Cal Poly (2-9, 0-5) vs. UC Irvine (7-4, 4-0)
Bren Events Center, Irvine, California; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: UC Irvine looks for its eighth straight win in the head-to-head series over Cal Poly. In its last seven wins against the Mustangs, UC Irvine has won by an average of 17 points. Cal Poly’s last win in the series came on Jan. 26, 2017, a 79-66 victory.
SUPER SENIORS: Cal Poly’s Keith Smith, Riley Till and Mark Crowe have collectively scored 28 percent of all Mustangs scoring this season, though that number has fallen to 23 percent over the last five games.
DIALING IT UP A NOTCH: The Anteaters have scored 73.8 points per game and allowed 59.8 points per game against Big West opponents. Those are both substantial improvements over the 63 points scored and 71.6 points given up per game to non-conference opponents.ACCURATE ALIMAMY: Alimamy Koroma has connected on 30.8 percent of the 26 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 6 of 16 over the last three games. He’s also converted 68.8 percent of his free throws this season.
WINLESS WHEN: Cal Poly is 0-9 when scoring fewer than 69 points and 2-0 when scoring at least 69.
UNDEFEATED WHEN: UC Irvine is a perfect 5-0 when the team records eight or more steals. The Anteaters are 2-4 when they steal the ball fewer than eight times.
SECOND CHANCES: UC Irvine has posted an excellent offensive rebound percentage of 36.7 percent this year. That rate is ranked 13th in Division 1. The offensive rebound percentage for Cal Poly stands at just 23.1 percent (ranked 290th).
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