Standing at 6-foot-7, UCI Men’s Basketball head coach Russell Turner is no stranger to being the tallest man in the room. That is, until he steps into a room with some of the hundreds of players he has recruited during his 16 years leading Irvine’s storied basketball program.
After a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) finalist run and arguably the most successful season in Anteater history, Turner sat down with New University to speak about the year, some of the departures his program is facing and what’s next for UCI Men’s Basketball.
UCI set a program mark for wins with a 32-7 overall record and led the nation in road wins with 14. However, despite the record-breaking year and Irvine carrying multiple all-conference players, Turner’s squad walked away without a trophy for the 2024-25 season.
Some may see the hardware-less campaign as a failure. Turner doesn’t.
“We didn’t win the regular season or the conference tournament or the championship game in the NIT,” Turner told New University. “So there’s a mixed bag of feelings that we’re always going to have a little bit of, but I think in time it becomes easier and easier to focus on the great things that we did — and there were a lot of those. I’m grateful for all that we worked through and figured out, and I’m also excited for what’s in front of us as we continue to try to do that.”
NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball has 364 full-member programs, and with only 31 conferences and four national postseason tournaments, it’s rare to win any hardware at all.
However, Turner and the program he took over in 2010 are no strangers to success. The former Golden State Warriors assistant coach has a .632 winning percentage at Irvine, two Big West Conference titles and an NCAA Tournament victory to his name — the latter two accomplishments being the first in UC Irvine’s Division I history.
Leading the pack of new Anteaters for the 2025-26 season is rising junior guard Derin Saran, a transfer from Stanford. Despite his transfer status, Saran is no stranger to Irvine. The Turkish national spent the 2023-24 season playing for UCI, where he averaged 10.1 points per game in 32 appearances off the bench.
“I’m grateful to [Saran] and his family and feel really good about [him] as a representative of our program’s culture,” Turner said. “We’re bringing a guy back that we know can be really good … so I’m excited about that. I think [we] make good decisions and treat guys well along the way.”
Saran shared a room with UCI rising redshirt sophomore guards Ben Egbo and Jurian Dixon during the trio’s first year on campus. Although Saran was the only one of the three to get heavy playing time in 2023-24, Turner noted how they all pushed each other to excel from the moment they arrived at UCI.
“At the start of that first year when they were all here, they probably all individually dreamed of being the Freshman of the Year,” Turner said. “I think Derin, in his first year, was probably second for that, and then because Jurian had redshirted and took a crack at it the following year … he [won] that award.”
Saran figures to slot into the role left vacant by rising junior guard Myles Che, who transferred to UNLV after his lone season with Irvine. Che excelled at points for the Anteaters, leading the team in three-point percentage at 42.9%, based on a minimum 100 attempts, and starting every game for UCI. Turner talked about the conversations leading up to Che’s transfer.
“I thought Myles could really benefit from another year here. I told him that, and we worked together on the possibility of that,” Turner said. “There was a time when I thought that would be what he would choose for next year. I think he also has found a really good fit for him at this stage, and I’m going to watch [UNLV] also to see how that can unfold for them.”
Che’s absence comes as four of the five Anteater starters from 2024-25 depart, either due to transferring or exhausting eligibility. Among the transfers was graduate guard/forward Devin Tillis, who will play for the University of Virginia during his final season of NCAA eligibility. Tillis was arguably Irvine’s best player during its NIT postseason, averaging 17 points per game and playing a key defensive role for UCI.
“I had a lot of conversations with [Virginia’s staff] about Devin prior to his decision to join them,” Turner said about Tillis. “I think it is a really good fit for both sides, so I’m happy for both parts of that, and we’ll be really interested to see how well Devin can do. Virginia’s program has recently won a national title. The program has multiple Final Fours in its history, so Devin’s going to a place where the demands for performance are great, but I think he’s well suited to that.”
UCI isn’t just losing players. Assistant coach and Anteater alumnus Michael Wilder elected to take a new job, assisting new University of New Mexico head coach Eric Olen. Turner offered thoughts on what Wilder’s departure meant to him and his team.
“I’m just grateful to [Wilder] and [I’m] going to miss him … I see Mike as a guy who will always be as good a representative of UC Irvine as there is,” Turner said. “I think that he’ll be a head coach in this industry one day. It was a pleasure and honor for me to have him as an assistant coach and representative of us for as long as we were able to have him. For him to now move on to a different challenge is going to be an interesting transition for him and for us.”
Offsetting some of the losses, Turner also noted that graduate guard and 2023-24 Big West Defensive Player of the Year Andre Henry would return for the 2025-26 season after missing most of last year due to injury.
Irvine’s coach understands the magnitude of what his program just accomplished. Throughout the conversation, he beamed with pride as he spoke about what the record-setting season meant to UCI and its surrounding community.
New University asked Turner to send a message to his team’s fans.
“I do think this was in many ways the best team we’ve ever had. I think that we’ve had some really fine, connected teams that did nothing but make this university proud. This year, this team did that,” Turner said with a smile. “I’ve been fortunate to be here for 15 years and see this university’s growth, and [that] excites me. What I hope is that we can continue to be a positive part of that.”
Jacob Ramos is a 2024-2025 Managing Editor. He can be reached at jacobtr@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor, Sofia Feeney and Jaheem Conley