Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team looks to solidify its hold as the six seed in the Big West Conference Tournament this Saturday as the Highlanders host Cal Poly in a nationally televised broadcast on Fox Sports Prime Ticket. Mark Rogodino, Corey Maggette and Rahshaun Haylock are on the call for the 5 pm PT tip. Check your local listings for the channel on your cable or satellite package
The Highlanders are 5-9 in conference following their 67-61 loss at UC Santa Barbara Thursday evening (box score/recap). That loss, coupled with Cal Poly's (4-9) win over Long Beach State, moved the Mustangs to within a half game of UC Riverside.
A win over Cal Poly would give the Highlanders the season series against the Mustangs, as UCR picked up a 67-56 victory in San Luis Obispo on February 4 of this year.
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2016-17 Big West
Men's Basketball Standings |
| Seed |
Team |
W |
L |
| 1 |
UC Irvine |
9 |
4 |
| 2 |
UC Davis |
9 |
4 |
| 3 |
Cal State Fullerton |
8 |
5 |
| 4 |
Long Beach State |
8 |
6 |
| 5 |
CSUN |
7 |
6 |
| 6 |
UC Riverside |
5 |
9 |
| 7 |
Cal Poly |
4 |
9 |
| 8 |
UC Santa Barbara |
3 |
11 |
|
x |
|
|
|
Hawai'i (not eligible for postseason) |
7 |
6 |
UC Riverside opened league play with wins in four of their first six games, but since then, the Highlanders are 1-7. UCR has been without its full compliment of guards for several weeks, but Malik Thames returned to the lineup two games ago, and Chance Murray could play as early as Saturday.
After hanging their hats on the defensive end of the floor for much of the season, the Highlanders have allowed their last two opponents to make 50.5 percent of their shots from the field and 48.8 percent from three-point range.
Offensively UC Riverside has struggled as well, making 36.3 of its shots from the floor, and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc over the past two games.
Cal Poly lost its first five games in conference play, but since has won four of its last eight. The Mustangs' offense ranks eighth in the league in field goal percentage in Big West contests, and sixth in three-point field goal percentage, while averaging 64.7 points per game.
Cal Poly has three players scoring in double figures this season—Victory Joseph (11.9), Donovan Fields (11.0) and Ridge Shipley (10.6). Josh Martin was averaging 10.8 points and 8.4 rebounds, but injuries limited him to just five games this year. No other member of the Mustangs is averaging more than 4.7 rebounds per game.
The Highlanders are 47-48 all-time against Cal Poly (
view all-time results), and have wins in three of the last four meetings between the clubs.
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