UCI Outlasts Hawai’i, 53-51

Friday, January 29

Manoa, Hawaii

9:00 PM

UC Irvine

9-4,5-0Big West

Hawaii

4-5,2-5Big West

Team	1	2	F
UC Irvine	25	28	53
Hawaii	22	29	51

UCI Outlasts Hawai’i, 53-51

January 29, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

HONOLULU, Hawai'i, - UC Irvine won its seventh-straight game after outlasting Hawai'i, 53-51, in its first game of a two-game series in Honolulu, Friday evening.

UCI remains perfect in Big West play with a 5-0 record and improves to 9-4 overall. The Anteaters won their fifth-straight game at Hawai'i and seventh-straight against the 'Bows. UH falls to 4-5 overall and 2-5 in conference play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Brad Greene dominated on both ends of the court, finishing with a game-high 18 points, a season-high 14 rebounds and a season-best five blocks. He notched his second double-double of the year and 12^th in his career. He shot 9-16 overall from the floor
> DJ Davis dished out a team-high four assists and finished with eight points
> Collin Welp had seven points while Austin Johnson finished with six
> UCI shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field overall and held Hawai'i to 36.4 percent (20-55) shooting from the field
> The Anteaters held a 42-22 advantage in paint points and a 13-7 advantage in points off turnovers. UCI also out-rebounded UH 39-32 and outscored the hosts 14-4 in second chance points
> Casdon Jardine led the 'Bows with 14 points

FIRST HALF
> Isaiah Lee got things started with a three-pointer from the left corner (19:34) before UH responded with a three to knot the game, 3-3 (19:04)
> A steal from Justin Hohn led to layup from DJ Davis at 13:02 to give UCI a four points lead, 11-7
> The Rainbow Warriors used a 7-0 run to take their first lead, 14-11, with 10:40 remaining
> UCI responded with a 12-2 run to retake the lead, 23-16, with 4:32 left. Greene had four points in that stretch
> UH scored five unanswered points to close the gap to one point, 23-22 (:57), before a Greene layup gave the 'Eaters a 25-22 lead at the half

SECOND HALF
> Layups from Welp and Greene gave UCI a five point lead, 29-24, to open the second frame (18:15)
> UH scored eight unanswered points to take a 32-29 lead at 16:53
> The 'Eaters answered with an 11-2 run to go up by five, 41-36 at 8:53
> James Jean-Marie made a layup for the 'Bows to cut the UCI lead to one, 44-43, with 6:21 remaining
> A made hook shot by Greene at 2:29 gave the 'Eaters a three point, 50-47, lead before Jean-Marie hit a jumper at 1:39 to make it 50-49
> A made free throw from Welp followed by two from Lee gave the 'Eaters just enough down the stretch to secure the 53-51 win

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"We are pleased with the win and feel fortunate we were able to pull that out even though we shot the ball poorly from three and free throws tonight. We always say defense and character travel and tonight was a good testament of that because it was a hard game to not be frustrated in. We were shaky with the ball and Hawai'i did a great job getting after us and expending our energy. But we defended consistently and gave ourselves a chance to win in the end."

UP NEXT
> UCI plays Hawai'i in the second game of the series tomorrow at 9 p.m. PT in Honolulu

Notes: UCI is 5-0 in the Big West for the first time since the 2016-17 squad opened up 6-0