Santa Clara, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team returns to the hardwood this Wednesday for a 7 pm PT tip at Santa Clara. It is the first game for the Highlanders since their November 30 loss to #11 UCLA (
box score/
recap), after which the team took a nearly two week break for final exams.
UCR has yet to win away from the SRC Arena this season going 1-0 at home, but 0-4 on the road (at Portland, at UNLV, at Utah, and at #11 UCLA). Last season, the Highlanders went 7-9 on the road, setting a Division I era record for most road wins. The last time UC Riverside won on the road was at Hawai'i on February 25, 2016 (
box score/
recap)—a span of six games.
Chance Murray (
Los Angeles, CA) leads a balanced scoring attack for the Highlanders at 12.2 points per game. Five other members of the team average between 7.8 and 11.0 points per game. Freshman Dikymbe Martin (
Riverside, CA) is second on the team in scoring, and leads the Big West in three-point field goal percentage (63.6) and steals per game (2.40). His assist-to-turnover ratio of three-to-one is the second best in the conference.
Santa Clara is 4-6 on the year following a 75-50 win over Cal State East Bay Saturday evening. That snapped a four-game losing streak for the Broncos, which included a 58-55 loss to Big West foe UC Irvine.
The Broncos rely on the three-pointer as a primary weapon as 47.7 percent of their shots come from beyond the arc. They also force 14.0 turnovers per game. Defensively, however, they are allowing the opposition to connect on 44.3 percent of their field goal attempts, and 41.2 percent of their shots from long distance. Santa Clara also grabs 5.1 fewer rebounds per game than their competition.
Jared Brownridge leads Santa Clara's offense averaging 17.8 points per game, with more than 60 percent of his shots coming from three-point land. Jarvis Pugh is the Bronco's top rebounder at 5.5 per contest.
The Highlanders are 1-1 all-time against Santa Clara, and won last year's meeting between the teams, 77-63 (
box score/
recap). Secean Johnson and Jaylen Bland each scored 20 points in the victory.
