LINCOLN, Neb.—The 2019-2020 season has finally arrived for the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team which tips-off tonight on the road at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers welcome the Highlanders to Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, a 15,500 seat venue that is sure to be rocking on opening night. It will be the first ever matchup between the two teams.
Tip-off is set for 6:00 PM PST and the game can be streamed on Fox Sports by clicking here. Radio coverage will also be provided by UCR's Geoff Gorham, beginning with the pregame show featuring Daniel Moebus-Bowles at 5:40 PM PST and can be heard here.
SCOUTING THE CORNHUSKERS
Nebraska is coming off of 19-17 record but aims to see improvement this year under new head coach Fred Hoiberg, who is one of just 10 current DI coaches that have also coached in the NBA. Hoiberg makes his return to the college game after spending three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls.
YEAR TWO
The Highlanders return for their second season under Head Coach David Patrick after a solid showing in 2018-19 that saw big wins over the likes of Pepperdine, LMU, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, and Hawaii.
The roster features a lot of new faces including three freshman and five transfers that will all be eligible at some point this season. They will join a strong returning sophomore class that was the core of last year's team in Callum McRae, Dragan Elkaz, DJ McDonald, and Zac Watson.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Highlanders have a strong non-conference schedule that features eight total games at SRC Arena. That is the most UCR has hosted since the 2015-2016 season. The team will welcome Idaho, Redlands, Denver, Longwood, SIUE, Cal Lutheran, Northern Arizona, and San Diego Christian.
MOVING UP
After a successful season as the Director of Operations last year, Michael Lecak was promoted to Assistant Coach during the summer of 2019. Wayne Hunter, the head coach of prominent UAA 16U program, West Coast Elite, was then brought in as the new Director of Operations for the 2019-2020 season.
BREAKING RECORDS
The Highlanders broke several Division I program records last season..
Points: 112 (vs Bethesda 1/4)
Assists: 31 (vs Bethesda 1/4)
T-Assists vs NCAA Team: 26 (vs Hawaii 1/19)
Turnovers: 3 (vs Bethesda 1/4)
Field Goals: 45 (vs Bethesda 1/4)
T-Indiv 3pts: 7 - Dragan Elkaz (vs Hawaii 1/19)
Largest Conference Win - +23 (at Cal Poly 1/23)
THE BIG WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The Big West Conference Tournament is set for the weekend of Thursday March 12th - Sunday March 15th. The winner of the tournament gets automatic entrance to the NCAA Tournament.
Last year, the Highlanders battled to a tournament birth but would fall to the eventual champion UC Irvine in the first round.
