UC Irvine visits UC Riverside after Worthy’s 22-point outing

By Canadian Press on January 21, 2026.

UC Irvine Anteaters (12-7, 5-2 Big West) at UC Riverside Highlanders (7-12, 2-5 Big West)

Riverside, California; Thursday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: UC Riverside hosts UC Irvine after Marqui Worthy scored 22 points in UC Riverside’s 81-72 win against the CSU Fullerton Titans.

The Highlanders are 4-3 in home games. UC Riverside is 0-3 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Anteaters have gone 5-2 against Big West opponents. UC Irvine ranks third in the Big West with 9.9 offensive rebounds per game led by Kyle Evans averaging 2.3.

UC Riverside’s average of 7.1 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.3 fewer made shots on average than the 7.4 per game UC Irvine allows. UC Irvine averages 77.6 points per game, 0.2 fewer than the 77.8 UC Riverside allows to opponents.

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

TOP PERFORMERS: Andrew Henderson averages 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Highlanders, scoring 16.8 points while shooting 37.3% from beyond the arc. Worthy is averaging 14.3 points over the past 10 games.

Jurian Dixon is scoring 15.8 points per game with 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists for the Anteaters. Evans is averaging 14 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.3 blocks over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Highlanders: 3-7, averaging 71.0 points, 29.2 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 4.7 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 43.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 82.7 points per game.

Anteaters: 7-3, averaging 75.8 points, 34.0 rebounds, 15.3 assists, 6.5 steals and 5.7 blocks per game while shooting 46.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.5 points.

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

The Associated Press

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