Big West foes will clash when the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (7-8) play the UC Irvine Anteaters (14-5) at Thunderdome. The game begins at 7:00 pm ET on Saturday, Jan. 16.
The Gauchos come into this game hoping to repeat their last performance, narrowly defeating Cal Poly 76-73 on Thursday. With 17 points and 12 rebounds, Sam Beeler recorded his second double-double this season. The Anteaters, meanwhile, are coming off a 58-54 win against Long Beach State on Thursday. Alex Young played well for UC Irvine, recording seven points, eight assists, and five steals.
Notes
The UC Irvine Anteaters have a defensive rating of 96.9 (ranked 71st), while the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos have an offensive rating of 102.5 (ranked 236th).
The UC Irvine Anteaters average a field goal percentage of 44.7% this season. The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are a winless 0-3 when opponents have a FG% of 44.7% or greater.
The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and the UC Irvine Anteaters both rank higher in average field goal percentage when compared to their effective field goal percentages. UC Santa Barbara is 194th and 183rd in the nation for eFG% and FG% respectively, while UC Irvine ranks 180th and 137th in these categories.
UC Santa Barbara ranks 99th in assists, registering 14.9 per game. UC Irvine performs worse at 107th with 14.8 assists per game.
UC Irvine, the 37th-ranked team in blocked shots, registers an average of 5.2 per game. UC Santa Barbara does worse, ranked 209th with 3.1.
On average, UC Santa Barbara makes 5.7 steals per game. UC Irvine has a solid 8-3 record when it gives up at least 5 steals.
