Men’s basketball: UCI battles Gauchos

Amara Aguilar

BREN EVENTS CENTER - Three UC Irvine seniors, including the

school’s all-time leading scorer and reigning Big West Conference Player

of the Year Jerry Green, will play their last home game of the regular

season tonight at 7:05 against UC Santa Barbara in a crucial Big West

men’s basketball contest.

Going into the game, the Anteaters (19-8, 12-4 in the Big West) are a

half-game behind conference-leading Utah State (20-4, 12-3), which faces

Idaho (9-15, 6-9) tonight.

“I think that it’s going to be a lot of fun (playing Santa Barbara)

even though its an important game because I’m closing out my last year,

not just me but Dave Korfman and J.R. Christ,” Green said. “It’s going to

be a sell-out crowd. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but on the other hand

we have to take care of business.”

The Gauchos (15-9, 9-6) hold third place in the Big West and are

hungry for a win after being upset by Long Beach State, 77-74, Thursday.

UCSB will also be looking to avenge an 81-70 loss to the visiting

Anteaters in the first round of Big West action on Jan. 24.

“I know Santa Barbara,” Green said. “They are going to want revenge

because we shot the lights out when we were up there. So it’s going to be

a great game.”

Mark Hull leads the Gauchos in scoring with a 15.5 points per game

average. Branduinn Fullove (14.1 ppg), Adama Ndiaye (10.6 ppg, 7.6

rebounds per game) and Nick Jones (9.4 ppg) are also offensive threats.

“We match up pretty good as far as one through five,” Green said.

“Their center, he’s pretty good. We really have to defend him. They have

good outside shooters, including Fullove.”

Leading the Anteaters’ attack will be Green (20.2 ppg), who has piled

up a school record 1,887 career points and ranks eighth in scoring in Big

West history.

Backing Green will be sophomore center Adam Parada (12.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg)

and junior forward Jordan Harris (12.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg).

Green, Korfman and Christ will be honored after the game. Korfman is a

fan favorite who the crowd often chants for toward the end of many home

games. He made a brief appearance (four minutes) and scored two points in

the Anteaters’ last game, a 77-63 triumph over visiting Cal Poly

Thursday.

Christ was a spark against the Mustangs, pitching in with five points

while stepping in for starting center Parada.

Including tonight’s contest, the Anteaters have only two games

remaining in the regular season. They have already clinched at least the

No. 2 seed and will finish the season off at Long Beach State Thursday in

a 5:35 p.m. game on Fox Sports Net 2.

“We’ve let a couple games slip away and I think we need to have the

mind set for the rest of the season that every game is important,” Harris

said. “It’s do or die. Right now we’re just hoping that Utah State drops

a game so we can get back in it. It’s just hopes and prayers. We just

have to go out and win our games and handle our end of it like we should

have been doing from the beginning.”

ZOTS - Basketball Extravaganza hosted by the Chief Executive

Roundtable will be held during tonight’s game. A variety of activities

will be featured, including the CEO halftime shootout and the recognition

of UCI’s senior basketball players.

The Chancellor’s Free-Throw Challenge will be held at halftime to help

support UCI basketball. Individuals from the campus and community have

pledged contributions to UCI basketball based on the number of free

throws the chancellor makes.

For UCI basketball ticket information, call (949) 824-5000.