RIVERSIDE, Calif.— The final stretch of the regular season is upon us as the UC Riverside Men's Basketball Team looks to close out conference play on the road. The Highlanders' first stop is a Wednesday night rematch with Long Beach State as UCR will look to avenge a tough OT loss to The Beach just over a week ago.The team will then head north to face UC Davis on Saturday for the final game before the Big West Tournament.
Two wins for UCR would solidify a spot at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
1K CLUB
On Thursday, February 14th junior Dikymbe Martin became just the 5th Highlander in the Division I era to reach 1,000 career points. A tough layup in the 2nd half of a 71-57 win over UCSB would get Martin to 1K and he now sits at 1,041.
This milestone earned him his third Big West Athlete of the Week Award and DK is now the only Highlander to earn the honor this season.
ONE FOR THE BOOKS
UCR's 74-51 victory over Cal Poly (1/23) was the program's largest margin of victory in Big West Conference play. The Highlanders outscored the Mustangs 39-19 in the second half holding Cal Poly to .250 shooting.=
THE FIRST OF MANY
First year Head Coach David Patrick earned his first Big West Conference win on January, 26th as the Highlanders topped 3rd place Hawaii 75-71. UCR made a total of 13 threes, shot .537 from the field, and collected a record tying 26 assists (vs NCAA Team - DI Era).
BREAKING RECORDS
The Highlanders have tied or broken several Division I program records this 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)
ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
Junior guard Dikymbe Martin was named to the All-Tournament Team the Thanksgiving Tiger Tournament as he averaged 15 ppg shooting an efficient .429 from the field. His best scoring night came in the first game of the tourney vs Pacific where he dropped 20.
THE BIG WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The Big West Conference Tournament is set for the weekend of Thursday March 14th - Sunday March 17th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. The winner of the tournament gets automatic entrance to the NCAA Tournament.
Last year, the Highlanders battled at the end of the conference season under Interim Head Coach and UCR Alumnus Justin Bell to make to the Big West Tournament and nearly knocked off the No. 1 seed in UC Davis. The Aggies edged out the Highlanders 70-66.
