Under the Radar Game of the Day: UC-Irvine at Long Beach State

UC-Irvine at Long Beach State, 10:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Prime Ticket/Fox Sports San Diego/Fox College Sports-Pacific

The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to the Big West conference tonight for a matchup between the Anteaters of UC-Irvine and the 49ers of Long Beach State.  The standings in this league have suddenly become an incredible logjam, with six teams entering play tonight within a game in the loss column of each other.  At 6-2 in conference, Long Beach State is currently technically the conference leader.  The 49ers are only 12-12 overall, though they have won 5 of their last 6 contests.  Gabe Levin led the way for Dan Monson’s team on Saturday in a win at Cal State-Northridge, scoring 19 points.

Although UC-Irvine is only 9-14 overall, the Anteaters are 4-3 in Big West play and a win tonight could tie them with Long Beach in the loss column (though still possibly behind a few of the other 2 loss teams at the top).  Irvine did pick up a solid home win last time out against UC-Riverside.  Tommy Rutherford had a double-double in that victory with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while teammate Jonathan Galloway picked up one as well, scoring 10 points to go with 14 boards.  Efforts like those will be needed again tonight if the Anteaters want to pull off the surprise win on the road.