LAS VEGAS, Nevada – UC Irvine dropped a 79-63 decision to UC Santa Barbara in the championship of the Big West Tournament at Michelob ULTRA Arena. 

UCI (18-9) gave up 70 points for only the fifth time all season. UC Santa Barbara shot 50 percent from the field and hit eight three-pointers to improve to 22-4 overall. 

Collin Welp and Brad Greene were named to the All-Tournament Team.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Junior Collin Welp led UCI with 22 points, going 10-19 from the field in 29 minutes of action. He recorded four rebounds and a block
>Freshman DJ Davis added 11 points, while Austin Johnson had nine points and three blocks
>Center Brad Greene grabbed a team-best eight rebounds
>Guard Dawson Baker totaled seven points, five rebounds and two steals
>A trio of Gauchos had double-figures led by Jaqouri McLaughlin with 22. Miles Norris added 19 points and Amadou Sow added 13
>UCI shot 44.4 percent from the floor (24-54) and 25 percent from beyond the arc (3-12)

FIRST HALF
>UCSB jumped out to an early 6-0 lead
>Welp blocked a ball on defense then scored UCI's first bucket on the other end(16:20) before knocking the next bucket to close the gap to 6-4 (15:47)
>Austin Johnson would score the next four points to get the Anteaters to 14-13 (9:56)
> Isiah Lee knocked down a three-pointer to knot the score at 16-16 (8:38)
>A Brad Greene hook was followed by a layup by Lee to put UCI in front 20-19
>After DJ Davis tied the score at 24 all (4:19), UCSB went on a 7-0 run to take a 31-24 lead at 2:29
>Rebound put-back by Dawson Baker was followed by a jumper and a pair of free throws by Davis to close within 31-30 (0:38)
>The Anteaters had the final shot, but it bounced off the rim to send the teams in to the break, 31-30 

SECOND HALF
>The Gauchos would out-score UCI 10-4 to take a 41-34 lead at 16:33
>A basket by Jaquori McLaughlin put the Gauchos up by nine (47-38) at 12:47
>A three-pointer by Davis and an old fashioned three-point play to keep close 49-44 (11:10)
>A three-minute draught by the Anteaters was finally stopped by Welp, but UCSB had built a 59-46 lead at 8:07
>McLaughlin hit his third three-pointer of the half to open a 64-48 UCSB advantage with 6:12 remaining
>Welp scored six point to try and rally the Anteaters, but Miles Norris would drain back-to-back three-pointers to keep the Gauchos in front, 71-56 (3:51) 
>The Gauchos would score the last four points of the game for the 79-63 final score

NOTES
>UCI snapped a six-game winning streak
> UCI was in the title game for the fourth-straight year
>The Anteaters are the second youngest team in the country 
> It is only the third loss to UCSB in the last 12 meetings
>Welp earned his second All-Tournament recognition (2021, 2019). He recorded 54 points and 22 rebounds over three games
>UCSB scored 18 points off of 10 UCI turnovers 

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"It is a difficult tme for us to be defeated in this championship game but I give credit to Santa Barbara, they were outstanding tonight, and we were not. We are also really proud as a coaching staff and a team for all this group has accomplished even though we fell short of our goals in both the regular season and now the tournament. But we had a lot of successes throughout this season and I could not be any prouder of Brad Greene, the captain and the leader of our team."

QUOTE FORM BRAD GREENE
"We did a really good job as a team this season staying together and creating our own energy in games. I feel like this was a phenomenal group and I really looking forward to the future and what this team can accomplish."