UC Davis at UC Irvine

When: Tonight, 7

Where: Bren Events Center

Breakdown: The UC Irvine men’s basketball team (5-11, 3-1 in conference) has won three of its last four and four of its last six and the Anteaters suddenly find themselves a viable Big West Conference contender, one game behind first-place Long Beach State ... UC Davis (7-10, 2-2) is coming off an 85-74 win at Cal State Fullerton Thursday and has won three of its last five contests ... UCI has won two straight at home, after losing its first four this season at the Bren Events Center ... UCI is paced by 6-foot-5 freshman Eric Wise, who is averaging 12.9 points and 5.7 rebounds. He is averaging 16.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in conference ... Kevin Bland, a 6-8 senior, is averaging 11 ppg and 6.6 rpg, while UCI teammate and junior guard Michael Hunter is chipping in 10.2 ppg. Hunter is averaging 13 ppg in conference and is shooting 52.5% from the field against conference foes (21 for 40, including nine of 19 from three-point range for 47.4%) ... Davis has four players averaging in double figures, led by 6-8 sophomore Joe Harden (14.9 ppg). Harden also leads the Aggies in rebounding at 7.9 per outing ... UCI’s two-game winning streak is its longest of the season ... Other than a crowd of 4,206 against Oregon, UCI is averaging 1,338 in its five other home games this season, just 26.8% capacity at the 5,000-seat Bren Center ... UCI leads the nine-team Big West in three-point percentage (39.4).

— Barry Faulkner