The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball team conquered the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mustangs 68-49 in a Big West matchup at the Bren Events Centeron Friday Jan. 22.
The Anteaters (7-4, 3-0) earned their third consecutive victory while Cal Poly (2-9, 0-5) looked for their first win in the Big West. With their 24 day break from the Big West Conference, the Anteaters came into this game well-rested and eager to beat the Mustangs.
UCI started off the game missing a third of their roster due to COVID-19 protocols. Among those missing was freshman guard Dawson Baker, the Anteaters’ lead scorer averaging 12.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists. Freshman guards DJ Davis and Andre Henry also missed the game.
UCI won the opening tip-off giving the first offensive possession to the Anteaters. Redshirt junior forward Collin Welp scored the first points of the game after he grabbed an offensive rebound and successfully laid the ball up while getting fouled by Cal Poly’s sophomore guard Colby Rogers. Welp went to the free-throw line and completed the three-point play.
The Mustangs responded with sophomore forward Alimamy Koroma’s three-pointer assisted by senior Mark Crowe. Koroma led the Mustangs in the game with nine points and five rebounds.
After a back and forth scoring battle in the first eight minutes, sophomore forward Austin Johnson scored his first jumper of the night, which put the Anteaters up 14-11. Cal Poly’s senior point guard Keith Smith responded with a three-pointer as the Mustangs came out of their seven minute scoring drought, followed shortly by redshirt freshman guard Justin Hohn’s three-pointer, making the score 20-14 with nine minutes remaining.
The Anteaters pushed the scoring the rest of the first half, which included baskets from Welp, Hohn and Johnson. Redshirt freshman center Emmanuel Tshimanga scored his first jumpshot of the night, accompanied by Crowe’s three-pointer, putting UCI up 28-17. Following fouls from Cal Poly’s Crowe, freshman shooting guard Aidan Prukop, freshman Kobe Sanders and graduate student forward Riley Till, UCI headed to the free-throw line, earning six points to finish off the first half 36-20.
Despite their 36-20 lead at the end of the first half, UCI had trouble communicating on offense at times which led them to commit several fouls. However, redshirt sophomore forward JC Butler stepped up his scoring and defensive presence that helped the shorthanded Anteaters. Butler finished with 14 points to go along with three steals.
Cal Poly started with possession in the second half with a layup in the paint by Koroma and a three-pointer by Smith with the score reading 38-25. The Mustangs regained some momentum with a series of shots by freshman forward Dyson Koehler, Koroma and Rogers but the Anteaters remained ahead 44-31.
Redshirt freshman guard Ofure Ujadughele and Welp scored eight points total to regain command making the score 52-38. Sophomore guard Jeron Artest’s three-pointer at 9:47 kickstarted a chain of points making the score 59-42 with less than eight minutes left.
The Mustangs’ efforts to close the score gap came up short and too late. Greene scored a jumper and two free throws after a foul by Cal Poly’s freshman forward Tuukka Jaakkola with less than three minutes remaining, followed by a jumper from Welp.
UCI held the biggest lead of the night by 20 points at 66-46 at 2:00. The Anteaters maintained a strong lead at the end of the game because of their intense defense. When the final horn sounded, UCI won 68-49, making them undefeated in BWC play and at home.
Welp finished strong as he led the game in scoring with 15 points and racked up six boards, three assists and three steals. He was also one of three players without any turnovers. Greene managed to tack on 12 points and played his position well bringing in eight rebounds and two blocks.
Anteater head coach Russel Turner’s heavily enforced defensive playstyle was a driving factor as the team stole the ball 13 times throughout the whole game. With the many turnovers that took place, UCI scored 22 points from them, while Cal Poly only managed to score four.
Because three Anteaters were not available to play, Hohn, Tshimanga and Ujadughele assumed bigger roles.
In the post-game interview, Coach Turner discusses how he took the unfortunate circumstance of the freshmen being out as an advantage to guide the Anteaters to victory.
“We knew this was going to be an opportunity with so many guys out for the guys we had healthy and I thought every one of the guys we had tonight came in and impacted the game in a positive way,” Turner said.
UCI and Cal Poly will face off again on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.
Harleen Thandi is a Sports Intern for the 2021 Winter Quarter. She can be reached at hthandi@uci.edu.