highlanders UCR midnight madness

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Highlanders Stay Up Late Too:
Midnight Madness In Riverside--(Oct. 16, 2001)

There was quite a bit of basketball last weekend as the official start of NCAA Division I practices got underway in SoCal at four schools: USC, Pepperdine, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside. Since we couldn't be in three places at once, we've had to depend on the traditional media for our info (as well as reports from friends and scouts). The Riverside Press Enterprise had a feature story about the Highlanders' version of Midnight Madness, and while it wasn't as big or as long a story as those featured in the LA Times about Irvine and USC, at least it beats what was written about Pepperdine's version....which was non-existant (at least we couldn't find anything written about it after the fact).

1,300 see a mad, mad midcourt shot
Riverside Press Enterprise
10/14/2001

UC Riverside's annual Midnight Madness basketball celebration Saturday morning was quite profitable for one UCR student.

Jason Owens, a freshman from Los Angeles, sank a shot from halfcourt and won one quarter's tuition, an amount estimated at $1,400. Owens, who attended Palisades High, did not play for his high school team and told UCR athletic director Stan Morrison that he hadn't shot a ball in three months.

The midnight event drew an estimated 1,300 fans, the vast majority of whom were students, to the Student Recreation Center. Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge read a proclamation declaring Saturday as "UCR Division I Midnight Madness Day," and then the men's and women's teams were introduced.

Senior forward Lloyd Cook won the men's slam dunk contest.

The PE also had another tidbit about scheduling and television games for Riverside, noting that a game has been added to the Big West television schedule featuring the Highlanders:

Fox Sports Net, which televises Big West games on a weekly basis during the conference season, will bring its cameras to the Rec Center for the first time to televise the Jan. 17 meeting between the Highlanders and defending conference champion Utah State.

The time for that game is listed on UCR's schedule as 7:10 p.m., but that could change since the Big West telecasts normally fill the 5:30 slot in FSN's schedule.