IRVINE, Calif. – Big West regular-season champion UC Irvine earned a majority of the top awards Monday as the 2018-19 All-Conference and Specialty Teams were announced.

Ninth-year head coach Russell Turner earned his third Big West Coach of the Year honor in the last six years after receiving the recognition in 2013-14 and 2016-17. He led the Anteaters to their fourth Big West regular season title in the last six seasons and UCI's best regular season (27-5) and Big West records (15-1) in program history.

Turner has guided the Anteaters to 13-straight wins, a record for him at UCI, and tied for the longest winning streak in program history. He led the 'Eaters to a perfect 8-0 Big West road record, a feat that has not been done since Pacific in 2004-05.  Under his leadership, UCI has amassed a 13-2 road record, tied for the most road wins in the country with Stony Brook.

This season, Turner became the second winningest coach in school history with a 184-127 career record.
 

Jonathan Galloway made history as he received the Big West Defensive Player of the Year accolade for the third-straight season, a feat that has never been done before. UCI has earned the defensive honor for the fourth-straight year and the sixth time in the last seven years.

For the first time in his career, Galloway was named a Big West All-Conference First Team honoree. He was the only Anteater on the list.

Galloway anchors UCI's defense that ranked fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.380) and 22^nd in scoring defense (63.8 ppg).

The graduate student became UCI's all-time career rebounding leader after breaking a 44-year old record set by David Baker (926). He currently has 944 career rebounds, which is eighth all-time in Big West history. He is one of just nine players to eclipse 900 boards. Galloway is first on the team and second in the Big West in rebounds per game (8.4) and total rebounds (268). This season, he has finished with double-digit rebounds in 14 games.
        

Senior Elston Jones earned UCI's first-ever Best Sixth Player award. Jones leads the Anteaters with 1.6 blocked shots per game and 51 total blocks. He has swatted at least one block in all but four games this season. He ranks second in the conference in blocks and fourth in rebounds per game (7.0).

Jones has posted three double-doubles and had a career-high 14 points against UC Riverside (Jan. 26). He is averaging 5.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
 

Guard Max Hazzard was named to the All-Big West Second Team. He leads UCI in scoring with 12.1 points per game and 79 3-pointers made. Hazzard was named the Big West Player of the Week twice this season including Nov. 12 and Dec. 17.

This season, Hazzard cracked into UCI's top-10 three-point field goals made list and is currently ninth with 156 career three's. Hazzard set a Bren Events Center record and was one shy of the UCI single-game record after hitting 10 three's against Denver (Dec. 15), setting a career-high 32 points. He has led the team in scoring on nine occasions. This marks the first all-conference honor of Hazzard's career.
 

Rounding out UCI's award-winners are juniors Tommy Rutherford and Evan Leonard. Both gained honorable mention nods.

Rutherford has started 27 games this season and averages 6.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Rutherford has led the 'Eaters in scoring and rebounding twice this season and tied a career-high four blocks in UCI's win over CSUN (Mar. 9). This is his second career all-conference honor after being named on the first team last season.

Leonard is second on the team in scoring with 11 points per game and has started 21 games. He leads the Anteaters in steals with 39, three-point field goal percentage (.412) and free throw percentage (.829). Leonard has led UCI in scoring on nine occasions and tallied a season-high 23 points against UCSB (Feb. 16). This marks the second career all-conference for Leonard as he was named on the second team last season.
 

The 'Eaters have now earned multiple all-conference selections in each of head coach Russell Turner's nine seasons and three or more in six-straight seasons.