IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (16-8, 8-5 Big West) looks to stay hot on the road this week, playing their usual Thursday-Saturday schedule. Winners of four of their last five, the Gauchos first travel to conference leader UC Irvine (20-4, 10-2 Big West), playing the Anteaters for the first time this year. On Saturday, the Gauchos head to UC Riverside (16-9, 9-4 Big West) for a rematch of the 66-63 Santa Barbara buzzer-beating victory earlier this season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last Thursday at Cal State Bakersfield, the Gauchos held a lead most of the game to an eventual 81-75 victory. Stephan Swenson led the team in points, assists, and rebounds with 22, seven, and six, respectively. Then, back in the Thunderdome on Saturday against Hawai'i, a Deuce Turner three-pointer with two minutes remaining gave the Gauchos a 72-70 lead that they would never relinquish. Turner's 23 points off the bench while shooting 62% from the field was paramount to the 76-72 win.
 
SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine has finished the past two regular seasons with at least a share of the best record in the Big West. Eyeing to do the same this season, their 10-2 conference record is currently tied with UC San Diego. Somewhat surprisingly, Irvine just got blown out by San Diego on their home court; after beating the Tritons in San Diego earlier this year, the Anteaters lost 85-67 to them last Saturday.
 
For the Gauchos, one of the keys for beating the Anteaters is an obvious one—make shots. UC Irvine currently ranks third in all of Division I college basketball with 29.83 defensive rebounds per game, so they do not give away many second chance opportunities. Furthermore, their 80.8% free throw percentage is top-five in the country, too.
 
Big men Bent Leuchten and Devin Tillis lead the team averaging 9.1 and 8 rebounds, good for second and third in the conference, respectively. The pair also lead the team in points per game with 16 and 13.3, respectively, as two of four Anteaters averaging 12 or more. With an abundance of solid bigs, another one—Kyle Evans—is third in the conference with 1.4 blocks per game.
 
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
The game against UC Riverside could prove crucial in the Big West standings. At 9-4 in conference play, the Highlanders are currently tied for third—one spot above and one game better than the Gauchos. A Santa Barbara win would be a season sweep, and could catapult the Gauchos to a higher seed by season's end. Fans will not forget that Stephan Swenson hit his second consecutive buzzer beater in the first matchup between these two teams.
 
Since their defeat to the Gauchos on January 16, though, UC Riverside has gone 6-1, including home wins over both UC San Diego and UC Irvine. Before Saturday's game, the Highlanders travel to UC Davis, whom they narrowly beat 60-58 during that seven-game stretch.
 
Much of Riverside's scoring goes through sophomore guard Barrington Hargress. The reigning Big West Freshman of the Year is averaging a whopping 19.8 points per game, third-most in the conference. He also leads the team in assists, dishing 3.9 per game. Joel Armotrading is their rim presence, leading the team by a significant margin in both rebounds (7 per game) and blocks (1.3 per game).
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Thursday game at UC Irvine will be the Gauchos' first nationally televised game this season on ESPNU, with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday's game at UC Riverside will be back on ESPN+ with a 5 p.m. tip-off. Fans can also follow along via live stats as always at ucsbgauchos.com/MBBLiveStats.