Nov. 19, 2008

Game Notes

DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis men's basketball team takes to the road once again this week when it faces Arkansas Thursday night in Fayetteville, Ark. The game tips at 5:05 PST at Bud Walton Arena and can be heard on KFSG 1690-AM as well as www.ucdavisaggies.com. It'll be the fourth game for the Aggies and the second for the Razorbacks.

UC Davis (1-2) picked up its first win of the season with a 64-55 victory over Loyola Marymount on Sunday at the World Vision Classic in Ames, Iowa. Joe Harden led the Aggies with 16 points and eight rebounds and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Kyle Brucculeri and Dominic Calegari each scored 14. UC Davis led by as many as 18 points in the first half and didn't allow the Lions to get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Harden made his Aggie debut a strong one at the opening tournament with a pair of double-doubles. He came within two rebounds of a third double-double in the Aggies' win against LMU. The sophomore is averaging 15.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in the team's three games. That includes a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds against host Iowa State in Friday's opener.

Vince Oliver is second on the team with 11.7 points per game and moved into 13th-place on the all-time Aggie scoring list with 1,065 points. Mark Payne is averaging 5.3 assists, which led the Big West Conference as of Tuesday.

As a team, the Aggies have enjoyed the lead for most of the their first three games. Of the 120 minutes played, UC Davis has led or been tied with its opponent 97 minutes and 50 seconds. The Aggies are also outrebounding their opponents by an average of 6.0 boards per game.

Arkansas enters the game 1-0 after defeating Southeastern Louisiana, 91-87, in overtime last Friday. Junior center Michael Washington powered the Razorbacks with 30 points and 14 rebounds. Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke added 18 points and 17 points, respectively.

This is the first meeting between UC Davis and Arkansas.