This Week in the Big West (January 30-February 5, 2012)
Omondi Amoke and third-place Cal State Fullerton host second-place UC Santa Barbara on ESPNU this weekend. (Photo by Matt Brown)
|
Nicole Nesbit and UC Santa Barbara host rival Cal Poly in an ESPN3 broadcast sponsored by Hawaii Tourism Authority Saturday. (Photo by Tony Mastres)
|
Kelly Chui and No. 64 UC Davis will head to No. 2 Stanford before hosting San Francisco & Fresno State this week.
|
Michele Relton and Pacific host their Pacific Invite this weekend with five teams visiting Stockton..
|
01/30/2012
The road to the
2012 Big West Basketball Tournament is downhill from here as the second half of conference play begins for both men's and women's hoops. Three TV games highlight the schedule with men's games on ESPNU, ESPN3 and Fox Sports West and a special ESPN3 broadcast of the Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara women's game.
Men's Basketball
Third place Cal State Fullerton hosts second place UC Santa Barbara in a nationally televised ESPNU contest on Saturday with both teams looking to stay within earshot of unbeaten Long Beach State (16-6, 9-0 Big West). The 49ers need one more win to tie their second-best start in conference history and will try to get that victory Saturday when they host Cal State Northridge on Fox Sports West.
For the seventh year, all home and conference games, with the exception of ESPN and FOX Sports contests, will be broadcast by the institutions on BigWest.TV, the conference's video streaming initiative in partnership with CBS College Sports
.
Men's Basketball Weekly Release #13
Women's Basketball
As the second half of conference play begins, Cal State Northridge sits alone atop the Big West standings with a 6-2 league record, but close behind are a trio of teams in a logjam for second place. Defending co-champs Cal Poly, 2011 Big West Tournament champs UC Davis and surprise UC Irvine are all a game behind the Matadors at 5-3.
The highlight game of the week features Cal Poly at the other defending regular-season co-champs, UC Santa Barbara on Saturday as part of the Big West's ESPN3 distribution package sponsored by the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. The Mustangs pulled out a narrow 61-58 win at home the last time the teams met.
Meanwhile, Cal State Northridge hits the road for a pair of games at UC Riverside and UC Irvine. The 'Eaters will host rival Long Beach State Thursday before their showdown with the Matadors, while UC Davis opens the second half with their lone game this week at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday.
For the seventh year, all home and conference games, with the exception of ESPN and FOX Sports contests, will be broadcast by the institutions on BigWest.TV, the conference's video streaming initiative in partnership with CBS College Sports.
Women's Basketball Weekly Release #13
Men's & Women's Tennis
Big West squads attempt to defeat ranked opponents on this week’s schedule. Action on the women’s side begins on Wednesday as Cal State Northridge travels to No. 26 Pepperdine and UC Davis visits No. 2 Stanford. On Saturday, Cal Poly gets a shot at Pepperdine while Pacific hosts No. 71 Santa Clara. The Aggies face their fifth ranked opponent in their first seven matches when No. 66 Fresno State visits on Sunday. In other non-conference action, Long Beach State and UC Irvine take turns hosting Brigham Young.
Also highlighting the women’s schedule is the first Big West match of the season as Cal State Northridge travels to Cal State Fullerton on Sunday.
The men’s schedule is a light one this week with only six matches, but half of those are against teams ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Top 75. UC Riverside makes the tough trek to Las Vegas to face No. 61 UNLV and No. 60 New Mexico State on back-to-back days. Cal Poly invades No. 54 Arizona to round out the list of ranked opponents. UC Irvine hosts San Diego State on Friday before taking a long lay off. The Anteaters will not return to action until their Big West home opener on Feb. 20 against UC Santa Barbara.
Tennis Weekly Release #2
Women's Water Polo
Tournament action fills up the majority of this week’s Big West women’s water polo schedule as teams scatter to the Lancer Mini Tournament, Stanford Invitational and Pacific Invite.
Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine are participating in the Lancer Mini Tournament hosted by Cal Baptist. The Matadors take on a pair of ranked opponents in No. 6 Arizona State and No. 13 Hartwick College before ending the single-day event with Pomona-Pitzer. The Anteaters also take on Hartwick College while facing the host Cal Baptist.
UC Davis encounters the toughest competition of anyone this week with three ranked opponents awaiting at the Stanford Invitational. The Aggies open the tournament on Friday against the top-ranked and host Cardinal followed by a matchup with No. 5 San Jose State for the third time in as many weeks. In Saturday’s action, the road does not get any easier as the Aggies battle No. 3 USC and then complete for a place later that afternoon. The tournament also includes No. 2 California, No. 4 UCLA, No. 10 Hawai’i and No. 13 Michigan.
After a week of being idle, Pacific returns to action this week as the host of the five-team Pacific Invite. The Tigers square off against Cal State East Bay, Azusa Pacific, Wagner and Fresno Pacific over the two days.
Women's Water Polo Weekly Release #2
* * *
This Week in the Big West is the one-stop listing of the top matches taking place across the Big West Conference! Each week, This Week in the Big West will highlight the games that fans won’t want to miss and critical match-ups home or away in one location. Keep in touch with the happenings around the conference!
Basketball rankings based on AP & ESPN/USA Today Polls.
Women's water polo rankings based on CWPA Poll.
[1] - at Las Vegas, NV.
[2] - Lancer Mini Tournament (Riverside, CA).
[3] - Stanford Invitational (Stanford, CA).
[4] - Pacific Invite (Stockton, CA).
[5] - at Tucson, AZ.
