2020-21 MEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY RELEASE NO. 9

BROADCAST GUIDE

TIPOFF TIME

Standings Update
Conference leader UC Irvine returns to action this weekend against Cal Poly after having played just once over a 24-day stretch. The Anteaters defeated UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 27-28 to move to 2-0 in league play, and those were the last Big West or home contests for the two-time reigning regular season champions. UCI is 56-11 in Big West home games since the 2012-13 season.

CSU Bakersfield lost its Big West opener, but has proceeded to win five in a row to improve to 5-1 in the standings. UC Riverside has won three straight league matchups to sit at 3-1, while UC Santa Barbara is on a four-game run with a 4-2 record.

Schedule Update
The CSUN and Long Beach State series was postponed last weekend due to a positive COVID test within the Beach program. The Matadors instead pivoted and found a playing partner in Cal State Fullerton. The two schools split a pair of games at Titan Gym after having their initial Big West series cancelled on Dec. 27-28. CSF became available after its series with UC Davis was cancelled.

Two of the top defensive clubs in the country meet this week as CSU Bakersfield travels to UC Riverside. UC Santa Barbara makes the drive down the 101 to face CSUN, and Hawai‘i returns to the mainland to face Cal State Fullerton. UC Davis is expected to compete this weekend after having its last 11 games cancelled due to a Yolo County health mandate.

Home Sweet Dome
UC Santa Barbara swept a Big West series last week against UC San Diego to improve to 7-0 at home, and push its Thunderdome winning streak to 13 straight dating to last season. The all-time record of 15 in a row was set during the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons. UCSB’s next home games are February 5-6 versus Long Beach State.

ESPNU Selects January 29 Wildcard Game
ESPNU will televise a game out of CSU Bakersfield’s Icardo Center for the first time in school history when the ‘Runners host Cal State Fullerton on January 29. The network selected the game as a Wild Card from that week’s conference schedule.

A Glance At The NET Rankings
Through games of January 17, two Big West squads sit in the top 100 of the NCAA NET Rankings. UC Riverside leads all conference teams at 91 on the list, while UC Santa Barbara isn’t far behind at 95.

Matadors Reach Program Milestone
CSUN’s one-point victory at Cal State Fullerton Saturday gave the program its 800th all-time win. Junior guard Darius Brown II dished out 13 assists for the Matadors, the most by a Big West player since Hawaii’s Roderick Bobbitt equaled that number on Nov. 13, 2015, against Montana State.

Scheduling Primer
On October 21, the Big West announced a 20-game conference schedule under a modified format designed to reduce travel and emphasize health and safety amidst the pandemic.

• Traditional home-and home round-robin schedule was altered to allow teams to play each other on consecutive days at one site
• Majority of games scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
• Teams to play out schedule over an 11-week period with one bye week built in.
• Games lost due to team quarantines would not be rescheduled. • No fans will be allowed to attend games to start the season with the spectator attendance issue to be revisited later.

Taylor, Ganot Near Coaching Milestones
Dedrique Taylor of Cal State Fullerton and Eran Ganot of Hawai‘i are closing in on career head coaching milestones. Taylor is three wins away from 100, while Ganot needs eight more to reach the century mark.

More Notables
• Three former Big West players are listed on current NBA rosters – UC Santa Barbara’s Gabe Vincent (Miami Heat), Cal Poly’s David Nwaba (Houston Rockets) and Long Beach State’s James Ennis III (Orlando Magic).

• UC Davis sophomore guard Ezra Manjon and UC Santa Barbara junior forward Amadou Sow were selected to the Lou Henson Award Watch List. The award is presented annually to the top mid-major player in Division I.

• Silver Waves Media released a “Rising Head Coaches In 2020” list inclusive of 40 coaches who were selected based on the following criteria: must not have been a head coach at a Power 6 conference school before, completed at least two years at current school, and must be willing to rise as a coach. Three Big West head coaches were featured on this list – Hawaii’s Eran Ganot, UC Irvine’s Russell Turner and UC Santa Barbara’s Joe Pasternack. Silver Waves Media put together the list after consultation with AD’s, presidents, search firms and other influencers.

• UC Irvine guard Dawson Baker tops all Big West freshmen and ranks No. 13 overall in scoring at 12.2 points per game. He is also the only freshman in the Big West to lead his team in scoring.

• The home team in Big West play has posted a 12-8 record so far. Teams with road success include CSU Bakersfield at 3-1 in conference away contests, while UC Riverside is 2-0.

Championships Move To Vegas
The 2021 Big West Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, presented by Hawaii Tourism Authority, has been moved from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.,  to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. All 10 men’s teams and nine women’s teams will compete at the five-day event, March 9-13. The bubble-like setting will utilize daily screenings and rapid PCR and antigen testing to safeguard the health and safety of all parties. The men’s first round and quarterfinal games will be carried on ESPN3, while the semifinals and championship game will be aired on ESPN linear networks.

When the Big West plays the 2021 basketball championships in Las Vegas, that will mark the first time in 21 years that the event will have been contested outside the state of California. The Big West held its postseason event in Reno, Nevada, at the Lawlor Events Center from 1996-2000. The conference has some familiarity with Las Vegas, having played the championship at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center in 1994 and 1995. From 2001-19, the championship was held in Anaheim at either the Anaheim Convention Center or Honda Center. The 2020 championship, scheduled to be played at Honda Center, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourney History

1976	Stockton Civic Auditorium
1977-82	Anaheim Convention Center
1983-88	Inglewood Forum
1989-93	Long Beach Arena
1994-95	Thomas & Mack Center
1996-2000	Lawlor Events Center
2001-10	Anaheim Convention Center
2011-20	Honda Center

BIG WEST BY THE NUMBERS

4 – The Big West has four guards ranked in the nation’s top 10 for assist-to-turnover ratio, including CSUN junior guard Darius Brown II at No. 1 (8.83). UC Riverside senior Dominick Pickett ranks No. 7 (4.71) and UC Santa Barbara teammates JaQuori McLaughlin (4.62) and Devearl Ramsey (4.44) are No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.

5 – CSU Bakersfield has a five-game winning streak, the longest of any Big West squad for the 2020-21 season.

9 – UC Riverside is the only Big West squad to utilize the same starting lineup in every game. The Highlanders have started Flynn Cameron, Arinze Chidom, Jock Perry, Dominick Pickett and Zyon Pullin in all nine games.

25 – CSUN sophomore guard Brendan Harrick scored a career-high 25 points in Saturday’s win over Cal State Fullerton. He hit seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts.

63 – UC Santa Barbara junior forward Amadou Sow has scored 937 career points and needs just 63 to become the 30th player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.

97 – Victory total for Cal State Fullerton head coach Dedrique Taylor. He needs three wins to become the 21st coach in league history to accumulate at least 100 at a conference school.

PRIOR TO TIPOFF – JANUARY 22-23, 2021

CAL POLY AT UC IRVINE (ESPN3)
• Cal Poly looks to snap six-game losing streak against UC Irvine, with last win coming on Jan. 26, 2017 at the Bren Events Center.
• UCI hit a season-high nine 3-pointers against UC San Diego in its last game on Jan. 9.
• UCI is 30-4 in Big West regular season games over the last two-plus seasons.

CSU BAKERSFIELD AT UC RIVERSIDE (BIGWEST.TV)
• In the national stats, UC Riverside is No. 15 in scoring defense (60.9 ppg) and CSU Bakersfield No. 20 (61.5).
• The two teams rank 1-2 in the Big West in 3-point field goal percentage defense – UCR (.278) and CSUB (.308).
• The ‘Runners are 5-1 in Big West play with a balanced scoring attack. No ‘Runner is ranked in the Big West top 20 in scoring.

UC DAVIS AT UC SAN DIEGO (ESPN3) | PXP: Steve Quis | COLOR: Ted Mendenhall
• UC Davis returns to action for the first time since Dec. 4 as the program had 11 games cancelled due to a Yolo County health order.
• UC San Diego plays its first official Big West conference home games with Friday and Saturday tip times 4 pm and 2 pm, respectively.

UC SANTA BARBARA AT CSUN (BIGWEST.TV)
• CSUN junior Darius Brown II – No. 1 in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio – has 53 assists and only six turnovers this season.
• UC Santa Barbara guards JaQuori McLaughlin and Devearl Ramsey have combined for 100 assists and 22 turnovers this season.

HAWAI‘I AT CAL STATE FULLERTON (ESPN3)
PXP: David Gascon (Fri.) | Rahshaun Haylock (Sat.) | COLOR: Bill Herenda | SIDELINE: Courtney Sweet
• Cal State Fullerton teammates Josh Hall (8.5) and Vincent Lee (7.9) rank 1-2 in Big West rebounding.
• Hawai‘i has won five straight overall in the series and the last three in a row at Titan Gym.