Long Beach State Beach (3-21, 2-12 Big West) at UC Irvine Anteaters (21-4, 12-2 Big West)
Irvine, California; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: UC Irvine hosts Long Beach State after Hunter Hernandez scored 30 points in UC Irvine’s 77-71 win against the CSU Fullerton Titans.
The Anteaters are 12-1 in home games. UC Irvine is 1-1 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Beach have gone 2-12 against Big West opponents. Long Beach State is 0-4 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 17.5 turnovers per game.
UC Irvine scores 71.9 points per game, 1.1 fewer points than the 73.0 Long Beach State gives up. Long Beach State has shot at a 35.4% rate from the field this season, 1.1 percentage points higher than the 34.3% shooting opponents of UC Irvine have averaged.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Hernandez is averaging 18.3 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Anteaters. Jada Wynn is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
JaQuoia Jones-Brown is averaging 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Beach. Khylee-Jade Pepe is averaging 12.1 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Anteaters: 8-2, averaging 70.0 points, 34.6 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 10.2 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 40.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 54.3 points per game.
Beach: 2-8, averaging 59.1 points, 30.2 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 38.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.