A mere two weeks ago, UC Irvine was sitting atop the Big West Conference men’s basketball standings with a glistening 5-0 record, seemingly on the same path the Anteaters have followed to become the dominant team in the league since the 2013-14 season.

After Friday’s loss at UC Riverside, 86-65, they’ve been knocked into the curb. They have lost three of their last four games and will go into Saturday’s rematch with UCR (9 p.m., ESPNU) looking to avoid their first three-game conference losing streak since the 2016-17 team dropped three straight at midseason.

The margin of loss (21) was the biggest UCI has suffered since a 22-point loss against Hawaii in 2016-17, and the Highlanders led by as much as 28 during the game. The 86 points was the most UCI has allowed in a regulation conference game in the last eight seasons. The Anteaters allowed 86 and 90 points in two overtime losses during that span.

The flip side is a big win for a UC Riverside program that has been on the cusp of success for two seasons and now is contending for the league title. The Highlanders’ starting five scored 70 of their 86 points and their post players match up well with UC Irvine’s big men.

“We really looked soft and uncertain early when they got out to a 7-0 run,” UCI coach Russ Turner said afterward, “and I certainly didn’t think they would dominate us for 40 minutes. That’s a credit to them.

“We didn’t adjust during the game. It looked like we were doing the same thing over and over again. We’re a young team that got hit in the mouth and it shook us.”

The loss drops the Anteaters to 10-7 overall and 6-3 in conference play, behind UC Santa Barbara (6-2), Cal State Bakersfield (8-4) and UCR (9-4 overall, 5-2 Big West).

Freshman D.J. Davis led the Anteaters with 21 points (8-for-13 shooting), and Collin Welp had a low-profile 11 points and five rebounds.

UCR shot 52.5 percent overall and made 14 of 26 3-point attempts (53.8 percent). Dominick Pickett led the way with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting (6 for 8 from 3-point range), followed by Jock Perry (16), Arinze Chidom (12 points, eight rebounds, four assists) and Zyon Pullin (12 points, six assists, three steals).

“Part of the identity of this year’s team is that we expect all our guys to shoot when they’re open,” Highlanders coach Mike Magpayo said. “We always fight for our rhythm 3s.

“We tried to protect the paint as best we could and come in waves with our big men. Irvine is a physical team so that was a big emphasis for us all week.”

“We gave Pickett a lot of wide-open 3-pointers, and Zyon dominated the game’s tempo with good decision making,” UCI’s Turner said.

UC Irvine only has two upperclassmen this season, and the lack of experience has been most noticeable with inconsistent shooting.

UCR has three fifth-year seniors in its starting five, two of them transfers in Chidom (Washington State) and Perry (Saint Mary’s). Junior Flynn Cameron is also a transfer (DePaul).

The Highlanders have a fleet of imports from down under, too, with nine players from Australia (like Perry) or New Zealand (like Cameron).

UC Riverside jumped out to a 7-0 run by hitting its first three shots and hit nine of its first 12 to push its lead to 22-7. UCI never made a first-half run and the Highlanders led by 13 at the break.

UCR started the second half with a 16-6 run to extend the margin to 57-34 just 4:35 into the second half. The Anteaters’ Davis scored seven points during a brief 9-0 run in the second half, their only highlight of the game.

“The way we played tonight doesn’t reflect the team we are, but we’re going to have to really get better prepared in practice and better prepared in games,” Turner said. “We have to start finding the right combination of players.”

“It was surprising to win wire for wire,” Magpayo said. “I was expecting a heavyweight title fight. … I fully expect something to that effect tomorrow.”

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