Under The Radar Game of the Day – Wednesday, February 15th

UC-Irvine (17-8, 10-3) at UC-Santa Barbara (20-4, 11-2) – 10:00 PM (ESPN+)

On certain nights, the best game gets saved for last – this is one of those nights in which we get a Top 2 matchup in the Big West between the UC-Irvine Anteaters and the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos. UCSB won the first round of the Gauch-Eater Cup 73-65; Andre Kelly had a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Gauchos in that win. That was the beginning of a stretch in which the Gauchos have won 7 of their last 8 games to take a 1-game lead over Irvine in the Big West.

UC-Irvine had a 5-game winning streak at the beginning of conference play until the aforementioned first game against UCSB. The only other stumbles in conference play came against Cal State-Fullerton and Long Beach State, both of which were on the road. Dawson Baker averages 15.1 points a game for the Anteaters.