Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team is finishing up final exams this week, but the Highlanders are back on the hardwood this Saturday, December 20. Tip at the SRC Arena is slated for 1 pm PT. UC Riverside is also collecting donated toys from fans that evening as part of the Spark of Love Toy Drive (
read story).
UCR Battled UCLA to a draw for 34 minutes last Wednesday, trailing by two with less than six minutes to go before the Bruins pulled away for an 11-point win (
box score/
recap). The Highlanders are now 5-4 on the year, with five more games on the docket before the start of Big West play.
Taylor Johns (15.2) and Jaylen Bland (14.3) continue to pace UC Riverside's offense, but Nick Gruninger has emerged as a consistent third scoring threat of late. He's reached double-figures in scoring in each of his last three games, raising his average to 9.1 points per game.
The Highlanders are averaging 71.0 points per game this season. If they maintain that average it would be the first time they averaged more than 70 points in a season since the 1999-2000 campaign. UCR's current field goal percentage (.459) and three-point field goal percentage (.378) would set Division I era records, should the Highlanders maintain them throughout the year.
Houston Baptist is 4-4 on the season following an 83-76 loss at Houston on Tuesday evening . The Huskies are 3-0 at home and 1-4 on the road in 2014-15. They have one of the most balanced scoring efforts in the nation as Colter Lasher paces the team with 10.5 points per game, with Anthony Odunsi right behind at 10.4. Four other players average between 6.9 and 7.6 points, and no player plays more than 25 minutes per game.
This is the first meeting between UC Riverside and Houston Baptist.
