Long Beach State hosts UC Irvine following Hernandez's 26-point outing

Audio By Carbonatix

UC Irvine Anteaters (13-2, 4-0 Big West) at Long Beach State Beach (1-12, 0-3 Big West)

Long Beach, California; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: UC Irvine visits Long Beach State after Hunter Hernandez scored 26 points in UC Irvine's 64-51 win over the CSU Fullerton Titans.

The Beach are 1-6 in home games. Long Beach State is fifth in the Big West with 8.7 offensive rebounds per game led by JaQuoia Jones-Brown averaging 1.9.

The Anteaters are 4-0 in Big West play. UC Irvine averages 13.6 turnovers per game and is 10-0 when winning the turnover battle.

Long Beach State averages 50.5 points per game, 7.2 fewer points than the 57.7 UC Irvine allows. UC Irvine averages 8.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.4 more makes per game than Long Beach State gives up.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jones-Brown is averaging 17.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals for the Beach. Judit Oliva Fernandez is averaging 6.3 points over the last 10 games.

Hernandez is scoring 19.1 points per game and averaging 6.1 rebounds for the Anteaters. Jada Wynn is averaging 2.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Beach: 1-9, averaging 52.3 points, 31.2 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 6.7 steals and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 34.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.7 points per game.

Anteaters: 10-0, averaging 75.1 points, 35.0 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 10.6 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 41.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 55.0 points.

___

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