Feb. 12, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

LEAGUE-LEADING TIGERS IN TOWN: UC Irvine (10-13, 5-5) hosts Big West Conference leader Pacific (17-6, 8-2) Thursday night at 7:05 as the Anteaters play six of their final seven regular-season games at home.

UCI lost 57-56 at Cal Poly last Thursday night, then defeated UC Santa Barbara, 65-59, Saturday at the Thunderdome to move one game behind the Gauchos for fourth place in the conference. The top four teams in the regular-season standings receive a first-round bye at the league tournament.

COACH DOUGLASS NEEDS ONE MORE FOR RECORD: UCI head coach Pat Douglass needs one more victory to become the career wins' leader in Anteater men's basketball coaching history.

He and Bill Mulligan (1980-91) are tied with 163 wins each. Douglass reached that figure in five fewer games than Mulligan. Douglass, who is in his 11th season at UCI, enters Thursday's game with a UCI career mark of 163-151 while Mulligan was 163-156 in his 11 seasons.

FELLS 1ST IN BIG WEST, 22ND IN NATION: Senior center Darren Fells ranks first in the Big West and 22nd in the nation in field-goal percentage at .593.

Fells also leads the conference in offensive rebounds with a 2.71 average for all games and 3.50 in league contests.

He ranks fifth in the Big West in rebounding for all games with a 6.4 average and he is sixth in steals at 1.52 per game.

Fells' 13.9 scoring average for all games ranks eighth in the conference.

He is the 11th player in UCI history to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds as he enters the week with 1,081 points and 684 boards. He ranks seventh in career rebounds at UCI, six behind No. 6 Kevin Magee, and 17th in career points, 13 behind No. 16 Ross Schraeder.

SANDERS 4TH IN LEAGUE SCORING: Senior forward Patrick Sanders is averaging 17.7 points in Big West play to rank fourth in the conference. His overall scoring average of 15.3 ranks sixth in the league.

Sanders ranks second in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage with a .473 mark for all games.

He has scored in double figures each of his last 14 games and 20 of the 22 games he has played in this season. Sanders missed last Thursday's game at Cal Poly with a hyperextended right knee. He came back and scored 18 points in Saturday's win at UCSB.

In his UCI career, Sanders has 974 points and 423 rebounds. He is on pace to join Darren Fells as the second Anteater player this season to reach 1,000 career points.

BLAND 2ND IN STEALS: Junior forward Kevin Bland ranks second in the Big West in steals with an overall average of 1.74 per game. He is eighth in the league in rebounding with a 5.9 average for all games.

McINTOSH WITH CAREER HIGH: Senior guard Marcus McIntosh, who has started the last three games, had a career-high 16 points in Saturday's win at UCSB, hitting 6 of 9 field goals. In the last three games, McIntosh has recorded 11 assists and eight steals.

DeCASAS HITS CAREER HIGH: Sophomore wing Chad DeCasas, who has started the last four games, scored a career-high 16 points in last Thursday's loss at Cal Poly, hitting 4 of 8 threes.

`EATERS RANK 1ST IN SCORING DEFENSE FOR LEAGUE GAMES: UCI ranks No. 1 in the Big West with a 64.4 scoring defense in league games. The Anteaters have held the opposition to an average of 57.5 points in the last six games.

Nationally, the Anteaters are 41st (of 328 teams) in fewest turnovers per game at 12.8.

IN THE BREN: UC Irvine is 156-119 all-time in the Bren Events Center. The Anteaters have won 74 of their last 96 games (.771) in the Bren dating back to February 2000.

UCI ONE GAME OUT OF FOURTH: The Anteaters trail UC Santa Barbara by one game for fourth place in the latest Big West Conference standings.

Pacific and Cal State Northridge are tied at the top with 8-2 marks, Cal State Fullerton is third at 8-3, UCSB is fourth at 6-4 and UCI fifth at 5-5. The top four teams in the regular-season standings receive a first-round bye in the Big West Tournament and the top two teams automatically advance to the tournament semifinals.

The Anteaters play five of their last six Big West games at home this season. UCI is 7-0 in on-campus games this season, including a Nov. 9 win over Loyola Marymount at Crawford Court.

The Anteaters are 3-13 away from Irvine, including a Nov. 13 "home" loss to Nevada at the Anaheim Convention Center. UCI has won two of its last three road games.

ABOUT PACIFIC: Coach Bob Thomason's Tigers are 17-6 overall and tied for first in the Big West with Cal State Northridge at 8-2 in league games.

Junior guard Steffan Johnson leads Pacific in scoring at 15.3 points per game and he is shooting 44 percent from three-point range on 50 of 113. Junior guard Chad Troyer is averaging 12.9 points and has hit 60 threes in 23 games this season.

Junior forward Anthony Brown is averaging 11.0 points and 7.3 rebounds.

Pacific leads the Big West in field-goal percentage at .491, which ranks ninth in the nation entering the week.

The Tigers defeated the Anteaters, 59-53, in Stockton Jan. 19 to take a 35-31 lead in the series.

Brown led Pacific with 12 points and eight rebounds in the January win while Johnson added 10 points. Patrick Sanders and Michael Hunter scored 15 points apiece for UCI while Darren Fells had 13 points and 10 rebounds.