Irvine Faces Ricky Berry and Supporting Cast Tonight at San Jose

San Jose State was picked to finish second in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. by the coaches in their annual preseason poll, but the Spartans (10-11 overall and 5-7 in conference) are currently tied for eighth with Fresno State.

San Jose lost Saturday night to UC Santa Barbara, 65-64, and have dropped four straight since beating Memphis State, 82-67, in Memphis Jan. 26. It’s the Spartans’ longest losing streak since the 1983-84 season. And tonight at 7:30, they play host to UC Irvine (11-10, 6-6), a team which beat them, 98-77, in their first meeting this season.

Ricky Berry, son of Coach Bill Berry, continues to lead the conference in scoring, averaging 25 points per game, but he had a season-low 16 points against Santa Barbara.

Irvine, which played excellent pressure defense to beat San Jose in the first game, returned to its early-season matador defense Saturday night and Utah State got 24 layups en route to a 102-83 victory over the Anteaters.