Riverside—With three games remaining in the regular season, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team has its fate in its own hands in the race for an upper division finish and a high seed in the Big West Tournament. The Highlanders are tied for fourth with Long Beach State with games at CSUN this Saturday at 7:30 pm PT, at UC Davis on Thursday, March 5, and vs. the 49ers at home on Saturday, March 7.
With seven wins in conference, UC Riverside is just one victory away from tying the 2008-09 team for most wins in a season. That squad was also the first UCR men's basketball team to finish with an overall record above .500, which is another benchmark in the Highlanders' collective sights.
UC Riverside has been off since last Saturday following a 48-44 slugfest of a decision vs. Cal Poly. Jaylen Bland led the Highlanders with 14 points in the win, helping him earn Big West Conference Player of the Week honors.
CSUN snapped an eight-game conference losing streak Thursday, with an 82-72 victory over Cal State Fullerton as The Matadors try and clinch a spot in the Big West Tournament.
Stephen Hicks (15.9 ppg) and Stephen Maxwell (14.7) lead the Northridge offense, but the team's style this year has become a bit one-dimensional as they focus primarily on the post. CSUN has taken just 289 three-pointers on the season—nearly 160 fewer than the next lowest total in the Big West—despite the fact that they have played as many as four more games than other conference institutions.
Despite that focus on the interior, the Matadors rank last in the league in offensive rebound percentage.
Defensively, CSUN gives up a league-high 70.3 points per game thanks in part to opponents connecting from long distance at a 36.3 percent clip.
The Highlanders are 34-38 all-time against the Matadors including a 66-62 victory at UCR on January 31 of this year.
