Faulkner: UCI brings defense

UC Irvine's Mamadou Ndiaye averages 12.3 points per game, which is second on the team. He's also a force on defense.

Feb. 9, 2016 9:14 PM PT

The confidence of the UC Irvine men’s basketball team may have been boosted by the Denver Broncos, who proved once again on Sunday that defense wins championships.

Coach Russell Turner’s Anteaters (18-6, 7-1 in conference) play at Hawaii (18-3, 7-1) on Thursday in a showdown for first place in the Big West Conference. Tipoff is 10 p.m. Pacific Time.

UCI entered the week leading the conference in scoring defense (63.9 points per game), field-goal-percentage defense (.378) and blocked shots (5.4 per contest). Its national ranking in those categories was No. 7, No. 22 and No. 24, respectively, among 351 Division I schools.

Hawaii, mirroring the offensive strength of the Carolina Panthers, leads the Big West in scoring (79.2 per game), field-goal percentage (.468), assists (16.2), scoring margin (plus-12.1 per game), rebounding margin (plus-5.2), and turnover margin (plus-2.7).

Thursday’s game at the 10,300-seat Stan Sherrif Center is a sellout and there will be a blackout night promotion. UCI has won the last two games in Honolulu and has beaten the Rainbow Warriors four straight times, including all three meetings last season. UCI topped Hawaii in last year’s Big West Tournament final to gain the program’s first berth in the NCAA Tournament.

UCI, off to its best start in 15 seasons and ranked No. 17 in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll, has won eight of its last nine games. The ‘Eaters, whom Russell has often said draw their identity from defense, have allowed more than 75 points only three times this season (a 78-63 loss at Oregon, a 78-53 setback at Kansas and a 76-60 loss at home to UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 30). UCI is 9-0 when holding foes to 60 or fewer points.

Hawaii, which along with UCI is 4-0 in conference road games this season, has won 10 of its last 11 and has scored more than 75 in nine off those wins. The Rainbow Warriors, who are 15-1 when they score at least 75, have failed to score as many as 70 only twice this season (including a 78-64 to Long Beach State in front of a sellout home crowd on Jan. 30).

Hawaii, ranked No. 13 among mid-majors, features four players averaging in double figures, led by reigning Big West Player of the Week Stefan Jankovic. Jankovic, a 6-foot-11 junior forward, averaged 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in road wins over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UCSB last week and his four double-doubles this season trail only UCI’s 7-6 junior center Mamadou Ndiaye’s five among Big West players.

Jankovich (15.3 ppg), is joined by Aaron Valdes (14.3), Roderick Babbitt (13.0) and Isaac Fleming (11.2) as the offensive leaders for Hawaii. Babbitt and Fleming, who did not play in the two games last week due to a leg injury, have also earned conference player of the week recognition this season.

Ndiaye, UCI’s lone Big West Player of the Week honoree, is averaging 12.3 points per game, just behind junior guard Luke Nelson (13). Mike Best, a 6-10 junior, and senior guard Alex Young both average 8.8 per contest for the ‘Eaters, who needed overtime to win at Cal Poly last week.

Young ranks No. 8 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (100 to 25).

UCI and Hawaii, both two games ahead of third-place Long Beach State, play at the Bren Events Center on Feb. 20 at 8:30 p.m.

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•One weakness UCI and Hawaii share is three-point shooting. Hawaii ranks last among nine Big West teams, connecting on 31.9% from beyond the arc (145 for 454). UCI is hitting 34.7% from threedom (140 for 404) to rank sixth in the conference.

Hawaii is shooting 55.6% from two-point range, to UCI’s 49.2%.

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•UCI’s 68.7 points per game rank eighth in the Big West, while Hawaii’s scoring defense (67.1) ranks third in the conference.

Hawaii is No. 2 in field-goal-percentage defense (.403)

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•With Major League Baseball spring training on the horizon, a pair of Orange Coast College products are on the 40-man rosters of their respective teams.

Boog Powell, 23, an outfielder drafted in the 20th round by the Oakland Athletics in 2012, will open spring training with the Seattle Mariners.

Powell, who has hit .308 in 1,082 minor-league at-bats, was traded from Oakland to Tampa Bay, then from Tampa to Seattle in 2015. Playing for the Triple-A Durham Bulls and the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits last season, Powell hit .295 in 444 at-bats, with three home runs, 40 runs batted in and 18 stolen bases.

Brandon Brennan, 25, a right-handed pitcher chosen in the fourth round by the Chicago White Sox in 2012, opens Spring Training in Arizona with the White Sox. The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder, who has battled arm trouble throughout his pro career, is 15-16 with a 4.15 earned-run average in 245 minor-league innings.

Playing for the Winston-Salem Dash of the Advanced-A Carolina League last season, Brennan was 3-4 with a 3.55 ERA. In 58 1/3 innings, he struck out 39, walked 24 and allowed 55 hits.

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•The UC Irvine baseball team will open its season Feb. 19 without a significant contributor to its program. Fumi Kimura, a member of the UCI media relations staff for 15 years and the baseball sports information director since the school resurrected the program at her alma mater in 2002, left the school on Monday to accept a job in Cincinnati, where she will join her fiancé.

Kimura, who will be working with FC Cincinnati, an expansion team in the United Soccer League, worked with baseball and women’s volleyball at UCI. Her professionalism, humor and commitment to serving student-athletes, coaches, fans and members of the media will be greatly missed.