Thu October 16, 2008
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'Eaters Travel to Cal Poly, UCSBFeb. 5, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
GAME #22: UC Irvine (9-12, 4-4) vs. Cal Poly (8-12, 3-5) GAME #23: UC Irvine takes its annual Central Coast jaunt this week to face Cal Poly Thursday and UC Santa Barbara Saturday in 7:05 p.m. games. The Anteaters defeated both opponents in the Bren Center in January, topping Cal Poly 73-69 and UCSB 66-63. UCI won its first conference road game of the season with a 70-48 victory at Long Beach State Saturday night as senior center Darren Fells recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and 13th in his career. Sophomore guard Michael Hunter scored a season-high 16 points, hitting 4 of 6 threes, while senior forward Patrick Sanders added 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Marcus McIntosh had a career-high five assists and two steals. FELLS 1ST IN BIG WEST, 25TH IN NATION: Senior center Darren Fells ranks first in the Big West and 25th in the nation in field-goal percentage at .594. Fells also leads the conference in rebounding with an 8.4 average in league games. His 6.2 overall average is fifth in the Big West and he is also fifth in steals at 1.53 per game. Fells' 13.9 scoring average for all games ranks eighth in the conference. He ranks No. 1 in the Big West in offensive rebounds with an average of 2.79 per game and that number jumps to 3.88 in league games only. Ten of Fells' 16 rebounds in last week's two games were off the offensive glass. Forty-five percent of his total rebounds this season have come on the offensive end of the court. Fells, who has four double-doubles this season and 13 in his career, has averaged 15.5 points and 7.8 rebounds over the last four games. Fells, who has 1,054 points and 668 rebounds in his career, is the 11th player in UCI history to record 1,000 points and 600 rebounds. He ranks eighth in career rebounds at UCI, two behind No. 7 Ben McDonald. SANDERS 4TH IN LEAGUE SCORING: Senior forward Patrick Sanders is averaging 17.6 points in Big West play to rank fourth in the conference. His overall scoring average of 15.2 ranks sixth in the league. In the past nine games, Sanders has scored 60 percent of his points in the second half (93 of 155). He has scored in double figures each of the last 14 games and 19 of the 21 games this season. In his UCI career, Sanders has 956 points and 420 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 1.81 per game. Bland ranks ninth in the Big West in rebounding with a 6.0 average for all games. He had a game-high nine rebounds in last Thursday night's loss at Northridge. McINTOSH WITH CAREER HIGH: Senior guard Marcus McIntosh made his second start of the season Saturday at Long Beach State and recorded a career-high five assists in the win over the 49ers. He tied his career high with two steals. HUNTER HEATS UP: Sophomore guard Michael Hunter is 11 of 23 (.478) from three-point range in the last four games. `EATERS 2ND IN SCORING DEFENSE: UCI ranks second in the Big West in scoring defense at 67.3 The Anteaters have held the opposition to an average of 57.3 points in the last four games, including a season-low 48 against Long Beach State last Saturday. Nationally, the Anteaters are 38th (of 328 teams) in fewest turnovers per game at 12.9. AWAJI INELIGIBLE: Senior guard Chuma Awaji is academically ineligible and will not play the remainder of the season. He averaged 7.5 points over the season's first 11 games. COACH DOUGLASS GAINS ON COACH MULLIGAN: Pat Douglass, in his 11th season as head coach at UC Irvine, is one victory away from tying Bill Mulligan for the most wins in Anteater men's basketball coaching history. Douglass enters the Cal Poly game with a UCI record of 162-150 while Mulligan posted a 163-156 mark in 11 seasons. ABOUT CAL POLY: Coach Kevin Bromley's Mustangs are 8-12 overall and 3-5 in the Big West. Junior guard Trae Clark leads the team in scoring with a 9.1 average, followed by sophomore guard Lorenzo Keeler (8.9), senior forward Matt Hanson (8.6) and senior guard Dawin Whiten (8.3). Hanson leads the club in rebounding with a 5.4 average. The Mustangs split a pair of road games last week, defeating Pacific, 69-64, and losing to UC Riverside, 62-58. UCI, which has won five of the last seven meetings between the schools, leads the series 17-13. ABOUT UC SANTA BARBARA: Coach Bob Williams' Gauchos are 16-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big West entering a Thursday night home game with Cal State Fullerton. UCSB defeated UC Riverside, 64-53, in the team's lone game last week. Sophomore guard James Powell led the Gauchos with 25 points and senior guard Alex Harris added 19. Harris leads the team and the Big West in scoring at 20.9 points per game. Senior forward Chris Devine is averaging 13.0 points and 5.3 rebounds while Powell is averaging 12.0 points. The Gauchos lead the Big West in scoring defense (64.1), free-throw percentage (.782), three-point field goal percentage (.425) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.298). UCI trails in the series 41-26. The Anteaters have won the last two meetings but UCSB has won nine of the last 13. |
