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Men's Basketball:
UC Irvine Travels to South Carolina, Harvard
Dec. 26, 2007
GAME #12: UC Irvine (4-7) vs. South Carolina (6-5) GAME #13: UC Irvine vs. Harvard (4-10) UC Irvine (4-7) continues on its streak of five consecutive road games facing South Carolina Friday (Dec. 28) and Harvard Sunday (Dec. 30). These will be the second meetings in the series between the schools as the Anteaters defeated South Carolina, 67-52, and Harvard, 81-48, in Irvine last season. UCI dropped a pair of games in Texas last week, losing to Sam Houston State, 61-54, and 11th-ranked Texas A&M, 88-66. Junior guard Trey Harris led the Anteaters with 13 points against SHSU while seniors Darren Fells and Patrick Sanders added 12 points each. Fells hit 8 of 11 field goals and scored 19 points in the loss to Texas A&M. Sanders added 18 points and sophomore Chad DeCasas scored a career-high 11. After this East Coast swing, UCI opens the Big West Conference schedule on the road versus Cal State Fullerton Jan. 4. `EATER NOTES ► Friday night's game marks the first time that UCI has played in the state of South Carolina. Sunday's game is the third trip to Massachusetts for the Anteater program. UCI lost 95-79 at Boston College Jan. 7, 1969 and 79-76 at Boston University Dec. 1, 1992. ► Senior center Darren Fells ranks 11th in career rebounds at UCI with 588. He is 23 boards behind No. 10 Ricky Butler and 26 away from Nos. 8 Jeff Von Lutzow and Jerry Maras. Fells leads the Big West Conference in field-goal percentage at .629. He was 12 of 19 from the floor in last week's two games in Texas and is 26 of 37 (.703) in the past four contests. ► Junior forward Kevin Bland is second in the Big West in steals with an average of 2.00 per game and ranks 10th in rebounding with a 5.6 average. ► Junior guard Brett Lauer ranks third in the Big West in three-point field goal percentage at .516 (16 of 31). ► Senior forward Patrick Sanders shot 53.2 percent from the field in the last four games, converting 25 of 47. He has averaged 15.3 points in that span. He was 13 of 24 (.542) from the floor in the two games in Texas. Sanders ranks seventh in the Big West in scoring average (13.2) and 14th in rebounding (5.1). ► Sophomore wing Chad DeCasas scored a career-high 11 points in last Saturday's loss to Texas A&M. ► Senior guard Marcus McIntosh started his first game of the season last Saturday at Texas A&M, where he played in 2004-05. He went scoreless with one rebound in 15 minutes of action after tying his career high with five rebounds at Sam Houston State. ► Junior guard Trey Harris also made his first UCI start against Texas A&M. He had two points and four assists in 21 minutes. ► UCI ranks second in the Big West Conference in assist/turnover ratio at 0.99. The Anteaters are third in the league in scoring defense at 67.4. ► UCI was 16 of 36 (.444) from three-point range in the games against Sam Houston State and Texas A&M. ► The Anteaters recorded a season-low seven turnovers versus Texas A&M. ► UCI is 0-7 in games this season outside of Irvine. The Anteaters' last win outside of the city limits was 70-52 over UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Conference Tournament quarterfinals last March 8 at the Anaheim Convention Center. ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA: Coach Dave Odom's Gamecocks are 6-5 overall following an 85-82 win over the College of Charleston last Saturday. Sophomore guard Devan Downey leads USC in scoring at 18.4 points per game and he is averaging 5.4 assists. Junior guard Zam Frederick is averaging 15.9 points after scoring 21 versus Charleston. Sophomore guard Brandis Raley-Ross is averaging 11.5 points. He has hit 30 of 44 three-point shots for 68.2 percent. South Carolina is shooting 44.5 percent from three-point range. The Gamecocks are averaging 79.6 points per game to the opposition's 70.1. USC has an assist-turnover ratio of 1.36. ABOUT HARVARD: Coach Tommy Amaker's Harvard club is 4-10 overall following a 75-66 loss at Sacred Heart last Saturday. Junior guard Drew Housman leads the Crimson in scoring at 13.6 points per game and he is averaging 3.9 assists. Sophomore guard Jeremy Lin is averaging 12.6 points while junior forward Evan Harris is averaging 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds. Sophomore forward Pat Magnarelli is averaging 10.0 points and a team-leading 6.3 boards. Harvard is shooting 47.3 percent from the field. Amaker is in his first season at Harvard after serving the previous six seasons as head coach at Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to three NIT appearances. His Crimson club defeated Michigan, 62-51, in Cambridge Dec. 1. Amaker, a former player and assistant coach at Duke, was head coach for four seasons at Seton Hall prior to moving to Michigan.
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