UC Irvine Men’s Basketball (23-11, 15-5) lost to the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (24-8, 14-6) 71-64 in the Big West Championship game. The ESPN nationally televised game took place at the Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. on March 14.
UC Irvine came off a victory against Cal State Northridge in the Big West semi-finals game, where the ‘Eaters won 93-78.
Irvine and Hawai’i matched up twice in Big West conference play. UC Irvine fell 67-66 to the hands of a game winner from Hawai’i graduate student guard Hunter Erickson on Jan. 10, in Honolulu, Oahu. The rematch in Irvine went to overtime, where UC Irvine evened out the season series 87-76.
Both teams finished the Big West regular season at the top of the conference, with UCI finishing as the 1st seed and Hawai’i ending as the 2nd seed.
The game started off slow, with Irvine redshirt sophomore guard Jurian Dixon scoring the first basket on a tough midrange jumper. UCI head coach Russell Turner and Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot both approached the game defensively. UCI looked to funnel the ball towards Big West defensive player of the year and senior forward Kyle Evans, while the Rainbow Warriors stayed home and forced the team to beat them in isolation.
The score reflected these defensive-focused approaches, with Hawai’i taking their first lead of the game off a three from senior forward Harry Rouhliadeff. The scoring then started to open up for the Rainbow Warriors, as their size advantage on the inside took toll on UCI’s interior defense.
Senior center Isaac Johnson, a seven footer who could knock down the three ball, proved to be a unique foil to the Irvine defense, forcing Evans to defend away from the rim. Johnson connected on three triples in the first half alone, finishing the half with ten points.
Hawai’i took their largest lead of the game off of a Johnson three, leading 21-13 with 6:51 remaining. Irvine fought back to end the half, led by redshirt sophomore guard Derin Saran and Dixon.
The first half ended with the two teams neck-and-neck at 31-30 in favor of Hawai’i.
In the second half, the teams traded blows. Hawai’i junior guard Isaiah Kerr provided a spark off the bench for the Rainbow Warriors, connecting on two triples back-to-back by moving off-ball and taking advantage of lapses in the Irvine defense.
UCI struggled to contain the ball at the point of attack, allowing dribble penetration which set up open looks for Hawai’i. On the other end, Hawa’i limited Irvine’s assist total from their usual 16 per game to nine. With Hawai’i defending and forcing UCI to score in isolation, Irvine generated lower percentage shots than normal.
Yet, every time that it looked like Hawai’i was about to pull away, Irvine clawed their way back. Graduate guard Andre Henry woke up offensively in the second half, scoring eight of his 12 points to keep his team in the game.
With 8:45 remaining in the game, Hawai’i went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 57-50. UCI cut the lead down to three at 62-59 with 5:35 left to go, but hit a scoreless drought for the next 4 minutes and 33 seconds. During this stretch, Johnson came up huge for Hawaii, scoring two points in the paint to bring the Rainbow Warrior lead to seven.
Evans scored six points in a row for the Anteaters to cut the lead to two at 66-64 with 38 seconds left in the game. Despite having two timeouts, Irvine decided not to call one, leading to a layup on the other end for Hawai’i from Rouhliadeff. Graduate guard Dre Bullock put an exclamation point on the game with a thunderous two-handed windmill dunk after a missed three from Saran.
The University of Hawai’i at Manoa went on to win the Big West Championship, 71-64, defeating UC Irvine.
With the win, the Rainbow Warriors punched their ticket to March Madness, advancing to the round of 64, where they were defeated by the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, 97-78 in Portland, Ore., on March 19.
Despite the loss, Irvine advanced to the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) where they suffered a loss at the hands of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Runnin’ Rebels 75-72 at the Bren Events Center on March 17.
Jaden Hunter is a Sports Staff Editor. He can be reached at jadenh2@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Geneses Navarro.
