Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team returns home this Saturday to tangle with Long Beach State as the Highlanders look to pick up their second conference win of the season. Tip is at 4 pm PT at the SRC, with the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team hosting UC Santa Barbara at 7 pm.
UCR is honoring Howard Lee '72 at halftime of the game as part of its Bring Back The Past series.
The Highlanders (10-11, 1-4) had their fifth road win of the season slip through their fingers on Thursday at UC Davis as the Aggies scored the final six points of the game for a 58-55 victory (
box score/
recap). UC Riverside's leading scorer, Jaylen Bland, led the Highlanders with 12 points, but had a difficult shooting night making three of nine shots from the field, including two of eight from three-point range. He now ranks third in the nation in made three pointers per game averaging 3.71.
UCR's second-leading scorer, Taylor Johns, struggled through a foul-plagued evening, foulng out after playing just 15 minutes. He scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in his time on the floor. After averaging 19.4 points and 10.8 rebounds through his first five games, Johns is averaging 11.0 points and 6.5 boards over his last 11 games.
Gentrey Thomas scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in his return to the lineup after missing the team's first four Big West games with an injury.
The Highlanders perimeter defense, once its calling card as they held opponents to under 27 percent from three-point range through the first 12 games ot the season, has allowed team's to connect on 40.9 percent of their long balls over the past nine games.
Long Beach State (9-11, 3-2) opened Big West play with wins over CSUN and UC Davis, but then dropped two straight to UC Irvine and Cal Poly. The 49ers bounced back Wednesday with a 10-point win at UC Santa Barbara to remain in third place in the conference, a half game ahead of UC Davis.
Nick Faust (16.0 ppg) and Justin Bibbins (11.3) are the top two scorers on the LBSU roster, with four other players averaging between 7.5 and 9.6 points per game. As a team, the 49ers are third in the conference in scoring at 75.0 points per game, and tops in three-point shooting connecting on 38.6 percent of their long balls.
Defensively, the 49ers are allowing the second most points in the Big West (75.1 ppg), while permitting the opposition to make 44.9 percent of their field goal attempts, second highest in the league.
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.
