IRVINE, Calif. – A standout performance from forward Devin Tillis helped UC Irvine (14-7, 7-2 BW) rout CSUN (4-18, 1-10) 81-56 in the Bren Events Center on Saturday night
 
The redshirt sophomore poured in 18 points, going 7-8 from the floor including a career-best 4-4 from three-point range. Tillis also had two rebounds and a steal. 
 
Guard Andre Henry was also impressive, scoring 11 points, along with five boards, three steals, and two blocks.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Henry set new career bests in steals and blocks
>Guard Dawson Baker had 12 points on 2-5 shooting, with one three-pointer and seven makes from the line
>Dean Keeler was the fourth Anteater to reach double figures with 11 points on perfect 4-4 shooting from the field
>Keeler made three of his four attempts at the free throw line
>Forward Akiva McBirney-Griffin swatted down three shots for a new career best in blocks along with three makes and four attempts from the charity stripe
>Hayden Welling knocked down five shots at the line and brought down six rebounds in his career night in a season best 16 minutes on the floor
>UCI shot at an efficient 0.593 clip (16-27) from the floor and 0.625 (5-8) from three-point range in the second half
>CSUN was led by Atin Wright, recording 19 points on 6-13 shooting from the field and six makes at the line

FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"I am pleased with the performance overall tonight. Our team really defended tonight and I thought our defense was really good. In both games (against CSUN), they played big to start and Devin made the right basketball plays. He is an excellent basketball decision maker and he found rhythm and comfort in the way he shot his jumper."

FIRST HALF
>CSUN would score the first basket then UCI would rattle off nine straight points on a jumper from Pierre Crockrell II (19:14), a layup by Akiva McBirney-Griffin (18:22) and a three-pointer (17:49) and a jumper (17:02) by Devin Tillis, 9-2
>Tillis's hot hand released a deep three-pointer up top at 16:09, 12-4
>Hohn grabbed a carom off the backboard to feed DJ Davis at half court who found Keeler streaking to basket for a layup at 14:52, 16-7
>On the next possession, Hohn found the big man once again hustling down the court for another layup (14:19), 18-7
>Both teams went scoreless for three minutes until Tillis knocked down a three-pointer at 11:02, 21-7
>CSUN went on a 7-2 run to creep within nine, 23-14 (6:55)
>After his three makes from the line at 6:40, Dawson Baker nailed a step back three-pointer with 4:39 remaining, 29-17
>The Matadors out-scored UCI 7-2 to end the half, 31-24 
 
SECOND HALF
>Davis kicked off the half with a three (19:22) followed by a Tillis layup (18:26), 36-24
>After a CSUN free throw, UCI would score eight in a row, capped by Tillis three-pointer to break open a 44-25 lead (16:40)
>Two Hayden Welling free throws (13;34), a Hohn three-pointer (12:56), and an alley-oop dunk by Henry (11:46) extended the advantage to 58-32
>Henry scored on back-to-back trips, 63-36 (9:27) then would take over,
>Henry then took over by elevating and swatting a shot on the defensive end before he hit a three from the right side (6:37) and muscling it up in the paint at 5:44, 68-39
>Baker's two made attempts from the free throw line at 3:35 would give the Anteaters their largest advantage of the night of 34, 75-41
>Emilis Butkus would get into the action with a three-pointer at 1:46 and the second chance lay-in with 38 seconds remaining, 81-52
 
NOTES
>UC Irvine outscored their opponent in four of the five specialty stat categories, only outnumbered by three in second chance opportunities
>UCI held their opponent CSUN to a season low four assists in a contest against the 'Eaters
>Baker has recorded double-digit points in 16 consecutive games, 20 on the season, and 42 in his career to average 14.4 points a game (15.7 in conference)
>Baker's 12 points helped him eclipse the 300-season tally mark and is just 18 marks shy of 800-career points
>The Anteaters shot a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe in the first half. Their 0.833 clip (20-24) from the line helped the team improve to an overall 0.694 clip for the season
>UCI improves to 12-3 on the season when leading at the half and 5-0 when scoring over 80-points
>The last time UC Irvine beat a team by 20-29 points was when they defeated Nicholls, 83-56, on Nov. 25, 2022
>UCI has posted 80+ point efforts over three conference opponents (UC Davis, Long Beach St., and CSUN)
>All available 13 Anteaters saw action on the floor
 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters hit the road for their first meeting of the season with UC San Diego on Thursday Feb. 2 with a 7 p.m. start in La Jolla.