Anteaters try to improve on road in conference play

UC Irvine at UC Riverside

When: Tonight, 8 p.m.

Where: UC Riverside

Breakdown: The Anteaters (6-13, 3-3 in the Big West Conference) are 1-2 in conference road games, while the Highlanders (11-7, 3-3) ended a 21-game conference road losing streak with a 64-55 win at Long Beach State Saturday to pull into a tie with UCI for fifth place in the nine-team Big West ... UCI is led by 6-foot-5 freshman center Eric Wise, who is averaging 13.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Kevin Bland, a 6-8 senior forward (10.1 ppg and 6.8 rpg) and junior guard Michael Hunter (10.8 ppg and 2.6 assists per game) are also standouts for the ’Eaters ... Bland shares the lead among Big West players this season with five double-doubles ... Riverside is paced by junior Kyle Austin, a USC transfer averaging 16.4 ppg ... Junior guard Javon Borum is scoring 10.4 ppg. The Highlanders, under second-year coach Jim Wooldridge, formerly at Kansas State, are 7-1 at home this season ... UCI has surrendered 78 ppg the last three contests, after giving up just 60.7 ppg in the three games previous to that ... The UCI women’s game against host Riverside will open the doubleheader tonight. The women tip off at 5:30.

— Barry Faulkner