West Coast Convo
Fansided

Pacific Game Preview: Tigers Take On Former Big West Foe UC Irvine

By Josh Horton

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Mar 16, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Pacific Tigers celebrate after the game against the UC Irvine Anteaters during the championship game of the Big West tournament at the Honda Center. The Pacific Tigers defeated the UC Irvine Anteaters 64-55. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Pacific vs. UC Irvine

Game time: 7 PM PST

TV/Streaming: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/uop.portal?mode=link&eventId=117299&broadcastType=video#

Teams Records: Pac – 1-0 – UCI 0-1

Leading scorers from last game: Pac –Gill 22 – UCI – McNealy 27

Leading rebounders from last game: Pac – Kelley 6 – UCI – Davis II 16

Leading assisters from last game: Pac – Bock 3 – UCI – Ryan 6

Pacific will welcome UC Irvine, a foe from southern California, to the Spanos Center and will look to pick up its second victory of the season.

The Anteaters were predicted to win the conference in the Big West preseason poll. They return a pair of starters in Will Davis II and Alex Young. UC Irvine has a player that is 7’6” on its roster (Mamadou Ndiaye), as well as two other 7-footers (Connor Clifford and Ioannis Dimakopoulos).

UC Irvine lost a narrow one to Fresno State on November 8th by a score of 98-97. Senior guard Chris McNealy had 27 points on 10 of 19 shooting, but that was not enough to knock off the Bulldogs. Fresno State had a great performance in its own right in Marvelle Harris, who had 30 points. Even though the Anteaters controlled the boards 45-32, it was not enough and to control the game.

Keys to the Game

Feed Sama Taku

It became apparent that from the Fresno State box score that the Anteaters have trouble defending the guard position. Shooting guard Sama Taku is Pacific’s best perimeter scorer, and the Tigers will need to lean on him heavily during this contest.

Control the Boards

The Tigers have a lot of size, but so do the Anteaters. Tony Gill, Ross Rivera, and Khalil Kelley will need to control the glass in order to prevent second chance points from UC Irvine.

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