Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine would shoot 54.2 percent from the floor in in the season opener at the Bren Events Center Monday evening. 

The Anteaters began the 2022-23 campaign going 39-72 from the field, including eight three-pointers. They out-rebounded Chapman 49-29 and held the Panthers to 29.6 percent shooting on the night (16-54). 
 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Five UCI players recorded double-digit points, led by forward Devin Tillis and Dawson Baker with 14 points each. Tillis was 6-7 from the field with two from long distance, while Baker was 6-10 from the field and 2-2 from the line

>A 14 point showing tied Tillis's career high from the 2019 season
>Guard Justin Hohn posted 12 points on 5-9 shooting with four assists
>Forward JC Butler was a perfect 4-4 from the floor, going 2-2 from long distance for 10 points
>Guard DJ Davis added 10 points

>Senior forward Dean Keeler also shot a perfect 4-4, a career best
>Forward Ofure Ujadughele grabbed a team-best seven rebounds to go with six points, three steals and two assists
>Eli Chol had six rebounds and four blocked shots in 14 minutes of action
>Bent Leuchten, Chazz Hutchinson and Andre Henry pulled down five rebounds a piece

>Pierre Crockrell II dished out a team best six assists.

>Freshman Emilis Butkus scored his first points as an Anteater (2) along with redshirt freshman Akiva McBirney-Griffin (3), Crockrell II (5) and Hutchison (4)
>Chapman was led by Cruz Billings with 12 points and Nathan Williams with 10 points and seven rebounds    
 

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID
"I am pleased we came out and performed, pleased with the defensive effort and intensity. We learned some lessons from the last game [Alaska Anchorage] and we applied those lessons to this game. I am especially pleased with the crowd we had here tonight. It was the largest crowd we have had in a while and we tried to put on a show for them."
 

FIRST HALF
>Bent Leuchten had two free throws (19:36) and a layup (17:58) to get the Anteater scoring going before Dawson Baker pulled up for a 10-foot floater at 17:10, 6-2
>Back-to-back three-pointers by Devin Tillis (16:27) and DJ Davis (16:05) extended the lead to 12-5
>A Chazz Hutchison steal led to an Andre Henry dunk at 14:03 then on the next possession Justin Hohn stole the ball and drove in for a layup at 13:47, 18-9
>Chapman would be held to just three free throws as UCI used three-pointers by Hohn, JC Butler and Davis, a free throw by Akiva McBirney-Griffin and  layup by Hutchison to build a 32-13 advantage
>Chapman would finally record a layup at 8:21, 32-15
>UCI ended the half on a 15-0 run which included baskets by Dean Keeler, Devin Tillis, Davis, Hohn, Butler and Ofure Ujadughele and was capped by a Raising Canes' three-pointer by Hohn with nine seconds left, 49-17
>The Anteaters swiped 10 steals in the first 20 minutes while they held Chapman scoreless for 7:36 minutes to close out the first period
 

SECOND HALF
>Chapman scored the first basket of the half, before Tillis took over scoring a hook shot, a three-pointer and a pull up jumper, the last at 17:27 to stretch the Anteater lead to 56-19
>A no-look pass by Pierre Cockrell found Keeler underneath the hoop (62-24) just before the media timeout then out of the break, Baker had a streaking layup to increase the lead to 64-24 at 15:14
>The Anteaters would use a pull-up jumper by Henry, a three-pointer on the left side from Butler and a rebound put back by McBirney-Griffin to move ahead 77-30 at 9:53
>Another 6-0 spurt, four coming from Baker put UCI on top 85-34 with 5:16 to play
>Emilis Butkus had two free throws (0:31) and Ujadughele had a dunk before Chapman had three free throws to close out the scoring with 13 seconds left, 96-50  
 

 NOTES
>UCI continued to Defend the Bren, holding a 132-42 (0.759) record on their home floor and improving to 23-6 in home openers (0.793)
>58 of UCI's points were scored in the paint
>13 Anteater players scored at least two points  

>Six new faces on the UC Irvine squad (four newcomers and two redshirts) saw their first action as Anteaters

>46 points is the second largest margin of victory over the Panthers in program history
 

UP NEXT
UCI will travel to No. 21 Oregon for a Friday (Nov. 11) showdown with the Ducks starting at 8:00 p.m.