‘Eaters attempt to begin late-season surge at UOP

When: Tonight, 7

Where: Spanos Center

Breakdown: The UC Irvine men’s basketball team (8-16, 5-6 in the Big West Conference) plays the first of its five remaining regular-season conference games, three on the road, at Pacific (13-9, 6-5) ... Having lost two straight and three of their last four, the Anteaters have fallen to seventh in the nine-team conference, though they remain just a game out of a share of third place in the tightly bunched standings ... Pacific, which fell at UCI, 52-51, Jan. 15, is coming off a 70-51 home win Thursday over Cal State Fullerton ... The Tigers save their best for after tipoff, as seniors Bryan LeDuc (a team-best 11.1 points per game) and senior guard Chad Troyer (10.4 ppg) have been coming off the bench. LeDuc has made just one start in 22 games, while Troyer lost his starting job five games ago, not long after he went zero for nine from the field in a scoreless effort against UCI ... The ’Eaters are led by 6-foot-5 freshman center Eric Wise (13.5 ppg and 5.9 rebounds per contest), while 6-8 senior Kevin Bland is averaging 10.3 ppg and a team-best 6.8 rpg ... UCI junior point guard Michael Hunter is contributing 11.5 ppg, including a career-high 22 in Thursday’s loss at UC Davis ... UCI has won three straight from the Tigers, but has not swept the regular-season series since the 2002-03 season ... UCI Coach Pat Douglass played at UOP, where he and Tigers’ coach and alumnus Bob Thomason began what has been a lifelong friendship ... Pacific leads the all-time series, 35-34.

— Barry Faulkner