The Belmont Bruins (12-1, 2-0) faced off against the UC Irvine Anteaters (7-5, 2-0) in Irvine, with the Bruins coming out on top 84-58 on Dec. 19.
The first half began with the Anteaters winning the tip-off, and redshirt sophomore guard Jurian Dixon draining a tough three-pointer from the wing. Both teams defensively had similar schemes, running man-on-man defense and only guarding the shooters closely. Early in the half, Belmont focused on driving into the paint, which the Anteaters were doing a good job of contesting. Irvine, on the other hand, focused on driving in and then kicking the ball out to the open shooters. Picking up on this, Belmont increased their aggressiveness in guarding the outside, creating a 3-2 zone, which freed up some space for Irvine’s bigs to get to work on the inside.
As Belmont settled into the game, they relied less on direct drives to the rim, and instead ran pick and rolls to free up the inside. This allowed them to either finish at the rim or force Irvine’s defense to collapse, which gave the Belmont shooters all the space they needed. Irvine, seeing Belmont’s emphasis on preventing the three, continued to get to the rim with relative ease after each possession. Belmont adjusted defensively, switching from their zone defense to a man-to-man defense. This, combined with faulty possessions from Irvine, allowed Belmont to hit the Anteaters in transition. With just over eight minutes left in the half, Belmont held a slim two point lead over the Anteaters.
Due to some stellar defense by the Bruins, Irvine forced up bad shots multiple possessions in a row. Belmont was more than happy to scoop the rebound and score in transition, giving them a nine point lead with a little more than five minutes left in the half. However, the offense suddenly clicked for Irvine. Irvine played through the Belmont blitzes that had given them trouble the whole half, creating easy looks for open cutters. Irvine took a two point lead. After some good offense of their own, Belmont finished the half two points ahead, 38-36.
Belmont opened the new half with a three pointer. The Belmont defense toned down their aggressiveness, not resorting to blitzing the ball handlers this time around. Their man-on-man stifled the Irvine offense, which in turn allowed Belmont to race to a 10 point lead. However, a tough and-one three by Irvine graduate guard Andre Henry cut into the Belmont momentum and riled up the Irvine bench.
Both teams traded three pointers, and after a couple of minutes, both teams seemingly fell back down to earth shooting-wise. The Irvine offense stalled, allowing Belmont to score seven unanswered points. Irvine eventually ended the run with a quick three, but Belmont continued to score with ease. With six minutes left in the half, the Bruins had a 19 point lead.
Belmont kept making three after three, going 9-14 in the second half, assisted by their redshirt freshman forward Eoin Dillon. Belmont went on a 12-5 run to solidify the game, and the final score ended up being 84-58 in favor of Belmont.
The game’s top scorer was Irvine’s Dixon, who finished the game with 17 points on 6-16 shooting. Belmont’s Dillon finished the game with 12 points on 4-5 from outside the arc. Belmont’s forward duo, redshirt sophomores Sam Orme and Drew Scharnowski, dominated the boards with 12 and 9 rebounds respectively.
Following the loss, UC Irvine travelled to El Paso, Texas, where they won the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational on Dec. 22.
Aaron Jaison is a Sports Intern for the fall 2025 quarter. He can be reached at ajaison@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Annabelle Aguirre