| Overall | Cal Pac | Streak | Home | Away | Neutral |
| 10-21 (.323) | 7-3 (.700) | Lost 1 | 7-6 | 3-14 | 0-1 |
John Sykes is in his second year as the head coach of the UC Merced men's basketball program. Coach Sykes returns to the program which finished fourth in California Pacific Conference play during their inaugural year (2011-12) with a 6-15 record overall and 5-7 in the Cal Pac.
Sykes is a Merced native who brings with him 14 years of assistant and head coaching experience at the high school, junior college and university levels. He played under Vince Clemons at Merced High and then at the University of Texas (1985-86) and Cal State Fullerton (1987-90).
After college, he played professionally in Peru, the Netherlands, Mexico and Canada. Sykes began his coaching career in 1996 as an assistant at Golden Valley High in Merced and was an assistant coach at Merced College from 1999 to 2004. He spent one year each as an assistant at Modesto Junior College and CSU Stanislaus. Most recently, he served as head coach of the Golden Valley freshman team and the UC Merced club team.
Kyle Mesa is a Merced County native in his fourth year of coaching overall and his second year as the assistant coach of the UC Merced men's basketball program. He is also a teacher in the Merced Union High School District working at Buhach Colony High School. Mesa played for Coach John Sykes while he was an assistant coach at Cal State Stanislaus. Mesa played at Atwater High and then Modesto Junior College (2001-03); he redshirted at Dickinson State University in North Dakota (2003-04) and finished his playing career at Cal State Stanislaus (2004-06). Mesa was a member of the all-defensive first team in the Central Valley Conference in 2003 while competing at Modesto JC. He graduated from CSU Stanislaus in 2006 with a Bachelor's degree in History and later returned to earn his Social Science Teaching Credential in 2009.
Mesa has experience coaching at the junior college and high school levels. After graduating college, he served as the strength and conditioning/assistant coach to Head Coach Ben Riley at Lassen College (2006-07) and later assisted John Kane at Atwater High (2009-10).
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