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Men's Basketball:
UC Irvine Faces UC Davis Wednesday Night at Big West Tournament
March 10, 2009 Complete Release in PDF Format
UC IRVINE (12-18, 8-8) vs. UC DAVIS (12-18, 7-9) Big West Conference Tournament Series Record: UCI leads 12-9 Radio: KUCI/88.9 FM --------------------------------------------- 2009 BIG WEST TOURNAMENT Convention Center Box Office: (714) 765-8980 Times for second games of each session are approximate. Those games will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Wednesday, March 11 - First Round Thursday, March 12 - Quarterfinals Friday, March 13 - Semifinals - Televised by ESPNU Saturday, March 14 - Championship - Televised by ESPN2 UC Irvine enters this week's Big West Conference Tournament as the No. 5 seed as the Anteaters have won four of their last five games and finished the regular season 12-18 overall and 8-8 in the league to tie for fourth place with UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside. The Anteaters open tourney play Wednesday against eighth-seeded UC Davis, which defeated UCI both times in the regular season --- 88-85 at the Bren Center and 85-76 in Davis. UCI is coming off a 65-62 win at Cal State Fullerton last Saturday as freshman forward Eric Wise had 20 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Michael Hunter added 16 points, redshirt freshman guard Derrick Strings tied his career high with 11 points, and senior forward Kevin Bland pulled down 12 rebounds. This year marks the 27th appearance for the Anteaters in the Big West Tournament. UCI, 20-26 all-time in the event, won three straight games in last year's tourney before losing to Cal State Fullerton, 81-66, in the championship game. This is the third consecutive year that UCI has entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed, winning five of seven games in the last two league tourneys. The Anteaters have reached the tournament final three times: 1988 (86-79 loss to Utah State), 1994 (70-64 loss to New Mexico State) and 2008 (81-66 loss to Cal State Fullerton). WISE, HUNTER RECEIVE ALL-BIG WEST RECOGNITION: Freshman forward Eric Wise and junior guard Michael Hunter received All-Big West Conference recognition as the awards were announced Monday. Wise was named to the All-Big West second team as well as the Freshman squad. He leads UCI in scoring at 14.2 points per game, which ranks seventh in the conference and is the top freshman average. He has recorded six 20-point games this season. Wise ranks eighth in the league in free-throw percentage (.770), and ninth in rebounding (5.9) and field-goal percentage (.445). Hunter was named to the All-Big West honorable mention team. He is averaging 11.8 points per game and tops the league in steals for conference games with a 1.93 average per contest. Hunter is fifth all-time at UCI with 154 three-point field goals. He ranks fourth in the Big West with an average of 2.53 threes per game. UCI 9TH IN NATION IN 3-POINT PERCENTAGE: UCI enters the week ranked ninth of 330 teams nationally in three-point field goal percentage at .402 in the NCAA Division I statistics released Monday. California ranks No. 1 at 43.8 percent. The `Eaters have hit 46 of 100 (.460) threes in the last five games. WISE TOP-SCORING FROSH IN THE BIG WEST: Freshman forward Eric Wise, who has averaged 18.6 points and 7.0 rebounds over the last five games, is the top-scoring freshman in the Big West with a 14.2 average that leads UCI and ranks sixth in the league. Wise has scored in double figures 22 times this season with six 20-point games. He has hit 32 of 39 free throws in the last five games. He scored a career-high 25 points in the Jan. 3 win over Cal State Fullerton. His overall scoring average of 14.2 is the highest for a UCI freshman since Kevin Simmons averaged 14.9 points in 1995. Wise's father, Francois, was an All-American player at Long Beach State and his uncle, Willie Wise, was a standout in the ABA in the 1970s. HUNTER 1st IN BIG WEST STEALS, 5TH IN UCI CAREER TREYS: Junior guard Michael Hunter leads UCI with 65 threes this season and has 154 in his career to rank fifth at UCI. Hunter, who ranks second on the team with an 11.8 scoring average, had a career-high 22 points in the Feb. 12 loss at UC Davis, hitting 11 of 12 free throws. He is averaging 14.0 points over the last seven games. He leads the `Eaters with 42 steals on the season and ranks sixth all-time at UCI with 115 thefts, five behind No. 5 Mike Hess (120 from 1985-88). Hunter ranks third in the Big West for all games in three-point field goals made per game (2.24) and fifth in steals (1.45). In league games only, he ranks fourth in three-point field goals made per game (2.53). LAUER LEADS BIG WEST IN THREE-POINT SHOOTING: Senior guard Brett Lauer, who has 62 treys this season, is shooting 50.4 percent from three-point range to lead the Big West Conference for all games. He would rank No. 1 in the nation but falls short of the NCAA-minimum of 2.5 threes made per game. With 112 career threes, he ranks 11th all-time at UCI, four behind No. 9 Jerry Green and Mike Hood. Lauer is fifth in the Big West in three-point field goals made per game at 2.07. In conference games only, he ranks second in three-point percentage (.534) and is sixth in three-pointers made per game (2.44). He has hit 17 of 28 triples (.607) in the last eight games. Lauer was named the Big West Player of the Week Jan. 5 after scoring a career-high 27 points (7 of 12 threes) in the Jan. 3 win over Cal State Fullerton. BLAND LEADS BIG WEST IN DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Senior forward Kevin Bland leads the Big West this season with seven double-doubles. He is averaging 10.0 points and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game (second in the Big West). Bland ranks sixth in the Big West in field-goal percentage at .483. He has scored in double digits 16 times this season and had a career-high 26 points in the Nov. 21 loss to Oregon at the Bren Center. Bland was named to the all-tournament team at the Basketball Travelers Tip-Off Tourney in Springfield, Mo., in December after averaging 13.7 points and a tourney-high 10.3 rebounds in three games. His 18 boards in a 64-51 tournament win over Norfolk State Dec. 22 were the most in 25 years by a UCI player since Bob Thornton pulled down 22 in a 93-72 win over Pacific Jan. 21, 1984. DeCASAS CONTINUES VALUABLE PLAY: Junior wing Chad DeCasas has averaged 11.5 points over the last three games. He scored 16 points in the Feb. 28 win over UC Riverside, hitting 5 of 8 field goals. He came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points in the Feb. 21 win at Hawai'i, hitting 6 of 12 field goals including 3 of 7 threes. `RAMBO' LEADS IN ASSISTS: Sophomore point guard Patrick Rembert leads UCI with 83 assists after recording a career-high nine in last Saturday's win at Cal State Fullerton. Rembert ranks fourth in the Big West for league games with a 3.50 average. He has averaged 10.4 points over the last five games, hitting 16 of 29 field goals in that span. `EATER NOTES --- UCI ranks first in the Big West Conference for all games in three-point field goal percentage at .402. The Anteaters are second in the league in free-throw percentage (.759) and in fewest turnovers per game (11.8), third in assist/turnover ratio (1.06) and fourth in scoring defense (68.8)... --- Entering the week, UCI is ninth of 330 Division I teams in the latest NCAA rankings in three-point field goal percentage at .402. The `Eaters are 11th in free-throw percentage (.759) and 21st in fewest turnovers per game at 11.8... --- The Anteaters have hit 78 of 95 free throws (.821) and 46 of 100 three-point shots (.460) in the last five games. UCI shot 50.3 percent from the field in the last three games, hitting 74 of 147 shots... --- The Anteaters have had 10 games this season of single-digit turnovers... --- UCI head coach Pat Douglass picked up win No. 550 on the four-year collegiate level with UCI's 78-74, overtime victory over Cal State Fullerton Jan. 3. Coach Douglass leads all Big West coaches with 559 career victories on the four-year level... ABOUT UC DAVIS: Sixth-year head coach Gary Stewart's Aggies enter the tournament as the eighth seed with a 12-18 overall record. UC Davis was 7-9 in conference play. Vince Oliver, an All-Big West first team selection, is averaging 15.5 points. Joe Harden and Mark Payne, second-team picks, are averaging 14.9 and 10.8 points, respectively. Harden leads the team in rebounding at 7.2 per game followed by Payne at 5.7 Dominic Calegari is averaging 10.9 points. The Aggies won both regular-season meetings between the schools. In the game at the Bren Center, UC Davis led by 18 points with just over seven minutes to play before UCI rallied to cut the deficit to two with five seconds left but the Aggies pulled out an 88-85 win. Oliver led UC Davis with 24 points while Eric Wise had a team-high 19 for the `Eaters. At Davis, the Aggies took the lead for good with 14 ½ minutes remaining and won 85-76 on the strength of 24 points from Harden. Michael Hunter scored a career-high 22 for UCI.
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