Battle For Seeding Continues AS UCR Hosts Cal State Fullerton Wednesday

Riverside—The UC Riverside Men’s Basketball Team has four regular season conference games remaining on its schedule, and it looks like the battle they are entrenched in in the Big West will be for fourth place as the top three teams begin to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the conference.

Long Beach State (12-0) has all but wrapped up the No. 1 seed, while UC Santa Barbara and UCR’s Wednesday evening opponent, Cal State Fullerton, sit at 8-3. That is two-and-a-half games better than Cal Poly and Pacific (6-6), and three-and-a-half games up on the Highlanders and UC Irvine (5-7).

UCR has lost six of its last seven games, most recently in a tough 60-52 defeat at UC Santa Barbara. The Highlanders were severely depleted in the post as Kevin Bradshaw missed the game due to a death in the family, and David Chavarria sat out with an injury. UC Riverside lost BJ Shearry late in the first half to an injury, and TJ Burke and Elliott Berry both fouled out forcing the Highlanders to play a four and five guard lineup at times in the second half.

Bradshaw will be back on Wednesday, and Shearry will be evaluated throughout the week.

Cal State Fullerton, on the other hand, has won six of its last seven—a streak that began with a 72-61 victory over UC Riverside on January 18. Their lone loss during that stretch was a 75-61 defeat at Long Beach State.

The Titans are the top scoring team in the Big West averaging 78.9 points per game. DJ Seeley leads the squad with 17.0 points per game followed by Kwame Vaughn (16.5), Isiah Umipig (13.0) and Omondi Amoke (12.2).

The Highlanders counter with the league's best field goal percentage defense as they hold opponents this year to 39.5 percent shooting from the floor.

Battle For Seeding Continues AS UCR Hosts Cal State Fullerton Wednesday

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