UCI men’s basketball to have four TV appearances

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team has a minimum of four appearances scheduled on the 2008 Big West Conference television package.

Two of the games are on FSN Prime Ticket at 7:00 p.m.: Jan. 19 at Pacific and Feb. 9 at UC Santa Barbara.

Two other dates are home games on KVMD at 7:00 p.m.: Feb. 14 vs. Pacific and Mar. 6 against new conference member UC Davis.

UCI’s home games against Cal State Northridge March 1 and Cal State Fullerton March 8 will be considered among others for FSN Prime Ticket telecasts. Those decisions will be made in early February.

The Anteaters’ game at Utah Dec. 1 will be shown on The Mtn. Network (Mountain West Television) at 11:00 a.m. PST.

Coach Pat Douglass’ squad returns four starters from last season. Senior frontcourt players Darren Fells and Patrick Sanders are returning All-Big West honorable mention selections from last season.

Fells led the Anteaters in rebounding at 6.1 per game and averaged 10.2 points. He ranks 14th in UCI career rebounds with 550. Sanders topped the team in scoring (11.9 ppg) and averaged 5.3 boards per contest for the Anteaters, who were 15-18 overall.

Senior Chuma Awaji and sophomore Michael Hunter are returning starters in the backcourt. Awaji averaged 7.9 points and Hunter 6.8.

— From staff reports