Cal Poly Mustangs (3-20, 1-12 Big West) at UC Irvine Anteaters (19-4, 10-2 Big West)
Irvine, California; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Cal Poly takes on UC Irvine after Charish Thompson scored 20 points in Cal Poly’s 59-55 loss to the UC Davis Aggies.
The Anteaters have gone 11-1 at home. UC Irvine is third in the Big West in rebounding averaging 35.0 rebounds. Jada Wynn leads the Anteaters with 7.7 boards.
The Mustangs have gone 1-12 against Big West opponents. Cal Poly is ninth in the Big West with 31.1 rebounds per game led by Thompson averaging 5.5.
UC Irvine is shooting 40.3% from the field this season, 1.7 percentage points lower than the 42.0% Cal Poly allows to opponents. Cal Poly averages 4.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.0 fewer made shots on average than the 6.1 per game UC Irvine allows.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Hunter Hernandez is averaging 18.2 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Anteaters. Wynn is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Vanessa McManus averages 1.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Mustangs, scoring 17.9 points while shooting 32.0% from beyond the arc. Thompson is shooting 43.8% and averaging 14.4 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Anteaters: 8-2, averaging 68.5 points, 35.1 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 9.6 steals and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 39.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 54.7 points per game.
Mustangs: 1-9, averaging 55.9 points, 32.8 rebounds, 9.7 assists, 7.2 steals and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 36.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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