Askew leads Long Beach State against UC Irvine

UC Irvine Anteaters (18-3, 8-1 Big West) at Long Beach State Beach (7-14, 3-6 Big West)

Long Beach, California; Thursday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Long Beach State plays UC Irvine after Devin Askew scored 35 points in Long Beach State's 78-69 loss to the Cal Poly Mustangs.

The Beach are 3-5 in home games. Long Beach State has a 1-3 record in one-possession games.

The Anteaters are 8-1 against Big West opponents. UC Irvine ranks sixth in the Big West shooting 33.7% from 3-point range.

Long Beach State makes 44.7% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.7 percentage points higher than UC Irvine has allowed to its opponents (38.0%). UC Irvine averages 76.1 points per game, 2.9 more than the 73.2 Long Beach State allows to opponents.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Askew is shooting 37.5% from beyond the arc with 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Beach, while averaging 18.2 points, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals. TJ Wainwright is averaging 14.8 points over the last 10 games.

Bent Leuchten is shooting 53.8% and averaging 15.6 points for the Anteaters. Justin Hohn is averaging 1.9 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Beach: 4-6, averaging 71.3 points, 25.7 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 5.3 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.9 points per game.

Anteaters: 8-2, averaging 77.5 points, 37.5 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 6.9 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press