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Men's Basketball:
UC Irvine Hosts UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton to End Regular Season
March 5, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
GAME #29: UC Irvine (14-14, 8-6) vs. UC Davis (9-20, 2-12) GAME #30: UC Irvine vs. Cal State Fullerton (20-8, 11-4) UCI HOSTS AGGIES, TITANS: UC Irvine, 11-0 in on-campus games this season, hosts UC Davis Thursday night and Cal State Fullerton Saturday evening to close out the regular season. UCI's 11-0 on-campus record includes a Nov. 9 win over Loyola Marymount at Crawford Court. The Anteaters, 10-0 in the Bren Center this year, have one "home" loss, a 77-68 setback to Nevada Nov. 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center when the new Bren Center floor was being installed. The Anteaters have won five of their last six games, including 64-57 over Long Beach State and 82-66 against Cal State Northridge last week. The Anteaters are 7-3 since losing at Pacific Jan. 19. ALSO BASKETBALL EXTRAVAGANZA: Saturday night is the annual "Basketball Extravaganza" at the Bren Center. Some of Orange County's top CEOs, who are members of the University's Chief Executive Roundtable, will have a halftime free-throw shooting contest to raise scholarship dollars for UCI Athletics. SANDERS NAMED BIG WEST PLAYER OF WEEK: Senior forward Patrick Sanders has been named the Big West Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career. The 6-6 Sanders averaged 19.5 points and 5.5 boards in UCI's two home wins last week. Sanders scored 23 points in Thursday's 64-57 win over Long Beach State as he netted UCI's final 11 points after the Anteaters trailed 55-53 with just over four minutes left. Sanders scored eight points in each half of Saturday's 82-66 win over league-leading Cal State Northridge. He hit back-to-back jumpers near the four-minute mark in the second half to help the Anteaters extend their lead after the Matadors had closed to within three points. THE 1-2 COMBO OF FELLS, SANDERS: Darren Fells and Patrick Sanders have delivered a solid 1-2 punch for the Anteaters this season. They have combined to average 30.0 points and 11.5 rebounds while shooting 51.6 percent from the field and 77.5 percent from the free-throw line. In their Anteater careers, they have combined to score 2,224 points and pull down 1,171 rebounds. FELLS 1ST IN BIG WEST, 34TH IN NATION: Senior center Darren Fells ranks first in the Big West and 34th in the nation in field-goal percentage at .568. Fells also leads the conference in offensive rebounds with a 2.77 average for all games and a 3.43 average in league contests. He ranks third in the Big West in steals at 1.65 per game and he is fifth in rebounding for all games with a 6.8 average. Fells' 14.4 scoring average for all games ranks ninth in the conference. Fells, who has 21 double-figure rebounding games in his career, has five double-doubles this season and 14 in his career. He has recorded five assists in each of the last three games. Over the last 11 games, Fells has converted 59 of 73 free throws (.808). He is just the fifth player in UCI history to record 1,000 points and 700 rebounds as he enters the UC Davis game with 1,165 points and 728 boards. Fells ranks fifth at UCI in career rebounds and 15th in career points. He is tied with current assistant coach Tod Murphy for 10th all-time in steals with 95. SANDERS 17TH IN CAREER POINTS: Senior forward Patrick Sanders, who has scored in double digits 24 times this season, ranks 17th in career scoring at UCI with 1,059 points. He is the 18th player in UCI history to score 1,000 career points. Sanders has 443 rebounds in his Anteater career. In the Big West for all games this season, Sanders ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.465) and sixth in scoring (15.6), field-goal percentage (.476) and free-throw percentage (.829). His scoring average of 17.8 in league games ranks fourth in the Big West. He is third in three-point field goal percentage (.500), fifth in free-throw percentage (.879) and seventh in field-goal percentage (.481) in conference games. THE McINTOSH IMPACT: Senior guard Marcus McIntosh has started the last eight games, recording 20 assists, 16 steals and just nine turnovers in that span. He has averaged 8.6 points as UCI is 6-2 in those games. McIntosh ranks ninth in the Big West with an average of 1.43 steals in league games. HUNTER HEATS UP: Sophomore guard Michael Hunter has averaged 13.8 points over the last four games, recording eight assists and eight steals. He tied his career high with 18 points in last Saturday's 82-66 win over Cal State Northridge, converting a big four-point play with 4:36 remaining after the Matadors had closed to within three points. Hunter recorded a career-high six steals in the Feb. 20 loss at UC Riverside. He ranks seventh in the Big West with a .419 three-point field goal percentage in league games. BLAND RANKS IN BIG WEST TOP 10: Junior forward Kevin Bland ranks fifth in the Big West in steals per game with a 1.61 average for all games. He is 10th in rebounding average (5.6) for all games. LAUER 9TH IN BIG WEST THREES: Junior guard Brett Lauer ranks ninth in the Big West with a .405 three-point field goal percentage for all games. He scored a career-high 25 points, including 23 in the second half, at UC Riverside Feb. 20. He also hit a career-high seven threes in 10 attempts. The last UCI player to make at least seven triples in a game was Ross Schraeder, who was 8 of 13 in a 76-55 win at San Jose State Dec. 17, 2004. IN THE BREN: UC Irvine is 10-0 this season in the Bren Events Center and 160-119 all-time. The Anteaters have won 78 of their last 100 games (.780) in the Bren dating back to February 2000. SOLID `D': UCI has held eight of its last 11 opponents to under 60 points. The Anteaters, who rank second in the Big West with a defensive average of 66.1, have limited the opposition to an average of 60.6 points over the past 11 games. Cal State Fullerton, Saturday night's opponent, leads the Big West in offense with an 83.0 scoring average. UCI BALLHANDLING RECOGNIZED: The Anteaters rank 29th nationally (of 328 D-I teams) in fewest turnovers per game with a 12.5 average. UCI had a season-low five turnovers in last Thursday night's win over Long Beach State. BIG TIPPERS: The Anteaters have won the opening tip 20 times in the team's 28 games this season. THE LAST 8 GAMES: UCI has gone 6-2 in its last eight games, shooting 42 percent from three-point range in that span. The Anteaters have averaged 12.0 turnovers in those games to 15.0 by the opposition. `EATERS 35TH NATIONALLY IN FREE-THROW SHOOTING: UCI is 43rd nationally (of 328 teams) in free-throw percentage at .737. COACH DOUGLASS LEADS UCI IN CAREER WINS: Pat Douglass, in his 11th season as head coach at UC Irvine, passed Bill Mulligan Feb. 14 in the 74-59 win over Pacific for the most wins in Anteater men's basketball coaching history. Douglass enters the UC Davis game with a UCI record of 167-152 while Mulligan posted a 163-156 mark in 11 seasons. ABOUT UC DAVIS: Coach Gary Stewart's Aggies are 9-20 overall and 2-12 in the Big West entering Thursday's game with UCI. UC Davis defeated Sacramento State, 83-77, in a non-conference game last Saturday for the team's first win since defeating the Anteaters, 74-57, in Davis Jan. 17. Junior guard Vince Oliver leads the Aggies in scoring at 12.5 points per game. Sophomore guard Shane Hanson is averaging 10.0 points while redshirt freshman Mark Payne is averaging 9.1 points and 5.2 rebounds. Payne recorded the third triple-double in school history with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the win over Sacramento State. Junior guard David Carter led UC Davis with 19 points in the January win over UCI in a game that saw the Aggies score the first 17 points. ABOUT CAL STATE FULLERTON: Coach Bob Burton's Titans are 20-8 overall and 11-4 in the Big West following an 84-80 non-conference win at Cal State Bakersfield Tuesday. Fullerton is battling Cal State Northridge (11-3) for the top seed in the Big West Tournament while UC Santa Barbara also gives chase at 10-4. Junior guard Josh Akognon is averaging 19.8 points and has hit 98 triples this season. Senior forward Frank Robinson is averaging 16.1 points and 6.9 boards while senior forward Scott Cutley is averaging 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds. Akognon scored 22 points in the Titans' 93-83 win over UCI Jan. 4.
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