Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team concludes its regular season on Wednesday, March 1 with a 7 pm PT tip against front-running UC Irvine. The game is being broadcast around the world on ESPN3.
The Highlanders have lost six straight games, and eight of their last nine, following an, 84-77, overtime defeat, Saturday, at the hands of the Cal Poly Mustangs (
box score/
recap). That loss dropped UC Riverside into eighth place in the Big West, a half game back of Cal Poly.
The top eight teams typically make the conference tournament, but Hawai'i's status is still up in the air. The Rainbow Warriors are supposed to be serving a one-year postseason ban this March, but the NCAA has yet to rule on their appeal. If granted in time, Hawai'i could still participate in the 2017 Big West Men's Basketball Championship, being held March 9-11 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
2016-17 Big West
Men's Basketball Standings |
| Seed |
Team |
W |
L |
| 1 |
UC Irvine |
10 |
4 |
| 2 |
UC Davis |
10 |
4 |
| 3 |
Cal State Fullerton |
8 |
6 |
| 4 |
Hawai'i |
8 |
6 |
| 5 |
Long Beach State |
8 |
7 |
| 6 |
CSUN |
7 |
7 |
| 7 |
Cal Poly |
5 |
9 |
| 8 |
UC Riverside |
5 |
10 |
| 9 |
UC Santa Barbara |
3 |
11 |
|
x |
|
|
After hanging their hats on the defensive end of the floor for most of the season, the Highlanders have struggled to keep team's off the scoreboard during their recent six-game losing streak. UCR is being outscored by an average of 9.2 points per game during that stretch, and opponents are making 42.6 percent of their three-pointers. In addition, foes have scored 20 more points from the charity stripe than the Highlanders in that time.
Sophomore center Menno Dijkstra has continued his inspired play of late. The seven-footer is averaging 12.0 points per game over his last six, while making 70.5 percent of his shots from the field, and 61.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Alex Larsson has also picked up his play of late to give the Highlanders a deadly one-two combo at the center position. Over the last six games, he is averaging 7.7 points and 5.0 rebounds, while connecting on 56.3 percent of his shots from the floor.
Secean Johnson leads the team in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game on the year, but his .384 shooting percentage is the lowest among conference regulars who have met the league minimums. He bounced back in the Cal Poly game to score a season-high 20 points, making five of seven shots from the field, and nine of 12 from the free throw line.
UC Irvine is tied with UC Davis atop the Big West standings at 10-4. The Anteaters won their first six conference games before dropping three straight. Since then, they have won four of five, including a 79-60 victory over the Highlanders on February 18 (
box score/
recap).
The 'Eaters have the best defense in the league ranking first in Big West play in scoring defense (64.2), opponent field goal percentage (.382) and opponent three-point field goal percentage (.256).
Offensively, UC Irvine has the best field goal percentage against conference opponents (.464) and the best three-point field goal percentage (.381).
Luke Nelson leads the team with 15.9 points per game. He has missed 19 games this season due to injury, however, Jaron Martin and Ioannis Dimakopolous are also averaging in double figures this season at 14.0 and 11.3 points per game respectively.
All three 'Eaters are making better than 37.5 percent of their shots from long distance on the year, while Dimakopoulos makes 55.6 percent of his field goal attempts against Big West competition—tops in the league.
The Highlanders are 24-38 all-time against UC Irvine, and have lost four straight to the Anteaters.
