South Carolina tops UCI’s slate

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team’s nonconference schedule next season is highlighted by a home game against two-time defending NIT champion South Carolina on Nov. 14.

Coach Pat Douglass’ Anteaters will also play host to nonconference foes Pepperdine, Sam Houston State and Harvard before tipping off Big West Conference play on Jan. 4 with a home game against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

UCI opens the season Nov. 10 against Winston-Salem State in the first of three games at the Basketball Travelers Classic at Fresno State.

The nonconference road slate includes South Alabama (Nov. 11 at the Fresno tournament) and Nevada (Nov. 21). Both the Jaguars and the Wolfpack made the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Anteaters also visit McArthur Court in Eugene for a Nov. 17 clash with Oregon, and will venture to Chicago just before Christmas to battle DePaul (Dec. 20) and Loyola of Chicago (Dec. 22).

The annual BracketBuster game, against another mid-major opponent to be determined, will be a Feb. 17 road contest.

The Big West Conference Tournament is scheduled March 7-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

South Carolina, a member of the Southeastern Conference, was 23-15 last season. It beat Michigan, 76-64, in the NIT final at Madison Square Garden.

Coach Dave Odom’s Gamecocks lost in the championship game of the SEC Tournament to eventual national champion Florida.

Florida eliminated South Alabama (24-7 a year ago) with a 76-50 thumping in the opening round of the Minneapolis Regional last season.

Nevada, led by 6-11 senior forward Nick Fazekas, lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Montana last season to finish 24-6.

Fazekas, who averaged 21.8 points and 10.4 rebounds as a junior, initially declared himself eligible for Wednesday’s NBA draft. But he did not hire and agent and announced in early June he would be returning to try to lead the Wolfpack to a fourth straight Western Athletic Conference championship and the program’s fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Fazekas was named third-team All-American by the Associated Press last season and Nevada finished No. 20 in the final AP poll.

Sam Houston State was 22-9 last season and lost only one senior. The Bearkats finished second in the Southland Conference.

UCI, which has never reached the NCAA Tournament, returns three of its top five scorers from a team that went 16-13 last season.

Senior forward Nic Campbell averaged 10.5 points and 4.2 rebounds, while junior post Darren Fells chipped in 9.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest.

Patrick Sanders, a junior forward, averaged 8.6 points and 4.3 rebounds last season for the Anteaters, who finished second in the Big West regular-season standings, then lost to Long Beach State in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Also returning for UCI is sophomore forward Adam Templeton, who was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team after averaging 4.5 points and 2.7 rebounds.

“This is a challenging schedule, but it also assists us in receiving return games such as Oregon and Nevada for future home schedules,” Douglass said in a statement.

“South Carolina, with its recent postseason success, makes for one of the premier teams on our schedule for next season. I hope Southern California hoop fans take this opportunity to watch the Anteaters play the Fighting Gamecocks.”