NORTHRIDGE – CSUN Men’s Basketball continues a three-game road trip on Wednesday evening as the Matadors visit UC Irvine at 7:00 p.m.

The game will air live on ESPN3 while an audio only broadcast will be available on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call. All links to live stats, video and audio can be found on the men’s basketball page at GoMatadors.com.

The Matadors are currently eighth in the Big West standings with a 2-7 record. UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis lead the conference with a 7-2 record followed by UC Irvine (6-3), Long Beach State (6-4), Cal State Fullerton (5-4), Hawai’i (4-4) and Cal Poly (3-6). UC Riverside sits in ninth place with an 0-8 record but just 1.5 games behind the Matadors. The top eight teams will advance to the Big West Tournament in March.

CSUN dropped its fourth-straight game last Saturday at first-place UC Santa Barbara. Despite falling 75-51, the Matadors battled the Gauchos in a close game for more than a half. CSUN led early by three points, and only trailed 32-25 at the half. Lyrik Shreiner brought the Matadors within 49-43 with 10:42 left to play in the second half but the Gauchos would dominate down the stretch. UCSB went on a 19-1 run to put the game out of reach in the final minutes.

Against UCSB, Tavrion Dawson collected his fifth double-double over the last six games, recording 16 points and 10 rebounds. Dawson has now registered 13 double-doubles in his Matador career. Shreiner scored all 10 of his points in the second half while Terrell Gomez posted nine points and three assists.

In the Big West, Dawson is sixth in the conference in points (16.1) and rebounds per game (6.7). Gomez remains the league leader in minutes per game (33.7) followed by Dawson in fifth place (32.5) and Micheal Warren in 10th place (31.5). In 3-point percentage, Gomez is second in the Big West with a 46.5 clip while he is seventh in assists per game (3.7). Warren is tied for third in free throw percentage (83.3), third in defensive rebounds per game (5.4) and ninth in overall rebounds per game (6.1). Averaging 12.7 points and 1.9 assists, Warren is the only player in the Big West to average at least 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

Dawson moved up to 15th place on the Matadors’ all-time career scoring list with his 16-point effort against the Gauchos last Saturday. Currently at 1,090 points, Dawson is 69 points away from moving into 13th place occupied by the tandem of Calvin Chitwood (2004-08) and George Robnett (1970-74). Dawson has the 11th most points in the team’s Division I era. The Matador forward could also move into 10th place all time in blocks with one more rejection as he currently sits on 43 for his career.

UC Irvine has won the last seven meetings from the Matadors, and hold an all-time 35-24 record in the series. The Matadors have not defeated the Anteaters since posting an 81-75 win at The Matadome on Feb. 22, 2014. CSUN also looks to snap a six-game skid at Bren Events Center. The Matadors’ last win at UC Irvine took place on Jan. 27, 2011 as CSUN earned a 66-62 victory. In the Anteaters’ 71-54 victory over the Matadors on Jan. 13, Dawson and Warren scored 14 points apiece.

A Closer Look at UC Irvine
The Anteaters are 11-14 this season with a 6-3 record in Big West play. Winners of three-straight games, UCI defeated Cal State Fullerton 63-58 at Titan Gym last Saturday. UC Irvine is 5-3 at Bren Events Center this season including 3-1 in Big West play.

Sophomore Evan Leonard leads the team with 12.6 points to go with 3.5 rebounds per game. Fellow sophomore Eyassu Worku leads the team with 3.7 assists per game and is posting 11.4 points. A third sophomore, Tommy Rutherford is the team’s top rebounder with 5.8 per game while he is scoring 10.4 points this season. As a team, the Anteaters, are first in the Big West in rebounds (41.4), offensive rebounds (12.3), defensive rebounds (29.1) and blocks per game (4.2).