UC Irvine meets Cal Poly in Big West quarters

Published Mar. 10, 2021 6:30 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Cal Poly (4-19, 2-15) vs. No. 2 seed UC Irvine (16-8, 13-4)

Big West Conference Tourney Quarterfinals, Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Cal Poly is set to match up against UC Irvine in the Big West tournament quarterfinals. In the regular season, UC Irvine won both of the head-to-head matchups. The teams last faced each other on Jan. 23, when the Anteaters outshot Cal Poly 36.7 percent to 27.9 percent and had 10 fewer turnovers en route to a 23-point victory.

SUPER SENIORS: Cal Poly's Keith Smith, Mark Crowe and Riley Till have combined to score 26 percent of the team's points this season and have accounted for 33 percent of all Mustangs scoring over the last five games.ACCURATE ALIMAMY: Alimamy Koroma has connected on 39 percent of the 41 3-pointers he's attempted and has gone 2 for 3 over the last three games. He's also made 72.8 percent of his free throws this season.

WINLESS WHEN: Cal Poly is 0-19 when scoring fewer than 69 points and 4-0 when scoring at least 69.

PASSING FOR POINTS: The Mustangs have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Anteaters. UC Irvine has an assist on 38 of 84 field goals (45.2 percent) across its previous three matchups while Cal Poly has assists on 43 of 74 field goals (58.1 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The UC Irvine defense has allowed only 63.4 points per game to opponents this season, ranking the Anteaters 26th among Division I teams. The Cal Poly offense has averaged 61.9 points through 23 games (ranked 319th, nationally).

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