The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball team (1-0, 0-0) defeated Division III Chapman University (0-0, 0-0) 82-52 in its non-conference opener at the Bren Events Center on Nov. 4.
For Chapman, the game served as an exhibition.
The night began with a celebration: UCI raised its ninth Big West Championship banner pregame, honoring the 2023-2024 team that finished 17-3 in conference play and 24-10 overall.
UCI senior center Bent Leuchten — one of nine returners from the Big West Championship winning team — spoke about how it felt to watch the banner rise to the Bren rafters.
“It was beautiful. Even if it was the second time, I love it. I didn’t win a lot before coming here, so it’s great every time,” Leuchten told New University.
Immediately following the ceremony, UCI stepped on the gas against Chapman. Darting out to an 11-2 lead sparked by back-to-back shooting fouls drawn by Leuchten and a full-court pass by graduate guard Justin Hohn to a layup by redshirt freshman guard Jurian Dixon, UCI took early control in their first regular season game. Irvine pushed the lead to double digits with a catch-and-shoot three from freshman guard Torian Lee at the 13-minute mark of the first half.
However, after about seven minutes of dominance from the Anteaters, Chapman pushed back and tied the game at 20 with highlight scores from senior forward Christian Bood and junior guard Cruz Billings. Billings, a 5’8 Santa Ana native, punched far above his weight the entire game and put in 11 points for Chapman.
Chapman refused to go away, answering each mini UCI run with a mini-run of their own throughout the rest of the first half. UCI struggled to score out of halfcourt sets, mainly due to Chapman’s scrappy defensive effort against the much larger Anteater squad.
UCI Head Coach Russell Turner spoke about Chapman’s physicality against the Anteaters.
“[Chapman] was really physical and really competitive, I thought,” Turner told New University. “We were soft and I’m concerned about that, for them to come in here on our floor and out-rebound us tonight. They scored a lot of points in the paint. We don’t usually give those up.”
Chapman outscored UCI 16-14 in the paint during the first half.
UCI and Chapman continued to go back and forth, closing the period with a steal by Hohn leading to two made free throws by the South Dakota native.
At the half, UCI led 32-30 after leading by 10 early in the game.
The second half looked to be as close as the first — Chapman junior guard Jake Herberle immediately tied the game at 32 with a layup to begin the period. Herberle would lead Chapman in scoring with 14 points on the night.
For the first 12 minutes of the half, UCI and Chapman continued to claw back and forth with no team ever building a lead of more than eight points. Contrary to the defensive-oriented first half, the offense was the story of the second period.
Chapman ran multiple offensive sets leading to high quality catch-and-shoot threes from Herberle and Billings, while UCI got out in transition and scored multiple times from easy buckets in the paint and at the free-throw line.
With the score set at 57-52 in favor of UCI, the Anteaters finally played like a Division I team facing a Division III team.
Starting with a forced shot clock violation on Chapman, followed by a pair of Leuchten free throws, UCI went on a 25-0 run — holding Chapman scoreless for the final 8:04 of regulation.
Supplied in large part by Dixon, who scored nine of his 13 total points in Irvine’s 25-0 run, UCI coasted to an 82-52 win. Dixon led all bench scorers.
Leuchten led all scorers with 19 points. Redshirt senior forward Devin Tillis was a game-high +26 when on the court. Tillis spoke about his impact as a player and leader for UCI.
“Ultimately [it’s about] being a leader, if I’m being communicative with my teammates and [I have] that leadership presence, I feel like my team plays better,” Tillis told New University.
UCI continues non-conference play against Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif. at the Gersten Pavilion on Nov. 8.
Jacob Ramos is a 2024-2025 Managing Editor. He can be reached at jacobtr@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor.