Davis, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team makes its way to Davis, California this Thursday where the Highlanders will take on the Aggies beginning at 7 pm PT. They then return home, Saturday, for a double-header with the women's team, hosting Long Beach State at the SRC Arena beginning at 4 pm.
UCR picked up its first Big West win of the season, Saturday, snapping a five-game-losing streak in the process. The 75-72 victory at CSUN (
box score/
recap) was also the Highlanders fourth road win of the season, which matches their combined road win total for the past two seasons. Since UC Riverside joined the Big West Conference for the 2001-02 season, the most road wins they have posted in a single campaign is six back in 2008-09.
Jaylen Bland drained seven three pointers in the win over the Matadors, and now ranks second in the nation in made threes per game at 3.80. He finished with 24 points on the night, marking the third straight game that he has scored 20 or more points. The Saginaw, Michigan native is now averaging 17.3 points per game, which is the third highest scoring average in the conference.
Taylor Johns added his fourth double-double of the season in the victory scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. It was the first double-double for the senior since a 21-point, 13-rebound effort vs. UNLV on December 12 (
box score/
recap). Johns became the Highlanders career leader in blocked shots last week, passing Vili Morton for the top spot. Johns now has 176 blocked shots in his career.
The Highlanders also got some much needed help, Saturday, from their two-headed center of Alex Larsson and Menno Dijkstra. The duo combined to score 21 points and grab 11 rebounds against the Matadors.
UC Davis (6-10, 1-2) picked up its first conference win of the season last week as well, upending CSUN on Thursday by a score of 63-62. Freshman Siler Schneider connected on a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds to go to give the Aggies the win. Davis opened conference play with a 21-point loss to UC Irvine and an 11-point defeat at Long Beach State.
Schneider is one of two Aggies averaging double figures on the season, scoring at a 10.9 points-per-game clip. Former UC Riverside forward Josh Fox leads the team averaging 13.0 points per game, and connecting on 53.3 percent of his field goal attempts. Three other Aggies are averaging more than 9.0 points per game, and Neal Monson is a threat to post a double-double on any given night as he averages 9.1 points and a league-best 8.9 boards per game.
UC Davis ranks at the bottom of the Big West in scoring (66.0 ppg), and in free throw percentage (60.9), while comitting the most turnovers per game at 14.9 Those numbers are even lower when taking into account conference games only, with the Aggies scoring 55.0 points per game, making 59.3 percent of their free throws and turning the ball over 15.0 times per game. Defensively, Davis allows the second fewest points in the Big West at 67.1 per contest, and ranks third in steals (6.3 spg).
The Highlanders are 31-30 all-time against UC Davis (
view results), but the Aggies won both meetings a year ago including a 61-59 victory at The Pavilion (
box score/
recap).
Long Beach State (8-11, 2-2) opened Big West play with wins over CSUN and UC Davis, but dropped its last two games vs. UC Irvine and at Cal Poly. They remain in third place, a half game ahead of a quartet of teams at 1-2.
Nick Faust (16.2 ppg) and Justin Bibbins (10.6) are the top two scorers on the 49ers' roster, with four other players averaging between 7.8 and 9.9 points per game. As a team, LBSU is third in the conference in scoring at 74.8 points per game, and tops in three-point shooting connecting on 38.9 percent of their long balls.
Defensively, the 49ers are allowing the second most points in the Big West (75.5 ppg), while permitting the opposition to make 45.1 percent of their field goal attempts.
UC Riverside is 10-33 all-time against Long Beach State (
view results), and the 49ers have won 12 straight over the Highlanders. The last UCR victory against LBSU came on January 2, 2010. Thw two games between the clubs from the 2014-15 season were decided by a combined six points.
