Men's Basketball Travels To UC Davis Thursday, Hawai'i Saturday

January 16	7 pm PT	at UC Davis	Fox Sports 1350 AM	Live Video	Listen Live	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets
January 18	9 pm PT	at Hawai'i	Fox Sports 1350 AM	Live VIdeo	Listen Live	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets
					Game Notes

Davis, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team looks to get back on the winning track this week as the Highlanders travel to UC Davis on Thursday, January 16 for a 7 pm PT tip with the Aggies, and to Hawai'i on Saturday, January 18 for a 9 pm game against the Rainbow Warriors.

UCR (5-11, 0-2) is coming off a pair of losses in the opening week of conference play, falling 78-73 at Cal State Fullerton (box score/recap) and 72-52 to UC Irvine (box score/recap). The loss to the Titans was the Highlanders seventh of the season by five points or less.

Taylor Johns paced UC Riverside in the defeats averaging 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, recording double-doubles in both games. Chris Patton returned from missing two games with an injury to average 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, while Sam Finley ran his streak of consecutive double-digit scoring efforts to five straight.

UC Davis lost its two Big West Conference games of the season last week falling 89-77 at Cal State Northridge and 99-74 at Long Beach State. After opening the season with a 3-2 record, the Aggies have dropped nine of their last 11 games.

Davis' leading scorer is Corey Hawkins at 17.8 points per game, but they have been without the services of Josh Ritchart and his 17.3 points per game scoring average for seven games this season. The Aggies' defense has been its primary Achilles heal allowing opponents to make 47.7 percent of their shots including 39.4 percent from three-point range.

The Highlanders are 29-28 overall against UC Davis (view all-time results), but the Aggies won both games a year ago by seven points each—79-72 at UC Davis' Pavilion (box score/recap) and 59-52 at the SRC Arena (box score/recap).

Hawai'i also began conference play with a pair of losses dropping a 77-65 decision at Cal Poly, and a 79-78 squeaker at Cal State Northridge. The Rainbow Warriors went 11-3 during the non-conference portion of their schedule, but only two of those games played on the mainland.

Christian Standhardinger leads one of the most potent offenses in the conference averaging 17.6 points per game. Hawai'i boasts three other double-digit scorers in Garrett Nevels (14.1), Isaac Fotu (13.6) and Brandon Spearman (10.8).

As a team, the Rainbow Warriors average 47.9 percent shooting from the field and 34.5 from long distance, but those numbers drop to 44.9 and 26.2 percent in conference. Their defensive numbers see a similar drop in effectiveness against the Big West as opponents shoot 43.8 percent from the floor and 33.4 percent from three-point range overall, but 49.0 percent and 43.3 percent in conference play.

The Highlanders are 1-3 all-time against the Rainbow Warriors (view all-time results), but Hawai'i has won three straight including both meetings from a year ago, 76-61, at Hawai'i (box score/recap) and, 72-68, at UC Riverside (box score/recap).

Men's Basketball Travels To UC Davis Thursday, Hawai'i Saturday

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