UC Irvine Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for the Anteaters

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 22: Evan Leonard #14 of the UC Irvine Anteaters dribbles the ball past Cartier Diarra #2 of the Kansas State Wildcats in the first half during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at SAP Center on March 22, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /

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SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 24: Evan Leonard #14 of the UC Irvine Anteaters handles the ball against Francis Okoro #33 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at SAP Center on March 24, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Projected Starting Backcourt

This 2019-20 UC Irvine team is short of two backcourt starters from last season. In addition to those two key passes, they lost a few very important backup guards as well. This year, they will not be as deep in the backcourt, but return one of those great starting guards from last year along with a guy that was called upon quite a bit to step up. I think these two guys, Evan Leonard and Eyassu Worku, will be the starting guards for UC Irvine this year.

Evan Leonard | 6’1 | 185 | Senior

I would argue that Evan Leonard is one of the most reliable guards in college basketball. He is crafty with the ball in his hands, he has a high basketball IQ, and he is a great shooter. Of the 3 starting guards from last years squad, Leonard led in Field Goal Percentage, shooting 44.8%. He was second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 ppg while grabbing 2.5 rebounds and dishing 1.8 assists per contest as well.

As a decent offensive player, his defensive ability should not be overlooked. He led the team in steals last season with 1.5 per game. His performance last year was good enough to earn him Honorable Mention for the All-Big West selection. Now that he will be called upon to lead this UC Irvine team, he will definitely be better, and I think he will be good enough to be a First Team All-Big West selection this year.

Eyassu Worku | 6’2 | 175 | Senior

Eyassu Worku was often overlooked by those that watched UC Irvine basketball because of the fact that he played behind guys like Max Hazzard and Evan Leonard. If you look into the stats, you notice that Worku was called upon quite a bit and contributed some valuable minutes last year. He was given 23.5 minutes per game last year and contributed seven points per game.

He is another quick and really smart guard that UC Irvine has. He was definitely a huge factor contributing to Irvine’s depth last year, but I think he will be given a starting role this season. With lots of slack to pick up due to departures, Worku’s minutes are going to be even more valuable, and I think he’s ready to show everyone how great of a player he really is.