs 55 more points to crack UCI's career top 10 in scoring. BIG WEST LEADER IN FREE-THROW SHOOTING: Hunter ranks first in the Big West in free-throw percentage (.895), second in three-point field goals made per game (2.54), fifth in steals (1.46) and 10th in scoring (13.8). Hunter, who is 51 of 57 from the foul line this season, has made 21 consecutive free throws dating back to the Jan. 7 win at Cal State Northridge. He missed his first free throw in that game and made his last seven. WISE FOR HIS AGE: Sophomore forward Eric Wise, who is averaging 16.0 points and 6.1 rebounds this season, has accumulated 817 points and 331 rebounds in his young career. He ranks third in the Big West in assist/turnover ratio (1.61), fourth in assists (3.29), fifth in scoring (16.0), ninth in rebounding (6.1) and 10th in free-throw percentage (.708). Wise had his eighth 20-point game of the season, and 14th of his career, with 21 in Saturday's 76-63 win over Bakersfield. He has 43 double-digit performances in 55 career games. He recorded his first double-double of the season (and third of his career) with 14 points and 13 rebounds in the 74-68 loss at Fullerton Jan. 30. Wise was named the Big West Player of the Week two consecutive weeks (Dec. 28 and Jan. 4). His 31 points in the 78-68 loss at San Jose State Dec. 28 marked the first 30-point game by an Anteater player in nearly five years. Aaron Fitzgerald scored 30 points in an 80-67 win over Idaho in the Big West Tournament Mar. 9, 2005. Wise was selected to the media's preseason All-Big West team. He averaged 14.0 points and 6.0 rebounds last season when he was named to the All-Big West Second and Freshman teams. MOORE'S IMPRESSIVE LINE: Junior guard Darren Moore had 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals in Saturday's 76-63 win over Bakersfield. He has averaged 11.6 points and 5.4 rebounds over the past seven games. Moore ranks fifth in the Big West in free-throw percentage (.753) and eighth in steals (1.25). RAMBO IN CONTROL: Junior guard Patrick Rembert has 25 assists and just four turnovers in the last eight games, covering 204 minutes of playing time. ZACK LEADS BIG WEST IN BLOCKED SHOTS: Senior center Zack Atkinson leads the Big West in blocked shots with 28 for a 1.27 average. He has recorded at least three in five games this season. Atkinson scored six points in each game against Bakersfield last week and had three blocks and two steals in Saturday's win. He is shooting 54.1 percent from the field. LALEHZADEH, KIM HIT CAREER HIGHS: Sophomore Jonas Lalehzadeh recorded career highs of eight points and six rebounds in last Wednesday's 68-55 loss at Bakersfield. Junior Emil Kim tied his career highs of six points and three rebounds in five minutes of Saturday's 76-63 win over Bakersfield. UCI IN THE NCAA STATS: As of Monday, UCI ranks 51st (of 334 teams) in the nation in free-throw percentage at .727. BYU is No. 1 at .778. The `Eaters are 53rd in fewest turnovers per game at 12.3 as Wisconsin ranks first at 9.3. Michael Hunter is 53rd in three-point field goal percentage at.374. Minnesota's Blake Hoffarber leads the country at .500. Hunter is 70th in three-point field goals made per game (2.5). Corey Hassan of Sacred Heart is No. 1 at 3.6. UCI LEADS BIG WEST IN FREE-THROW PERCENTAGE: UCI leads the Big West Conference in free-throw percentage at .727 after hitting 29 of 35 (.829) in last week's two games against Cal State Bakersfield. The `Eaters are also first in turnover margin (+1.79) and second in blocked shots (2.83) and assist/turnover ratio (1.05). ABOUT CAL STATE FULLERTON: Seventh-year head coach Bob Burton's Titans are 11-11 overall and 5-5 in the Big West following a 76-59 home loss to UC Riverside Saturday. Senior guard Aaron Thompson leads Fullerton in scoring at 11.9 points per game while junior forward Jer'Vaughn Johnson is averaging 11.0 points and 6.1 rebounds. Sophomore guard Jacques Streeter ranks second in the Big West with an assists average of 4.77 per game. This is the 90th meeting in the series between the teams as Fullerton holds a 48-41 lead. The Titans won 74-68 in Fullerton Jan. 30 as Orane Chin had 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Michael Hunter led UCI with 16 points, all in the second half. ABOUT UC DAVIS: Seventh-year head coach Gary Stewart's Aggies are 9-13 overall and 5-5 in the Big West entering a Wednesday night home game against Pacific. Junior guard Mark Payne (16.5) and senior forward Dominic Calegari (16.4) rank 3-4 in the Big West in scoring. Junior guard Joe Harden ranks fourth in the league in rebounding (7.2) and he is ninth in scoring (14.3). UC Davis defeated UCI, 79-77, in Davis Jan. 14. Calegari scored 28 points and Payne 23 for the Aggies while Eric Wise scored 25 for the `Eaters. |
