Calegari Nears 1,000 As Aggies Host UC Irvine

Jan. 13, 2010

DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis men's basketball team returns to action Thursday night when it hosts UC Irvine in its only game of the week. Senior Dominic Calegari enters the game needing just three points to become just the 16th Aggie to score 1,000 career points. The contest begins at 7 p.m. and is available on KFSG 1690-AM as well as www.ucdavisaggies.com.

Calegari will try to reach 1,000 points in his 100th career game. The senior scored 23 points in the Aggies' loss at Cal Poly on Sunday. He is now averaging 16.1 ppg and has vaulted to fourth in the Big West in scoring. Teammate Mark Payne, who has missed the past three games, continues to lead the Big West in scoring with 17.2 ppg. Redshirt freshman Julian Welch is coming off a career-high 25 points at Cal Poly. He made five of six three-point attempts in 28 minutes of action. UC Davis is 6-10 on the year and 2-2 in the Big West.

The Aggies have been plagued by injuries all season. In addition to Payne, junior Ryan Silva has been out of action with a wrist injury suffered on Jan. 8 at UC Santa Barbara. He missed seven games earlier in the season with a hamstring injury. Junior Todd Lowenthal returned to action two games ago after missing 11 straight games, and redshirt freshman Jacob Ranger played at Cal Poly after missing all but one game to start the season.

UC Irvine enters the game with an 8-8 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the Big West. The Anteaters are coming off a 55-53 loss at Long Beach State on Saturday. UCI has alternated wins and losses for the past seven games and has Big West wins against UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge. Sophomore Eric Wise leads the team with 16.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Michael Hunter is adding 15.0 ppg.

The Aggies and Anteaters are currently tied for fifth in the Big West. UC Irvine leads the all-time series, 12-10. The Aggies, however, won all three games last year and have posted wins in four of the past five meetings. UC Davis defeated UC Irvine, 88-85, last year on the road, 85-76 at home and 69-68 in the first round of the Big West Tournament. Joe Harden averaged 18.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in those games.

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