STOCKTON, Calif. – The University of the Pacific men's basketball team will renew an old Big West rivalry when they welcome UC Riverside to the Alex G. Spanos Center on Wednesday afternoon in a matinee that kicks off the 2020-21 season.
 
Fresh off their most successful season in over a decade, the Tigers will look to move to a perfect 5-0 in home openers under 2019-20 WCC Coach of the Year Damon Stoudamire with a win over the Highlanders.

 
GAME DETAILS:
 
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Matchup: UC Riverside (0-0) vs. Pacific (0-0)
 
Location: Stockton, California

Venue: Alex G. Spanos Arena 
 
Time: 2:00 p.m. PST

Links: Watch | Listen | Live Stats 

 
MEET THE NEWCOMERS:

• Pacific welcomes five new student-athletes who transferred to the program during the offseason: Jordan Bell (Loyola Marymount), Jalen Brown (Eastern Arizona CC), Jervay Green (Nebraska), Marial Mading (Chipola College) and Nigel Shadd (Kansas State).
• Bell- Scored in double digits nine times during 2019-20 with LMU, including a 14-point, 13-rebound performance at Pepperdine on Jan. 16, 2020… averaged 7.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists under coach Mike Dunlap
• Brown- Averaged 17.8 points per game during his one year at Eastern Arizona CC (2019-20), good for seventh in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC), while also adding 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game… drained 123 total three-pointers, ranking first in all of NJCAA Division I...Overall, his 42.9 percent clip from behind-the-arc helped him earn All-ACCAC Second Team Honors in addition to being selected to the Region I First Team
• Green- Comes to UOP after one year with Nebraska...As a junior, appeared in 28 games for the Cornhuskers, including 15 starts...Overall, averaged 8.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in 2019-20, with his 54 total assists being good enough for second on the team
• Mading- Appeared in 26 games in his lone season with the Indians averaging 12.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game, which included 17 starts...Overall, the versatile wing hit 33 shots from downtown in 2019-20
• Shadd- Appeared in 13 games for the Wildcats as a redshirt freshman, including seeing action in seven Big 12 games in 2018-19... This past season, Shadd appeared in only 3 games for Kansas State due to injury, recording a season-high three minutes against Kansas on Jan. 21

 
THINGS TO KNOW:

• Wednesday's season opener marks the first of back-to-back home games for the Tigers as they host Fresno State on Friday night (11/27) before traveling to Nevada for their first road tilt of the season next Monday (11/30)
• The Tigers return nine total players from last season, including six of whom averaged over 15 minutes of action per game in 2019-20. 
• Jonathan Salazar, who redshirted in 2019-20 due to an achilles injury, is set to make his debut in the orange and black. 
• Pacific will rely on its young backcourt to take their next step as sophomores Daniss Jenkins, who was Pacific's first ever WCC All-Freshman Team selection last season, and Pierre Crockrell II, who led the conference and was fourth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.41) while also finishing in the top 10 in the WCC in assists per game (3.30), are set to lead the Tigers
• Junior Jahbril Price-Noel (.455 3pt %) and senior Justin Moore (23.0 mpg, 8.1 ppg) are also ready to contribute for Stoudamire and UOP
• Pacific defeated UC Riverside last season, a 58-51 decision at the Spanos Center as part of the College Roadshow MTE on Nov. 17, 2019.
• The Tigers and Highlanders have played each of the last three seasons, with Pacific earning a 74-54 win in Stockton on Nov. 22, 2018 and a 57-55 victory in Riverside on Nov. 30, 2017. 
• UOP has won six consecutive games versus the Highlanders, with their last loss coming on Jan. 7, 2012, a 64-57 loss at the Spanos Center in Big West Conference play.
• Overall, Pacific is 14-3 all-time against UC Riverside.

 
SCOUTING THE HIGLANDERS:

• UC Riverside returns its top two scorers from 2019-20 in Arinze Chidom (11.8 PPG) and Callum McRae (9.6 PPG). The duo were also the Highlanders' leading rebounders as Chidom and McRae averaged 6.6 and 6.2 rebounds per game, respectively.
• As a team, the Highlanders finished sixth in the final Big West regular season standings last year, tallying a 17-15 overall record and a 7-9 mark in conference play.
• Similar to the Tigers, Riverside was stingy on the defensive end last season, leading their conference in scoring defense (60.6 points per game allowed)
• The Highlanders were fundamentally sound in 2019-20, finishing in the top five in their conference in rebounding (second), three-point field goal percentage (fourth) and field goal percentage (fifth).

 
FOLLOW US:
For more updates and more information on the 2020-21 Pacific men's basketball team, be sure to follow @PacificMensBB on Twitter, @pacificmensbb on Instagram and @PacificMensBB on Facebook.