TONIGHT

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UC Irvine (10-4, 4-1) at Pacific (8-6, 3-2), 5:30, Fox Sports Net 2, KUCI-FM (88.9) -- Irvine Coach Pat Douglass, who played basketball at Pacific with Tiger Coach Bob Thomason, has mastered his former college teammate recently. Front-running Irvine has won five of the last seven meetings with the Tigers, who lost two in a row on the road last week and have slipped into a tie for fourth place in the Big West Conference. The game features two of the top freshmen in the conference, Pacific forward Christian Maraker, who averages 13.9 points and 5.6 rebounds, and Irvine guard Jeff Gloger, who ranks third in the nation in steals average (3.43).

UC Riverside (3-8, 2-3) at Utah State (13-4, 4-2), 6 PST, KPRO (1570) -- Riverside Coach John Masi was more exuberant than usual after the Highlanders’ 47-41 victory at Cal State Fullerton last Saturday. It was their second win in the last four games and each of those could have gone either way. “That’s four strong games for us. Maybe the corner has been turned,” he said. The Highlanders may be without senior forward Mark Miller, a key playeroff the bench. He injured an ankle at Fullerton. Utah State limps home having lost two of its last five. The Aggies struggled to beat last-place Long Beach, 63-55, Saturday.

Cal State Fullerton (5-10, 3-2) at Idaho (6-9, 2-4), 7 -- Fullerton expects to have only eight players on this trip, which ends Saturday at Utah State, so Titan Coach Donny Daniels said he intends to let the air out of the ball to keep players fresh. “If we play fast, other teams will just come right back down and score on us. We will use the clock,” he said. The Titans will most likely be without leading scorer Ralphy Holmes (18.3 points), who has an injured shooting shoulder. Both teams have two-game losing streaks.