Santa Barbara, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team has never won at the Thunderdome in 21 tries, but if they are going to make a final move up the Big West standings before the end of the regular season, that is just what the Highlanders are going to have to do.
UCR is 5-8 in conference this year which puts the Highlanders in seventh place in the Big West, and would give them the six seed if the conference tournament began today. Hawai'i (7-6) is ineligible for the postseason this year.
2016-17 Big West
Men's Basketball Standings |
| Seed |
Team |
W |
L |
| 1 |
UC Irvine |
9 |
3 |
| 2 |
UC Davis |
8 |
4 |
| 3 |
Long Beach State |
8 |
5 |
| 4 |
Cal State Fullerton |
8 |
5 |
| 5 |
CSUN |
7 |
5 |
| 6 |
UC Riverside |
5 |
8 |
| 7 |
Cal Poly |
3 |
9 |
| 8 |
UC Santa Barbara |
2 |
11 |
|
x |
|
|
|
Hawai'i (not eligible for postseason) |
7 |
6 |
A lot can happen over the final two weeks of the season, but the best UC Riverside can probably realistically hope for is a fifth place finish. To ensure that, the Highlanders would need to run the table (at UCSB Thursday, vs. Cal Poly Saturday and vs. UC Irvine on March 1), and hope that either CSUN or Cal State Fullerton loses out. The Matadors and Titans play one another on the last day of the season, making it unlikely that the Highlanders could catch both teams.
After starting Big West play with a 4-2 record, UC Riverside had dropped six of its last seven games. Turnovers have been an issue of late as in three of the team's last five losses, the Highlanders have recorded 20 or more miscues.
Chance Murray leads UC Riverside in scoring against conference foes at 11.6 points per game, but he has seen action in just nine of the team's 13 conference contests. Freshman Dikymbe Martin is second at 10.7 points per game, and Secean Johnson is third at 10.6.
The Highlanders two-headed center of Menno Dijkstra and Alex Larsson have been unstoppable from the field since the calendar flipped to 2017. Over the last 13 games, Dijkstra is making 71.7 percent of his shots from the field, while Larsson is connecting on 58.5 percent of his.
UC Santa Barbara has struggled this season with a 4-21 record and 2-11 mark in the Big West. It is their worst conference mark since they went 1-15 in the 1981-82 season.
The Highlanders beat the Gauchos, 65-55, at the SRC Arena back on January 21 (
box score/
recap). Offensively, UCSB ranks last in the league against Big West foes in field goal percentage (.370), three-point field goal percentage (.273) and free throw percentage (.665). Defensively they rank sixth in opponent field goal percentage (.452) and eighth in opponent three point field goal percentage (.352).
UCSB has no active players averaging in double figures for them this season. Gabe Vincent was averaging 14.8 points per game, but had missed each of the team's last five contests, and Jalen Canty's 10.2 points per game have suited up just 10 times this year.
The Highlanders are 9-31 all-time against the Gauchos (
view results).
