Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team honors its two seniors—Jaylen Bland and Steven Jones—this Saturday prior to the Highlanders' 2 pm PT tip against UC Irvine. UCR is also battling for the fifth seed in the Big West Conference Tournament, and needs a win over the Anteaters to have a shot at the spot.
The Highlanders (5-10) are tied with UC Davis (5-10) for fifth place in the conference, but the Aggies have the tie breaker by virtue of their two wins over UCR. A Riverside win and a Davis loss at CSUN would lock up the five seed, but a Highlanders loss would drop them to sixth regardless of the Aggies result. If UCR and UCD both lose and Cal Poly (4-11) beat UC Santa Barbara, the Highlanders would drop to the seventh seed.
| Big West Standings (through Mar. 4) | Big West | Overall |
| Team | W | L | Pct | W | L | Pct |
| Hawai'i | 13 | 2 | .867 | 24 | 4 | .857 |
| UC Irvine | 12 | 3 | .800 | 23 | 8 | .742 |
| Long Beach State | 11 | 4 | .733 | 17 | 13 | .567 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 10 | 5 | .667 | 16 | 12 | .571 |
| UC Riverside | 5 | 10 | .333 | 14 | 17 | .452 |
| UC Davis | 5 | 10 | .333 | 10 | 18 | .357 |
| CSUN * | 5 | 10 | .333 | 10 | 19 | .345 |
| Cal Poly | 4 | 11 | .267 | 10 | 18 | .357 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 3 | 13 | .188 | 10 | 19 | .345 |
| * CSUN is not eligible for the conference tournament due to self-imposed sanctions |
Jaylen Bland continues to add to his record single-season (110) and career (205) three-point totals, and leads UC Riverside in scoring at 15.9 points per game. His 46 steals are also the most for a member of the Highlanders since the 1994-95 season when K.J. Roberts was credited with 58 steals.
Menno Dijkstra tied his career-high with 10 points at UC Santa Barbara Thursday on five of six shooting, and he is now connecting on 63.1 percent of his shots from the field on the year. If he maintains that percentage, it will be the second highest in the history of the program behind Boo Purdom's 71.1 percent in the 1993-94 campaign.
UC Irvine (12-3) is locked in at the number two seed, but could still grab hold of a share of the Big West regular season championship with a win over the Highlanders and a Hawai'i loss to Long Beach State.
The Anteaters boast the second highest scoring offense in the conference averaging 73.2 points per game against Big West competition. They lead the league in field goal percentage (.476) and three-point field goal percentage (.407) in conference play as well. Defensively, Irvine holds Big West opponents to a league-low 38.6 percent shooting from the field while leading the league in rebound margin.
Luke Nelson is the 'Eaters top scorer, leading a balanced offense with 13.2 points per game. Mamadou Ndiaye is the only other member of the squad averaging more than 10 points per game at 12.6, but three other players chip in with 7.9 or more points per contest. The 7-6 Ndiaye is also the top shot blocker in the Big West.
UC Riverside is 24-36 all-time against UC Irvine (
view results), and the Anteaters have won seven of the last eight meetings between the clubs
