Road Show
First-place Hawai'i looks for rare road sweep as CSUN, 11-1 at home, plays the hungry host. It's UCSB's turn to experience Mott Magic. Reeling UCI must deal with speedy Titans.
2:00 PM: Long Beach State at UC Davis — The Beach (8-17, 4-9) have lost 6 straight games to fall 2 games out of Big West Tournament qualifying position. Freshman Gavin Sykes made his return to the Long Beach starting lineup, scoring 12 points but turning the ball over 3 times (vs. one assist) in 32 minutes of action. Petar Majstorovic has averaged 20.3 points over the last 3 games, making 19 of 39 shots from the field (.487) and 24 of 28 free throws attempts (.857). The Aggies (15-10, 8-6) saw their 3-game winning streak swatted away in a 68-51 loss at UC San Diego. UC Davis fell out of a 4th-place tie with CSUN and into a 5th-place tie with Cal State Fullerton. Davis couldn’t hit shots from any distance on Thursday…the Aggies were 38.1% from two, 30% from three and just 1 for 7 (14.3%) from the free throw line, failing to take advantage of 21 takeaways.
4:00 PM: UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly — The Gauchos (17-8, 10-4) have been figuring out how to play without injured point guard Miro Little, winning 2 straight games to remain just 1/2 game out of the Big West lead. Aidan Mahaney is averaging 18.7 points, 4.0 assists and a 2.4 assist/turnover ratio in the last 3 games, while CJ Shaw has averaged 17.0 points and 2.3 steals over the last 4 contests. Defensively, UCSB has allowed each of its last 3 opponents to shoot over 50% from the field. The Mustangs (10-16, 6-8) claimed another scalp with their win over UC Irvine on Thursday, their 5th non-Quad 4 victory of the season. Cal Poly is looking to end a 17-game losing streak vs. UCSB, with the latest entry a 107-67 loss at Santa Barbara on Jan. 22. The ‘Stangs grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds vs. UCI and have held each of their last 2 opponents under 40% from the field.
5:00 PM: Hawai’i at CSUN — GAME OF THE NIGHT. The Rainbow Warriors (18-5, 10-3) improved to 4-4 on the road with an 89-74 win at CSU Bakersfield on Thursday to take sole possession of the Big West lead. Hawai’i is winless, however, on the back ends of its 2-game conference road swings, losing the Saturday games at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. Interestingly, each of UH’s last 4 opponents has shot better than the Hawai’i season field goal percentage defense of .401. Isaac Johnson leads four players in averaging double-digit scoring for the ‘Bows. The Matadors (15-10, 8-5) are the hottest team in the Big West with 4 consecutive victories by an average score of 90-78. The Matadors are shooting 52.3% from the field and 43.3% from three (55% in the last 2 games) in the 4-game tear. CSUN is realistically in the hunt for a top 2 seed with games remaining vs. each of the 3 teams in front of them in the standings. Josiah Davis is averaging 7.3 assists to lead the Big West and rank 5th nationally.
7:00 PM: Cal State Fullerton at UC Irvine — The Titans (13-13, 8-6) took advantage of playing their last 3 games vs. the bottom 3 of the conference. Voila! A 3-game winning streak. Fullerton fell behind early in the Pyramid and had to scramble back behind the play of Joshua Ward, who scored a season-high 22 points and tied a season-high with 7 assists. Ward has made 30 of his last 34 free throw attempts (88.2%). The Anteaters (16-9, 9-4) were cruising until back-to-back fated trips up US-101. UC Irvine, known for years for interior muscle and defense, was outrebounded by double digits in losses at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. Tama Isaac averaged 14.5 points, 10.0 assists and just 1.5 turnovers in wins over Hawai’i and CSU Bakersfield, but just 6.0 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 turnovers in the 2 defeats.
7:00 PM: UC Riverside at UC San Diego — The Highlanders (8-18, 3-11) shot a season-best 56.5% from the field on Thursday but it wasn’t enough in a loss to UC Santa Barbara. UC Riverside turned the ball over 17 times in losing its 4th straight game to fall 3 games behind in the race for a Big West Tournament berth. The Tritons (17-9, 7-7) have won 2 of their last 3 and have opportunities to jump back into the top 4, with games remaining at UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara. Leading scorer Leo Beath was held to 2 points vs. UC Davis, the 5th time in the last 7 games that he has failed to reach double digits in scoring. Beath turned the ball over 7 times to the Aggies, 1/3rd of UCSD’s season-high 21 turnovers.