The UC Irvine Men’s Basketball (19-10, 12-5) faced off against the California State University Northridge Matadors (18-12, 11-7) on Feb. 26th. The game ended 68-67 in the favor of the Anteaters.
The Matadors won the tipoff and immediately opened the scoring with a three by redshirt freshman guard James Evans Jr. Irvine’s redshirt sophomore guard Jurian Dixon responded with a three of his own. Defensively, Irvine continued their emphasis on securing the paint, even at times daring the Matador players to shoot the ball. On the other hand, the Matadors used a more balanced approach, trying to reasonably contest whatever the Irvine players attempted.
Five minutes into the first half, Irvine tried to get points near the rim by making use of pick and rolls. Northridge took advantage of Irvine’s interior-centric defense which forced the defense to collapse into the paint and passed the ball out to an open shooter. However, Irvine players were able to recover quickly enough to contest any shot, enough to force the miss.
Even though Northridge shot poorly, nearly a quarter into the game they held a slim lead, due to the fastbreak opportunities they afforded themselves such as stopping Irvine from scoring on the other end. Within four minutes, Irvine completely changed the tone of the game and raced out to a seven point lead. The Anteaters, much like Northridge, forced a lot of fast break opportunities. A couple of minutes later, the lead was extended to 12. While Northridge did well to cut the lead down to nine, Irvine extended it right back up to 12, and the half ended with Irvine ahead, 36-24.
In the second half, the Matadors came back out on fire, cutting the lead down to five within the first three minutes. This sudden outburst was powered by the efforts of senior guards Josiah Davis and Joshua O’Garro, both of whom carved out and finished tough chances near the rim.
A minute later, Irvine’s lead went down to two. The Anteaters were a bit disoriented by Northridge’s barrage. After a few scoreless possessions, O’Garro completed the comeback. The score was now 40-40.
Then, Northridge slowly began to lose its steam. Irvine’s defense became a lot more aggressive, which forced errors, created easy scoring opportunities near the rim and got Irvine’s lead back up to six. Northridge cut the lead back down to four, then senior guard Larry Hughes II hit a couple of free throws and a three to give Northridge their first lead since early in the first half. However, Irvine’s redshirt sophomore guard Derin Saran immediately responded with a three of his own to push Irvine’s lead back to two.
Sensing the chance to steal momentum, Northridge’s O’Garro forced the issue in the paint and made a tough layup, tying the game up once more. The game continued at a slower pace, both defenses staunched, but occasionally letting in a layup or allowing a couple of free throws.
With two and a half minutes left in the game, the score was 62-61 in Irvine’s favor. O’Garro changed that and made a smart move towards the rim and finished an easy layup, giving Northridge a one point lead. On the fast break, Irvine’s freshman guard Tama Isaac drew a shooting foul on his drive to the rim, and he sank both of the free throws. Irvine now had a one point lead with a little more than a minute left in the game. After some smart ball movement and a tough finish by Davis at the rim, Northridge stole the lead right back. The score was 65-64.
During Irvine’s possession, a rebounding foul was committed against Matador Hughes II, which gave him two free throws. He made both, extending Northridge’s lead to three with less than a minute left in the game. On the other end, Dixon drove in and sank a pull up midrange jumper, cutting Northridge’s lead down to one. Northridge, after wasting some time near the half court line, called a time out to draw up the game-sealing play.
A misplaced Matador pass found the hands of Isaac, who passed it up to Dixon with nine seconds left on the clock. Dixon brought the ball forward, turned back, and gave it to a driving Isaac who wasn’t able to finish at the rim. In the struggle for a rebound, the ball went off a Matador player. It was Irvine’s ball with 1.3 seconds remaining.
Isaac inbounded the ball to Saran, who was cutting back towards the rim. Saran quickly put the ball up, and after it rolled around the rim, the ball dropped in. Irvine clinched the game at the buzzer, much to the delight of the Irvine bench, who dogpiled Saran after the shot went in. The game ended 68-67.
The games top scorers were the Matadors’ O’Garro and Davis. O’Garro also led the game in rebounds.
Next, the Anteaters played UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 28th in their annual homecoming game, which the former won 64-60.
Aaron Jaison is a Sports Writer for the winter 2026 quarter. He can be reached at ajaison@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor, Annabelle Aguirre
