No shame in UCI's three losses...home vs. Cal Baptist and Northern Iowa sides that might be the best in their respective leagues and show up in the Big Dance, plus a road game at Utah Valley. Not easy! Nor will tonight in Cancun against an NMSU side that has started 4-0, but has only been tested at home vs. rival New Mexico. It's still a nearly all-new roster in Las Cruces for HC Jason Hooten. A bit more stability on the Anteaters side with several returnees from the NIT finalist, including G Jurian Dixon (18.8 ppg) and boomerang transfer G Derin Saran (14.8 ppg, scored 29 vs. UNMI; spent last season at Stanford after being at UCI prior). Play UCI (at Riviera Maya, Cancun)

UC Irvine shoots 49.9% from the field and allows only 36.1% shooting, and yet they're only 3-3 on the season without covering a single game. What's wrong with this team? Those are outstanding metrics that usually lead to wins. In their last two games, they lost to Northern Iowa by one and Utah Valley by 7, not to mention losing to California Baptist early in the season. New Mexico State is 4-0 this year with the big win over New Mexico 10 days ago. The Aggies are the play in the Cancun Challenge.