UC Riverside Highlanders (6-9, 1-2 Big West) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (7-9, 1-3 Big West)

Bakersfield, California; Thursday, 9:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: CSU Bakersfield hosts UC Riverside after Jaden Alexander scored 35 points in CSU Bakersfield’s 81-79 victory over the UC Davis Aggies.

The Roadrunners have gone 5-3 at home. CSU Bakersfield has a 4-7 record in games decided by 10 or more points.

The Highlanders have gone 1-2 against Big West opponents. UC Riverside ranks eighth in the Big West with 23.1 defensive rebounds per game led by Osiris Grady averaging 4.7.

CSU Bakersfield’s average of 4.9 made 3-pointers per game is 2.2 fewer made shots on average than the 7.1 per game UC Riverside allows. UC Riverside has shot at a 45.3% rate from the field this season, the same as opponents of CSU Bakersfield have averaged.

The Roadrunners and Highlanders match up Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Dailin Smith is averaging 14.9 points for the Roadrunners. Ron Jessamy is averaging 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks over the past 10 games.

Andrew Henderson is scoring 16.2 points per game and averaging 4.5 rebounds for the Highlanders. Grady is averaging 13.0 points and 6.0 rebounds over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Roadrunners: 4-6, averaging 73.5 points, 30.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 8.6 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 42.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 79.5 points per game.

Highlanders: 4-6, averaging 72.1 points, 29.4 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 4.5 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 82.6 points.

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