Highlanders Picked Third, Pullin Named Preseason All-Big West
11/3/2021 2:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside was picked third in Wednesday's Big West Preseason Coaches' and Media Polls while Zyon Pullin was named Preseason All-Big West by the conference's coaches.
UCR earned 53 votes in the Coaches' Poll and 89 votes in the Media Poll, with both first place votes coming on the media side.
"We exceeded expectations last season, which was key for us as a program, but this is a new year," head coach Mike Magpayo said. "We're excited about where we are heading into this season, and we're ready to set an even higher bar for our program. We have a great group of student-athletes around us, great energy, great culture, and I couldn't be more excited to get started."
The Highlanders finished last season with the highest Big West Tournament seed in program history at three before securing the program's first tournament win in 10 years with a 62-52 victory over Hawaii in the quarterfinal round.
Pullin was one of six student-athletes named to the Preseason All-Big West Coaches' Team and one of two underclassmen. The sophomore enters his second season at UC Riverside after averaging 12.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-high 4.5 assists last season en route to two Big West Player of the Week honors an Honorable Mention on the Big West All-Conference Team.
After a 90-56 exhibition win over Cal State LA on October 30, the Highlanders open the regular season on Tuesday, November 9 at San Diego State before traveling to Tempe on November 11 to face off with Arizona State. UCR will host its season opener on November 14 at 2:00 p.m. PT against La Sierra at the SRC Arena.
Tickets for the home opener and all home games can be purchased online at GoHighlanders.com or by emailing highlandertickets@ucr.edu.
UCR earned 53 votes in the Coaches' Poll and 89 votes in the Media Poll, with both first place votes coming on the media side.
"We exceeded expectations last season, which was key for us as a program, but this is a new year," head coach Mike Magpayo said. "We're excited about where we are heading into this season, and we're ready to set an even higher bar for our program. We have a great group of student-athletes around us, great energy, great culture, and I couldn't be more excited to get started."
The Highlanders finished last season with the highest Big West Tournament seed in program history at three before securing the program's first tournament win in 10 years with a 62-52 victory over Hawaii in the quarterfinal round.
Pullin was one of six student-athletes named to the Preseason All-Big West Coaches' Team and one of two underclassmen. The sophomore enters his second season at UC Riverside after averaging 12.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-high 4.5 assists last season en route to two Big West Player of the Week honors an Honorable Mention on the Big West All-Conference Team.
After a 90-56 exhibition win over Cal State LA on October 30, the Highlanders open the regular season on Tuesday, November 9 at San Diego State before traveling to Tempe on November 11 to face off with Arizona State. UCR will host its season opener on November 14 at 2:00 p.m. PT against La Sierra at the SRC Arena.
Tickets for the home opener and all home games can be purchased online at GoHighlanders.com or by emailing highlandertickets@ucr.edu.
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