The UCI Men’s Basketball team (10-7, 6-3) lost to the UC Riverside Highlanders (9-5, 5-3), 65-86, during the first night of their two-game series at the SRC Arena on Feb. 12.
UCI was eager to bounce back from their loss against Cal State Bakersfield. A win for UCR meant that they could move up to second place and leapfrog the Anteaters in the Big West Conference standings.
UCR redshirt senior forward Arinze Chidom and redshirt senior guard Dominick Pickett led the Highlanders’ hot hands in scoring, taking a strong, early 7-0 lead within the first two minutes. UCI’s sophomore guard Jeron Artest responded with a three-pointer, putting UCI on the board 3-7.
The Highlanders continued their dominant first half at home pulling ahead 13-3, which was led by sophomore point guard Zyon Pullin and redshirt senior center Jock Perry. Redshirt sophomore forward JC Butler ended the Anteaters’ three-minute scoring drought by draining a bucket at 15:09. However, UCR was unfazed, scoring another nine points in less than two minutes; they were now leading, 22-7.
UCI caught some momentum fueled by baskets from redshirt junior forward Collin Welp, redshirt freshman center Emmanuel Tshimanga and freshman guard DJ Davis. However, the Anteaters could not stop the Highlanders as they continued to rain in buckets, making their lead 29-14 with eight minutes remaining. UCI sophomore guard Isaiah Lee, redshirt freshman guard Justin Hohn and Welp closed the gap to 20-29 at 5:11.
UCR’s junior point guard Flynn Cameron landed a three-pointer at 4:56, which was followed by a layup; this extended the Highlander lead to 20-34. UCI sophomore forward Austin Johnson responded with a jumper while drawing a foul and converted the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play. UCI decreased the gap to 23-34.
Nonetheless, the Highlanders fought to keep their lead. UCR freshman shooting guard Will Tattersall and Pullin scored the final seven points for the Highlanders of the first half to increase their lead to 41-28.
Redshirt senior center Brad Greene opened the second half with a clean jumper, bumping UCI to 30-41.
UCR’s Pickett scored his ninth point of the game around three minutes into the second half, extending UCR’s lead 32-49. UCR exhibited great defensive skills, especially with their full court press. This made it difficult for the Anteaters to inbound the ball. The Highlander’s forced two turnovers, which were converted into easy buckets, off of UCI inbound passes.
UCR’s Perry and Tattersall scored three-pointers, enlarging the Highlander’s largest lead of the night to 38-66. Davis took control for UCI’s nine points in just under three minutes, shortening the lead, but still trailing 47-67, with just under nine minutes to go.
The Anteaters managed to lower the deficit to 15 points, 55-70, following Welp’s three-pointer at 6:33.
Despite UCI’s best attempts at regaining a lead, UCR proved to be persistent on the offensive end throughout the whole game. Following UCI sophomore forward Dean Keeler’s free throws, the final buzzer sounded, sealing UCR’s 86-65 victory over UCI.
Pickett led the Highlanders with 22 points — 18 of those came from beyond the three-point line. Perry was the second-highest scorer for UCR with 16 points while Chidom and Pullin both racked up 12 points.
UCI’s Davis scored a career high of 21 points on 8-13 shooting. Meanwhile, Welp contributed 11 points and Artest totaled six points. The Anteaters finished with 13 turnovers and the Highlanders with 10 turnovers.
In addition to their difficulty holding onto the ball, the Anteaters continued their 3-point shooting woes for yet another night, shooting 35%, 5-14, from the field. UCR outrebounded UCI, the No. 1 rebounding team in the conference, 34-33.
UCI’s head coach Russell Turner told UCI Athletics in the post-game interview what changes they intend to make before facing the Highlanders again tomorrow night.
“We have to better figure out how the combination of guys fits better for us and we [have] got to better adjust within the game,” Turner said. “That was the thing that surprised me the most, it looked like we just continued to do the same things over and over again. I think our guys want badly to win and to succeed, but we haven’t been able to turn that into good play consistently enough.”
The Anteaters will face the Highlanders again on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 9 p.m. at the SRC Arena on ESPNU.
Harleen Thandi is a Sports Intern for the 2021 Winter Quarter. She can be reached at hthandi@uci.edu.
