Salt Lake City, UT—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team faces two of the toughest opponents on its non-conference schedule over the next seven days, as the Highlanders travel to Utah for a Friday, November 25 meeting with the Runnin' Utes, and to UCLA for a Wednesday, November 30 game against the Bruins. Tip Friday is slated for 6 pm PT, while Wednesday's game gets underway at 8 pm.
UCR is coming off of a 96-50 Homecoming victory over Fresno Pacific that saw freshman and Riverside native Dikymbe Martin pour in a career-high 26 points to go along with five assists and four steals (
box score/
recap). Gentrey Thomas added a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Sunbirds, and Chance Murray and Brandon Rosser chipped in with 11 points apiece. It was the first win of the season for the Highlanders who opened the 2016-17 season with road losses at Portland (
box score/
recap) and UNLV (
box score/
recap).
Mailk Thames leads the team in scoring this season at 12.3 points per game. He is followed closely by Martin (11.7 ppg) and Murray (10.3). Three other members of the team are averaging between eight and nine points per game—Secean Johnson (9.0), Alex Larsson (8.7) and Thomas (8.0).
Defensively, the Highlanders have been making their mark out on the perimeter holding opponents to 28.9 percent shooting from the field. UC Riverside is also forcing an average of 15.7 turnovers per game.
Utah is a perfect 3-0 so far this season with wins over Northwest Nazarene, 81-37, Concordia (Oregon), 96-53, and Coppin State, 94-51. The Runnin' Utes are averaging 90.3 points per game, and have five players averaging double figures in scoring led by 6-9 forward Kyle Kuzma's 14.7 points per game. Kuzma also averages a team-high 12.0 rebounds per game.
Utah is connecting on 49.5 percent of its field goal attempts on the year, and 33.3 percent from long distance. Guards Parker Van Dyke (11.7 ppg, 38.9 3G%) and JoJo Zamora (13.3 ppg, 38.5%) are among the top three-point shooters on the team, and Utah is out-rebounding its opponents this year by more than 30 per game (55.3 to 34.0).
The Highlanders and Runnin' Utes met on one prior occasion, with the Highlanders dropping an 88-42 decision back on November 21, 2014 when Utah was ranked 25th in the nation (
box score/
recap).
