Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team is off to its best six-game, Big West start in program history, and has won four straight conference match-ups heading into Saturday's January 28 home game against CSUN. Tip is schedule for 5 pm PT, and at halftime, the Highlanders are honoring former Head Coach John Masi as part of the program's Bring Back The Past series of events.
UCR improved to 4-2 in league play, Wednesday, with a, 70-64, road win over Hawai'i (
box score/
recap). Although the Highlanders never trailed over the last 18-plus minutes, the Rainbow Warriors tied the game on two occasions, including 59-59 with 3:14 to go. UC Riverside hit nine free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Alex Larsson continued his recent inspired play, reaching double figures in scoring for the third straight game, with 13 points on five of seven shooting from the field. Dikymbe Martin led all scorers with 17 points—the most he has scored since netting a career-high 26 vs. Fresno Pacific on November 19.
The Highlanders have improved considerably on both sides of the ball since the start of conference play. Offensively they are connecting on 47.2 percent of their shots against Big West foes, compared to 41.0 percent overall. From long range, UC Riverside is making 36.5 percent of its shots against conference competition, compared to 32.9 percent overall.
Defensively, league opponents make 37.8 percent of their shots from the floor, compared to 42.7 percent overall, and 29.1 percent from three-point land, compared to 32.7 percent overall.
Secean Johnson remains the team's leading scorer at 11.3 points per game, with four other members of the squad averaging between 8.2 and 11.1 points per game.
CSUN snapped a three-game losing streak Wednesday night with a 78-57 victory over UC Santa Barbara. That improved the Matadors record to 8-12 overall, and 4-3 in Big West play.
Northridge leads the league in scoring (78.5 ppg), field goal percentage (.467) and three-point field goal percentage (.365), although those numbers have dropped slightly since the start of conference play (76.7 ppg, .450 FG%, 36.0 3G%).
Despite the team's success at shooting from long distance, they rank last in the conference in three-point field goal attempts in Big West games, averaging just 12.7 per contest. By way of contrast, through games of January 25, Cal Poly leads the league, launching 24.4 shots per game from beyond the arc, and UC Riverside takes 17.3.
CSUN has four players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Kendall Smith's 16.5 per game, which ranks second in the Big West. Smith also connects on 38.6 percent of his three-pointers—sixth best in the league. Teammate Darin Johnson ranks third in the conference in three-point field goal percentage at 39.4 percent, and is the Matadors' third leading scorer at 13.4 points per game.
Tavrion Dawson ranks second on the team in scoring (13.9 ppg), and first in rebounding (6.2 rpg). He also ranks third in the league in field goal percentage, making 55.2 percent of his shots.
The Highlanders are 35-41 all-time against the Matadors, and have lost two straight in the series. Prior to those most recent results, UC Riverside took three of four from CSUN. All three victories were by five points or less.
