Headlined by a four-game road stint and a midseason rematch with UC San Diego, UC Irvine men’s basketball Big West Conference schedule released on Aug. 8.
As part of the standard Big West Conference scheduling protocols, UCI will play each conference opponent twice — once at home and once on the road. Here are the most notable matchups of UCI’s 20 game conference slated for the 2025-2026 season.
Dec. 4: UC Riverside (home)
The Anteaters will look to defend home court against UCR to begin their conference schedule on Dec. 4. Riverside will have somewhat of a new look compared to 2024-25 when the Highlanders placed third in the Big West regular season standings. After losing star junior guard Barrington Hargress to Colorado, Riverside will lean on redshirt senior guard Isaiah Moses to shoulder the majority of the scoring load in 2025-2026. Irvine split the season series against UCR last year, notably dropping an overtime thriller on the road, 84-80.
Jan. 1: CSU Bakersfield (road)
Irvine will head north on the I-5 to take on the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on New Years Day 2026. The matchup will serve as UCI’s first conference road matchup of the year and its first since sweeping Bakersfield in the teams’ two 2024-2025 showdowns. Bakersfield entered the Big West Conference Tournament last year on the back of junior guard Jemel Jones and his 18.9 points per game (PPG), but will be without Jones this season after he transferred to New Mexico State during the offseason.
Jan. 10, 17, 22, 24: Four-game road stretch
UCI will hit the road for a four-game away stretch after taking on Long Beach State at the Bren Events Center on Jan. 8. The Anteaters will face Hawai’i, UC Davis, UC Riverside and UC San Diego during the trip, respectively. The four-game set will serve as an extremely crucial and challenging part of Irvine’s Big West schedule as they will likely need to at least take one game from each of Riverside and San Diego to preserve tiebreakers.
Despite the importance of a midseason four-game road trip, UCI Head Coach Russell Turner is well aware of the ebbs and flows that happen during a long conference schedule.
“If we do have four straight road games, that’ll be a tough and important stretch, but those things usually come back to you over the course of a 20 game conference schedule,” Turner told New University in an interview over the phone.
Feb. 21: UC San Diego home rematch
After a storybook 2024-25 season in the Big West, the new hottest rivalry in the conference is clearly between UCI and UCSD. After the road team won each matchup to split the season series last year, San Diego toppled Irvine in a dramatic Big West Conference Tournament Championship game in March, 85-67. Both teams will look extremely different in 2025-26, with the Anteaters only returning with one starter and the Tritons losing the majority of their roster to graduation and the transfer portal. In addition, UCSD lost 2025 Big West Coach of the Year Eric Olen to New Mexico, a gut punch to a program that experienced one of the most dramatic rises in college basketball history in 2024-2025. Nonetheless, fans won’t forget “Operation Invade Irvine,” when UCSD fans packed the Bren and watched the Tritons take down the Anteaters, 75-61, making the Irvine rematch between the two programs a can’t-miss ticket.
Turner offered praise to the school’s students and administration for its turnout in an “emotional” road game at UCI.
“It was impressive that they brought as many students as they did,” Turner said. ”I give their students and their administration a lot of credit for that. That was something that’s not been seen much in [The Big West].”
Feb. 28, March 5, 7: Three-game homestand to close conference regular season
After coming back from a short road trip to Cal State Northridge on Feb. 26, UCI will close out the regular season at home against UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and UC Davis. The stretch will be crucial for standings and potential Big West Tournament seeding, and will likely decide if the Anteaters have a bye to begin postseason play. UCSB specifically will provide a good challenge for UCI, as the Gauchos are expected to return with most of the roster that earned the program a Big West Conference Tournament semifinal appearance in 2024-2025. UCI will close out the regular season with a matchup against UC Davis before what the team hopes will be a deep Big West postseason run.
Despite the conference schedule being released, Turner and the Anteaters will continue with the program’s game-to-game, week-to-week philosophy.
“The biggest game for me is always the next one and I like competing against everybody in the league and I do think our team has a chance to be pretty good,” Turner said. “I’m excited to get to work with this team more.”
Turner added that his whole team is now on campus and summer practice began Aug. 11.
Jacob Ramos is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at jacobtr@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Annabelle Aguirre
