Community Picks: Cal Irvine 0% vs Cal Riverside 0%

The most improbable victory of the college basketball season this year occurred at the start of a Jan. 14 game between Long Beach State and UC Irvine.  Five-foot-8 guard Justin Bibbins won the opening tip-off against the tallest player in college basketball,  7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye. @JeffEisenberg Here's @jbibbs21 winning the first tip this season. pic.twitter.com/Y9eGBnQwhN — LBSU Mens Basketball (@LBSUhoops) February 25, 2016 Since Long Beach State doesn't have a player taller than 6-foot-8, coach Dan Monson figured there was no point in having one of his forwards vie for the ball against Ndiaye. Instead Monson chose to send his fastest guard into the circle and try to win possession another way.  Monson instructed Bibbins not to try to jump at all. Bibbins instead darted to the spot he expected Ndiaye to try to tip the ball and batted it backward toward one of his teammates, giving the 49ers possession to open the game.  The rematch of this season's most fun tip-off occurred Thursday night in Irvine, and once again Bibbins got the call to go up against Ndiaye. The result was more predictable this time as N'Diaye easily tipped the ball backwards to a teammate. Mamadou vs. Justin now stands at 1 and 1. #BlackAndBlue underway. pic.twitter.com/O2kviCJTvu — LBSU Mens Basketball (@LBSUhoops) February 25, 2016 The tip-off between two men of such differing heights is not the only historic jump ball in which Ndiaye has participated this season. Back in November, Ndiaye squared off against Central Florida's 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall in perhaps the tallest tip-off in basketball history. Bibbins and Ndiaye may be all even in jump balls, but UC Irvine has bragging rights in the win-loss column. The Anteaters (21-8, 10-3) have swept both games from the 49ers (15-13, 9-4) to remain entrenched in second place in the Big West behind first-place Hawaii. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

February 25, 2016 5:05:pm EST

It took one of the college basketball season's most cleverly designed plays for UC Irvine to avoid an upset on Wednesday night at Cal Poly. With his team trailing by three and needing to traverse the length of the floor in 4.1 seconds, UC Irvine coach Russell Turner instructed guard Dominique Dunning to throw a baseball pass to 7-foot-6 center Mamadou N'Diaye standing on the left wing. It was Turner's hope that N'Diaye's height would allow him to catch a pinpoint pass cleanly and draw the attention of multiple defenders.  Two defenders rushed at N'Diaye as he caught the ball. N'Diaye threw a skip pass to a wide-open Jaron Martin spotted up on the other wing. The 38 percent 3-point shooter sank the game-tying jumper, enabling UC Irvine to force overtime and escape with a 78-72 victory. If this ain't #SCTop10 for @UCImbb , I don't know what is... Game-tying 3! #BWCMBB pic.twitter.com/upFjPdUoZI — Big West MBB (@BigWestMBB) February 4, 2016 N'Diaye's deft assist capped one of his finest performances. He had 21 points, eight blocks, four rebounds and a critical three-point play in overtime. Guard Luke Nelson also played all 40 minutes and scored 21 points for the Anteaters. UC Irvine's road victory keeps it alone in first place in the Big West and sets up one of the league's games of the year next Thursday night. The Anteaters (18-6, 7-1) visit second-place Hawaii (16-3, 5-1) with first place likely on the line. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

February 04, 2016 11:18:am EST

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) -- Michael Bryson had 18 points and UC Santa Barbara handed UC Irvine its first conference loss, 76-60 on Saturday night. Continue to Article

January 31, 2016 1:09:am EST