Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team returns home to the SRC Arena for a pair of games this week before taking a break for the holidays. The Highlanders host Life Pacific on Sunday, December 20 at 5 pm PT and Denver on Tuesday, December 22 at 7 pm.
UCR improved to 6-5 last week with a 60-56 road win at Abilene Christian (
box score/
recap). Jaylen Bland led the Highlanders with 14 points, and ranks eighth in the nation in made three-pointers per game at 3.64. He is second on the team in scoring at 17.0 points per game behind Taylor Johns' 17.3. Secean Johnson is the Highlanders third double-figure scorer averaging 12.1 points per game.
As a team, UC Riverside is averaging 73.1 points per game. If the Highlanders continue to score at that clip they will smash the Division I era record of 69.0 points per game set by the 2003-04 squad. They are also defending the perimeter at a record clip, allowing the opposition to connect on just 26.4 percent of their three-pointers—far and away the lowest mark in the team's Division I history, and the ninth lowest percentage in the nation.
Life Pacific, San Dimas, California, is in its first year of athletics competition after the college discontinued its athletics programs in 2007. They are 1-13 on the season, and have lost 11 straight. Local teams on the Warriors 2015-16 docket have been Chapman University, Biola University, University of Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer College.
This is the first-ever meeting between the Highlanders and Warriors.
Denver is 8-3 on the season, pending the outcome of the Pioneers' 12 pm game today against Eastern Washington. They have won three straight, and eight of their last 10.
Denver is equally impressive on both sides of the ball, as defensively they allow the opposition to score just 61.9 points per game, and offensively they connect on 48.6 percent of their shots from the floor and 37.9 percent from beyond the arc.
If the Pioneers have a weakness it is on the glass where they get outrebounded by nearly six boards per game, and average less than five offensive rebounds per contest. C.J. Bobbitt is the team's top rebounder at just 4.3 boards a night.
Nate Engesser leads Denver in scoring at 14.9 points per game while connecting on 57.0 percent of his shots from the floor and 51.8 percent from three-point range. Three other members of the team—Joe Rosga (9.9), Bryant Rucker (9.1) and Marcus Byrd (9.0) are averaging more than nine points per game.
The Highlanders and Pioneers have squared off against one another on two prior occasions (
view result). The last time was on December 28, 2008 when Denver picked up a 52-46 win over UCR (
box score/
recap).
