No. 1 RV UC San Diego (28-4, 18-2) battled No. 2 UC Irvine (27-5, 17-2) in one of college basketball’s most inevitable conference championship matchups on March 15 in Henderson, Nev. San Diego took down Irvine 75-61, earning bragging rights in a rivalry between two mid-major superpowers.
The Southern California rivals split the regular-season series, with San Diego winning the most recent matchup 85-67 in Irvine. In front of a rowdy Lee’s Family Forum, the two Big West heavyweights were ready to battle.
Irvine began sloppily with an errant pass from sophomore guard Myles Che intended for senior center Bent Leuchten. UCSD also came up empty on its initial possession, getting a clean look from junior forward Nordin Kapic but missing a three.
Leuchten got hacked on the next UCI possession, but the ‘Eaters got no call. After nearly three minutes of no scoring, UCSD senior guard Hayden Gray got on the board with a catch-and-fire three from the right wing. Leuchten answered with an easy layup before UCSD went on a 5-0 run courtesy of a Kapic three and a floater by senior guard/forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones.
Irvine continued to generate good looks, getting a floater from redshirt freshman guard Jurian Dixon to bring the score to 8-4. However, Che continued his early struggles with ball security, turning the ball over to San Diego redshirt junior guard Justin Rochelin.
After a San Diego bucket by senior guard/forward Tyler McGhie, Irvine got its crowd going with a converted and-one layup by junior forward Kyle Evans. UCI kept the momentum going with a tough pull-up jumper from the free-throw line to get within one. The Hohn explosion kept going with two three-pointers from one of Irvine’s veteran leaders, giving Irvine its first lead of the night.
Leuchten then got a strong contest on Tait-Jones, one of the nation’s top finishers at the rim. The defensive stop led to yet another UC Irvine three, this time a deep ball by redshirt senior forward Devin Tillis.
A pair of freethrows on the next San Diego possession gave way to a UCI possession run through Leuchten. Leuchten got inside position and went to the line for the first time, hitting both attempts. After a three from UCSD sophomore guard Aidan Burke, Leuchten continued to take over the Big West Championship game, getting another layup.
Mayhem broke out in Irvine’s crowd after Che hit a catch-and-shoot three to give UCI a nine-point lead, triggering a UCSD timeout.
As they had all year, UCSD didn’t back down in the face of adversity. Gray knocked down a deep three at the end of the shot clock to quell Irvine’s momentum and followed it with a hard drive to the cup, finishing with his right hand.
UCI freshman guard Torian Lee reignited the Irvine fans with a steal-and-score, but Gray answered quickly with his third three of the half. Two of the best defensive teams in the nation were officially in an offensive shootout.
Tait-Jones, the Big West Player of the Year, got his second field goal with another floater from the middle of the key. With 3:48 left in the first half, Irvine held a three-point lead over UCSD, 29-26.
Irvine, one of the best teams in the nation at defending rim pressure without fouling, put another solid contest on Tait-Jones and got out on the run. The fast break resulted in a pair of free throws for Tillis, who knocked them down. Che then brought the crowd to its feet with a baseline runner to push the lead back to seven for Irvine before Gray hit his fourth three of the half.
UCI closed the half 1-for-9 from the field, but maintained a 33-31 lead going into the final 20 minutes of the 2024-2025 Big West season.
Tait-Jones opened the second-half scoring for San Diego, getting downhill in transition for a layup to tie the game at 33.
The offense then dried up in Henderson, with both teams struggling to convert easy looks for several minutes. Kapic sensed the lull and put some energy back into the crowd, hitting his second three of the night. Following Kapic’s make, Rochelin scored on a layup, and suddenly UCSD led by seven after a 10-0 run.
Out of a timeout, Dixon finally stopped the bleeding for UCI with a layup to beat the shot clock.
Rochelin threw down a massive slam, getting the San Diego fans on their feet, but Hohn matched it with another left-wing catch-and-shoot three. Leuchten then made a strong move with a baseline reverse layup, however Burke hit another triple to keep San Diego’s lead at seven.
UCI got a pretty layup from Evans, kissing the ball off the backboard for two. Tillis got a three to go on the next Irvine possession, and suddenly UCSD’s lead was just three.
Gray continued to build his case for an all-tournament nod in Henderson with a 28-foot bomb to put UCSD up 55-49.
The two teams traded threes, one from Tillis and one from Gray, keeping UCSD’s lead at six with just under five minutes to go.
Kapic delivered a massive blow to UCI, hitting another right-corner three to put UCSD up seven. McGhie then struck the dagger into the Anteaters’ hearts, connecting on a pull-up three to sink UCI in a rematch that will go down in Big West history. UCI fell 75-61.
Completing a two-team basketball sweep of the Big West tournament, UC San Diego did what most said was impossible in the preseason, conquering both the men’s and women’s Big West tournaments.
Postgame, UC Irvine head coach Russell Turner answered questions from UCSD and UCI reporters. Specifically, Turner was asked about the university impact of his program’s season and the heartbreak of falling short of March again.
“Basketball can be a great thing for universities and for communities and building pride and school spirit, and I feel like we did that all year, and tonight even though we came up short,” Turner said at the postgame presser. “It’s undeniable — the devastating feeling of falling short of the goal of March Madness.”
Turner was also asked about issues facing mid-major schools like UC Irvine when successful seasons end in tough conference championship losses that don’t ever result in March Madness at-large berths.
“I don’t think there’s any chance that [UCI is] going to be rewarded with an at-large bid, and I think that’s a difficult reality because we can’t get the type of games that they say they’re gonna reward. And I meant what I said: what [the selection committee says] they’re gonna reward. The system is not set up as it is now for mid-majors like us to get an at-large bid without exceptional circumstances,” Turner said. “We could not get any more better games. We have to wait until it’s 2 a.m. at the bar to get anybody to agree to play with us.”
UC Irvine failed to make the NCAA tournament but received a No. 1 seed in the National Invitational Tournament. The Anteaters will take on Northern Colorado of the Big Sky on March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Bren Events Center in a matchup streamed on ESPN+.
Jacob Ramos is a 2024-2025 Managing Editor. He can be reached at jacobtr@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Jaheem Conley