Men's Basketball Hits The Road For Thursday Tilt At Cal Poly

Riverside—The UC Riverside Men’s Basketball Team put an end to its four-game losing streak Saturday, with a 59-54 win over UC Davis, and the Highlanders are now in a three-way tie with Pacific and UC Irvine for fourth place in the Big West.

Four of their final six conference games are on the road, however, so if they are going to secure an upper-division finish, they will need to do so by winning away from the SRC. First up is a trip to Cal Poly for a Thursday, Feb. 9 meeting with the Mustangs. Tip is slated for 7 pm PT.

The Highlanders evened their record in Big West play Saturday thanks to their defense and a lack of turnovers. They held the Aggies to 36.0 percent shooting from the field while coughing up the ball just 10 times.

That marked the fourth straight game that UCR held the opposition to 40 percent shooting or below, and 10th time in the Highlanders last 12 contests. For the season, UC Riverside opponents are now successful on just 39.7 percent of their field goal attempts—the 47th best percentage in the nation. The 10 turnovers are the fewest they committed since December 19 when San Diego State forced the Highlanders into just five miscues.

Cal Poly (13-11, 4-6) was picked to finish third by the media in preseason polling, but losses to UCR, Pacific and Cal State Fullerton have the Mustangs in seventh place.

David Hanson is Poly’s leading scorer at just 11.6 points per game. He is followed by Will Taylor (10.5) and Amaurys Fermin (10.0). But it is defense for which the Mustangs are known as they allow just 59.0 points per game,

The Highlanders are 43-41 all-time against the Mustangs including a 60-53 win on January 14 of this year. Phil Martin (13 points) and Kevin Bradshaw (11) paced UC Riverside offensively, while the Highlanders’ defense limited Cal Poly to 34.0 percent shooting from the field including 25.0 percent (5 of 20) from three-point range.

Men's Basketball Hits The Road For Thursday Tilt At Cal Poly

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