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What 2 Watch 4
Thirteen games dot the docket with most contests away from home this week. Teams are set for coast-to-coast competition.
Long Beach State jets to Texas to take on the 10th-ranked Longhorns next Wednesday. Aftter having the holday week off, UC Riverside heads east to take on Merrimack and Dartmouth in a cross-country swing. Closer to home, UC Santa Barbara heads to Nevada and Cal State Bakersfield meets up with Boise State.
In-state road trips include CSUN’s game against Sacramento State and both UC San Diego and Cal State Fullerton at Fresno State.
UC Davis heads north to face off with Washington state before hosting Jessup on Tuesday. UC Irvine also splits the week, hosting Denver before heading to New Mexico State.
Hawai’i stays at home, welcoming San Jose State in their lone game on the schedule, with Cal Poly idle until Dec. 9.
Along with various non-conference contests, all home Big West basketball games are set to air on ESPN+. Check listings for more information and a complete game schedule.
Last Week, Today
- Another nine-win week is in the books, with six victorious efforts coming on away or neutral courts coming out of the Thanksgiving holiday.
- UC Irvine won a pair of weekend games, defeating St. Thomas and host Pacific in the Tiger Turkey Tip-Off. Junior Nikki Tom registered 10 points, five assists and three steals against the Tommies before adding 15 points against the Tigers to lead the way for the Anteaters. Last night in Lubbock, Texas, Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba paced the team with 21 points in the six-point loss. UCI held the 50-49 lead with 3:51 remaining before the Red Raiders finished the game on an 11-4 run to nab the win.
- UC Santa Barbara went 1-1 at The Dana on Mission Bay Thanksgiving Tournament, falling to UNLV before rebounding with a 61-51 win against Weber State. Mary McMorris came off the bench to provide a game-best 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting with six rebounds in 29 minutes.
- UC San Diego secured a 77-71 overtime victory over San Diego State on Tuesday as the Tritons scored the first eight points in the bonus period, only conceding a late basket during overtime to take the raod win. It marks the first program victory over the Aztecs in the Division I era. Four players scored in double figures with Sumaya Sugapong finishing with 18 points and Denali Pinto adding 17 to lead the charge.
- Long Beach State downed Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu as four LBSU players reached double-digit scoring. Savannah Tucker closed with 14 points and two assists with with Cheyenne Givens adding 11 points and a team-best six rebounds off the bench in the win.
- Last night, Cal State Fullerton took care of San Jose State at home, building a 15-point halftime victory to propel the Titans to the win. Hope Hassmann led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
Preseason Prognostications
For a second straight season, Hawai’i has been selected to claim the 2023-24 Big West women’s basketball crown, in a vote of The Big West’s 11 head coaches announced Wednesday.
The Rainbow Wahine are coming off back-to-back victories at the Big West Championship, and tallied 95 points and six first-place votes to top the polling. UH is followed by 2022-23 regular-season champion UC Irvine with 88 points and two first-place nods, with UC Davis coming in third with 85 points and the remaining three first-place votes.
Five of the six Preseason All-Big West Team selections come from the top trio of teams, with Hawai’i and UC Davis recording a pair of picks.
The guard tandem of 2023 Big West Championship MVP Daejah Phillips and 2021-22 Big West Freshman of the Year Lily Wahinekapu are expected to lead the veteran ’Bows who had their 2022-23 season ended by eventual first-time national champion LSU.
UC Irvine, picked to finish second in the polling, is back to vie for the title after the Anteaters earned the program’s first Big West regular-season title in program history. The historic 2022-23 campaign included a program-best 25 wins and the first postseason victory for a Big West basketball team since 2018 after UCI advanced to the second round of the WNIT despite an injury-depleted roster.
The ’Eaters are represented on the preseason team by junior Nikki Tom, who averaged 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 2022-23.
UC Davis is ranked third in the voting, seeking to return to the trophy-hoisting days from 2016 to 2021. The Aggies will rely on top-scoring seniors and All-Big West Preseason Team selections Evanne Turner and Tova Sabel to get them back to the top of the conference. Turner led The Big West in scoring as a junior averaging 15.1 points per game.
After a gap in the votes, the next grouping of three is also tightly bunched with UC Santa Barbara (65 points) in fourth, and Cal State Fullerton and UC San Diego knotted with 59 points apiece.
The remaining Preseason All-Big West selection is Titan senior Fujika Nimmo. A second-team All-Big West performer in 2022-23, Nimmo averaged 14.5 points and 3.1 rebounds for Cal State Fullerton.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Amy Wright, Long Beach State lands in seventh with 45 points, just ahead of Cal Poly’s 42 points. With UC San Diego completing their final year of reclassification and an adjustment to an eight-team Big West Championship bracket, Cal State Bakersfield is narrowly predicted to claim the final spot in the postseason field with 25 points in the preseason predictions. UC Riverside (24 points) and CSUN (18 points) round out the poll.
The Big West + Spectrum SportsNet
The Big West announced a slate of 15 men’s and women’s basketball contests to air on Spectrum SportsNet during the 2023-24 season.
The package includes five women’s games featuring eight squads. UC Irvine and UC Davis tip it off on Jan. 6 at 3 p.m. as part of Big West doubleheader. UC Santa Barbara hosts Cal State Bakersfield Feb. 3 at 1 p.m., and the Aggies travel to Long Beach State Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Closing the year with a pair of men’s/women’s doubleheaders, Cal State Fullerton hosts UC San Diego on Feb. 17 while the Beach welcome in Hawai’i on Feb. 24, with both games slated for 3 p.m. starts. Read more >>>
2022-23 Postseason Rewind
No. 3 seed Hawai’i was crowned The Big West champion in back-to-back fashion after mounting a second-half comeback that sent the crowd at The Dollar Loan Center into a celebration to remember after a 61-59 victory over fifth-seeded UC Santa Barbara.
The Rainbow Wahine were pitted against eventual national champion and third-seeded LSU in the first round of the NCAA Championship, 73-50. Daejah Phillips and Kallin Spiller each contributed 13 points in the contest.
With two teams in the WNIT field, Long Beach State traveled south to take on San Diego, falling 75-57, after an impressive season that was punctuated by a 15-game winning streak spanning Jan. 12 to March 2.
Regular-season champion UC Irvine dispatched San Diego State in the WNIT first round, 55-45, notching The Big West’s first national postseason basketball victory since 2018. The Anteaters closed their historic run with a loss to the Toreros, wrapping up the season with a 25-7 overall record, the most wins in program history.
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