The UC Riverside men’s basketball team has lost five straight games, falling to 5-13 on the season and 0-4 in Big West play, after going winless on the week.
On Thursday, Jan. 11, the Highlanders dropped a 75-65 decision to UC Davis (11-6, 2-1). Freshman Dikymbe Martin led the team with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting. This marks the fifth time Martin led or tied for the team lead in points, as well as the 11th time he has scored in double figures so far this season. Senior Alex Larsson put up 14 points while shooting 70 percent from the field, reaching double figures in scoring for the 10th time this season, and also grabbed six boards.
UC Riverside got off to a hot start early on, scoring the first nine points of the game as the Aggies missed 10 of their first 11 shots from the field. Larsson grabbed five of his six rebounds during the first five minutes of play.
A back-and-forth game would continue as the Highlanders led by six, 58-52, with 7:39 left to play in regulation. Here, the Aggies would go on to score 11 of the next 12 points, as well as 23 of the final 30 to run away with the victory.
UC Davis senior Chima Moneke proved to be a huge factor for the Aggies win, putting up 21 points and heading to the line 12 times. This greatly contrasts with the amount of times any Highlander went to the line, as the entire team went a total of 13 times to the charity stripe. The Aggies upped their field goal percentage in the second half, connecting on 56.5 percent of their shots compared to 40.7 percent in the first half.
This game snapped Riverside’s previously undefeated record of 5-0 in games where the team led at the half this season.
The team returned to the court on Saturday, Jan. 13 to take on Long Beach State (9-11, 3-1), but were without Martin for an undisclosed reason.
UC Riverside led 7-4 early on in the first half, only to quickly relinquish their lead to a Long Beach State team that would score the next 11 points and not trail for the rest of the night. On top of that, the Highlanders allowed for 24 offensive rebounds to occur, the most given up this season.
Eight different UCR players would score in the first half, yet no player had more than six points, except Larsson, who led all Highlanders with 10 points while also grabbing five rebounds. Though 12 different players scored in the game, none managed to reach double digits.
Dating back to last year, the Highlanders have lost 11 straight regular-season conference games. Their last conference win came against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on February 4, 2017. Since interim Head Coach Justin Bell took over on Jan. 1, UCR has yet to earn a win, putting his record at 0-4. He and the team will look to snap this loss streak on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. against the last-place Cal State Northridge Matadors (3-14, 0-3). The game will be at home and also broadcasted on ESPN 3.
