RIVERSIDE, Calif. — With its fifth consecutive Big West Tournament berth already in hand, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team (9-20, 4-11) travels to Long Beach State (14-17, 8-7) this Saturday in the final game of the regular season. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Walter Pyramid.
BATTLE FOR THE POSTSEASON
After winning four of their last seven regular season games, the Highlanders have qualified for the Big West Tournament, which begins next Thursday, Mar. 8. A win at Long Beach State this Saturday coupled with a Cal Poly loss would give UC Riverside a No. 7 seed heading into the postseason.
LAST TIME OUT
On Senior Night Thursday, UC Riverside enjoyed its first wire-to-wire victory of 2018, defeating Cal Poly 72-63 behind the Highlanders' big-three of sophomore Dikymbe Martin (20 points) and seniors Chance Murray (17) and Alex Larsson (16). UCR had just five turnovers, its lowest total since Dec. 19, 2011 at SDSU.
The following game notes are accurate entering the week, as of Feb. 27
BELLS WILL BE RINGING
Justin Bell ('07) took over as the Highlanders' interim head coach on January 2, 2018, following a-year-and-a-half as the team's associate head coach, and five-and-a-half years on the coaching staff overall. Bell earned his first career head coaching win in the Highlanders' 64-60 victory at Hawaii on Feb. 24.
TURNING THINGS AROUND
After ending January on a 10-game losing streak, UC Riverside enjoyed its best month of the season in February. The Highlanders average margin of victory improved +10.6 points per game compared to the first month of Big West play, as they posted their best winning percentage (.500) of any month this season.
THREE BAWLIN'
The Highlanders haven't had an efficient year from three-point range, but have improved significantly since the start of conference play. Shooting at a .323 clip during Big West, they have improved 3 percent from their non-conference mark of .293. Furthermore, UC Riverside had just one non-conference game where it made at least eight threes, compared to six during conference.
The Highlanders have made a season-high 10 three-pointers three times this season: at CSF on Jan. 3, at Hawaii on Feb. 7, and vs. Hawaii on Feb. 17.
ON THE OTHER HAND ...
Despite their offensive struggles from beyond the arc, the Highlanders are holding the opposition to just 32.9 percent from deep. That mark ranks second in the Big West and third in UCR's Division I history.
ONE BAD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER
The Highlanders were bitten by the turnover bug early this season, averaging 17.7 miscues through the team's first 7 games. Since then, UC Riverside is averaging just 12.9 per game. The Highlanders rank second during Big West play with a +1.4 turnover margin.
UC Riverside's 24 turnovers vs. Portland State on November 18 are the most since the 2014-15 team committed 26 miscues at CSUN on February 16, 2008.
The Highlanders' 7 turnovers at Cal State Fullerton on January 3 are their fewest of the season, and fewest since February 23, 2017 when they committed just 6 at UCSB.
TRIPLE THREAT
The Highlanders have 3 players averaging double figures in scoring this season. If they maintain those averages, they would challenge for one of the top five highest scoring trios in UC Riverside's Division I history.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Alex Larsson earned his first Big West Player of the Week Award for his 15-point, 13-rebound effort in the Highlanders' 74-66 road win over Cal on November 10.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK II
Dikymbe Martin picked up his first career Big West Player of the Week award on Tuesday, December 26. In the week leading up to Christmas, the sophomore scored a career-high 30 points in the Highlanders' win over Valparaiso, making 7 of 12 shots from the field and 14 of 16 from the free throw line. He added 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.
THE RETURNED
For the second time in as many seasons, the Highlanders brought back every player from the previous year, except for those players who exhausted their four years of college eligibility. This comes in an environment when the NCAA notes that 40% of all men's basketball players who entered Division I directly out of high school depart their initial school by the end of their sophomore year.
STEAL AWAY THE NIGHT
With a team-leading 51 steals this season, Chance Murray needs 7 more steals to crack the UCR top-10 single-season steals chart in Division I play.
THE HELPFUL HONDA POINT GUARD
Chance Murray has 108 assists this season, which ranks 2nd in the Highlanders' Division I history.
DOUBLE THREAT
Dikymbe Martin is leading UC Riverside in scoring (13.3) and is second in assists (2.9) this season. The last member of the Highlanders to lead the team in both categories was Rickey Porter, who averaged 14.2 points and 3.3 assists per game in the 2005-06 campaign.
LARSSON HAS GAME(S STARTED AND PLAYED)
Alex Larsson broke the program record for starts in a career when he jumped center against Air Force on December 8. He is currently at 111 career starts, and at 117 games played, is just two away from tying Austin Quick (2011-15) for the program record.
20-20-20 Vision
The Highlanders had three players score 20 or more points in the team's 90-82 loss at Utah Valley on December 28—Chance Murray (25), Dikymbe Martin (20) and Alex Larsson (20). That marked the first time in UC Riverside Division I era that the Highlanders had three 20-point scorers in a single game.
LEADER OF THE PAC
The Highlanders opened the 2017-18 season with a wire-to-wire, 74-66, victory over Cal of the Pac-12. It was the second win for UC Riverside over the Golden Bears, improving the Highlanders' record over their intrastate and intraspecies rivals to 2-1. On December 14, 1979, UC Riverside, then a Division II powerhouse, upended Cal, 69-63. The Golden Bears evened the series 15 years later in a 78-61 victory on November 11, 2004.
FIRST!
The Highlanders' season-opening win over Cal was its first-ever over a Division I program during its Division I-era (2001-present) to start the year. It was also UC Riverside's first win on the road to start a season during that same time period.
INSIDER INFORMATION
For the first time in its history, the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team was ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25, checking in at No. 24 in the first regular season poll of the season.
WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON
Freshman Ajani Kennedy took a DNP-CD in the first game of the season at Cal, and played just one minute at LMU. In the third game of the season, however, he exploded for 18 points on 6 of 6 shooting from the field, including 2 for 2 from long distance, and 4 of 5 from the free throw line. He made both of his shots in the fourth game of the season before missing both attempts at Michigan to end his streak.
Kennedy also was perfect from the field at Utah Valley on December 28 where he went 5 for 5 from the floor.
Against Seattle on December 30, Kennedy made all 9 of his free throw attempts.
AUTOMATIC
Menno Dijkstra made 66.2 percent of his shots from the field during conference play last season, while teammate Alex Larsson connected on 57.9 percent. However, neither player had enough attempts to qualify for the league leaderboard.
BREAKING THE LAW! BREAKING THE LAW!
Chance Murray's seven steals vs. Hawaii on Feb. 17, 2018 are tied for the most in the Highlanders' Division I history.
IN THE BLACK
The Highlanders have never had a season in their Division I history (2001-02 to present) in which they outscored the opposition over the course of the year. The closest they came was in 2015-16 when they were outscored by one point (2,300 to 2,299).
