The top three teams in the Big West Conference - UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and Cal Poly - are packing their bags in preparation for a week of road games. Of the trio, Cal Poly is the lone team to own a winning record away from its home court with a 6-4 mark. UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside, both nearly unbeatable at home this season, have struggled on the road as each team has recorded just four road victories.
League-leading UC Santa Barbara carries its perfect 11-0 conference mark to Northern California to face both fourth-place Pacific and fifth-place UC Davis. Thursday evening the Gauchos and Tigers square off at the Alex G. Spanos Center where the Tigers are 11-1 this season. UC Santa Barbara, who has won 13 of the last 14 contests, posted a 76-54 win over Pacific back on January 24.
Two days later the Gauchos visit the Pavilion to tackle the UC Davis Aggies in the front end of a doubleheader. The Gauchos-Aggies showdown marks the start of a three-game homestand for UC Davis. Back on January 22, UC Santa Barbara pulled out a 13-point victory over the Aggies.
Like UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, who also takes on UC Davis and Pacific this week, swept its northern California opponents earlier this season. The Mustangs snapped their six-game win streak last week when they suffered a 66-62 loss to UC Santa Barbara. Their hopes of getting back on track this week looks promising since the Mustangs are the only team in the conference with a winning road mark (.600).
UC Davis, who is 5-5 at The Pavilion, entertains the Mustangs Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Aggies are back on track after collecting a pair of Big West wins during their trip to Orange County last week. Cal Poly returns to action Saturday afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. contest at Pacific.
Unfortunately for the UC Riverside Highlanders, their light week consists of one game at The Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State. The Highlanders, who are riding a school-best 10-game win streak, are a perfect 10-0 when playing in front of their home crowd at the Student Recreation Center. This week the Highlanders and 49ers take to the court for a rare Friday-night meeting. The Highlanders held the advantage in the earlier matchup by a score of 57-41.
UC Irvine visits Cal State Northridge Wednesday night for its lone contest of the week. The Anteaters picked up their first conference win of the season back on January 24 when UC Irvine’s Kim Barnes drained the game-winning basket, with 1.5 second remaining, to down the Matadors, 48-46.
Following Wednesday’s outing, the Matadors welcome Cal State Fullerton to The Matadome Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff. Earlier this season Cal State Northridge topped Cal State Fullerton with its highest offensive output of the season, 87-82.