UC IRVINE MEN’S BASKETBALL

UC IRVINE AT UC SANTA BARBARA ?

WHEN: Tonight, 7:05

WHERE: The Thunderdome

RADIO: KUCI/88.9 FM; Sirius/Channel 107

BREAKDOWN: The Anteaters (9-13, 4-5 in the Big West Conference) trail the fourth-place Gauchos (17-5, 6-3) by two games in the standings and can ill-afford to slip farther behind, if they want to capture one of the top four spots in the Big West and earn a bye in the postseason conference tournament ... UCI, coming off a 57-56 loss at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Thursday, surprised UCSB with a 66-63 win Jan. 10 at the Bren Events Center ... UCSB, a preseason favorite to win the conference, rallied for an 83-80 home win over Cal State Fullerton Thursday behind 24 points from 6-foot-6 senior guard Alex Harris and 22 from 6-8 senior forward Ivan Elliott ... It was the Gauchos’ third straight win and the fifth in their last six games ... UCI, which is 2-13 in games not played on campus this season, has lost four of its last six, including two of three during its stretch of four straight road games, the last of which is tonight ... UC Irvine hopes to have 6-6 senior Patrick Sanders back in the lineup. Sanders, who leads the team in scoring (15.2 points per game) missed Thursday’s game with a hyperextended right knee ... UC Santa Barbara is led by Harris, who is averaging 21 ppg, while 6-8 junior forward Chris Devine chips in 12.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest ... Nedim Pajevic, a 6-9 senior out of Newport Harbor High, averages 6 ppg and 3.8 rebounds per game in his first season with the Gauchos after transferring from Weber State ... Anteaters’ senior center Darren Fells is averaging 14.1 ppg and a team-best 6.1 rpg.

— Barry Faulkner