The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball held the longest active home men’s basketball winning streak — a streak which lasted 22 games — from Feb. 1 to Feb. 8.
The record for the longest home winning streak in NCAA Men’s Division I basketball was set by the University of Kentucky, who carried a 129 game win streak from 1943 to 1955. With a home win streak of 17 games, No. 12 Saint John’s of the Big East now holds the longest active home winning streak, a streak they will hold until at least Feb. 16 when they play Creighton at home.
UC Irvine began their streak on March 4, 2023 — the last home game of the 2022-23 season — with a 52-44 win against California State University, Bakersfield.
In the non-conference part of the 2023-24 season, the Anteaters were victorious over New Mexico State, Occidental College and South Dakota at home.
The Anteaters started out 2-0 in Big West play at home — and in their third home conference game they faced UC Davis on Jan. 6, 2024, Irvine had to go into overtime to pull off a 74-71 victory. Then-junior center Bent Leuchten helped lead the Anteaters to victory with 14 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, an assist and a steal.
UCI continued their string of wins at home. On Feb. 22, they beat UC Santa Barbara 81-69 on ESPNU, making it the first nationally televised game of the home win streak.
The next home game on Mar. 2 was the only sold out game of the home win streak, as 4,799 fans watched the Anteaters win against Long Beach State, 82-61. The matchup was nationally televised on ESPN2.
At the beginning of the 2024-25 season, the Anteaters defeated Chapman and Pepperdine in non-conference games.
UC Irvine started off this season with six consecutive victories in Big West home play. On Jan. 25, RV UC Irvine defeated Hawai’i, 71-55. In this game, redshirt senior forward Devin Tillis recorded his second consecutive double-double with 11 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. In the next home game on Feb. 1, the Anteaters defeated UC Davis 73-66 in a matchup that was televised on Spectrum SportsNet — reaching a home win streak of 22 games.
However the streak came to an end at 22 games as UC Irvine was defeated by UC San Diego 85-67 in a nationally televised game on ESPNU in front of the Anteaters’ largest crowd since February of 2020.
UC Irvine’s will attempt to begin a new home winning streak on Feb. 13 at the annual Defend the Bren game as the Anteaters take on the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in a nationally televised matchup on ESPNU.
Jack Fedor is a Sports Editor. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Mia Noergaard