Honolulu– DJ Davis led UC Irvine with 27 points in the 72-67 loss at Hawai'i in a sold-out Stan Sheriff Center Saturday. 
 
Davis knocked down 9-19 from the floor, including 6-10 from three-point range and 3-3 from the line. The guard also had three rebounds and three steals in the contest.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Davis' six made triples tied his career high set back on Nov. 11, 2022 at Oregon
>After scoring just one point in the first half, Baker exploded for 11 points in the second half
>Baker led the Anteaters with three assists, a season best
>Center Bent Leuchten added eight points and six rebounds
>Ofure Ujadughele had a team-high eight rebounds, a career high
>Guard Pierre Crockrell II brought down six boards for the second consecutive game
>UC Irvine had eight steals to Hawai'i's four
>The Anteaters shot at a 0.444 clip from three-point range against the nation's seventh best three-point defense
>Jovon Mcclanahan had a career-best 27 points on the strength of 10-11 at the line to lead Hawaii  
 
FIRST HALF
>Hawai'i started with the first four points of the game until Dawson Baker hit a free throw, 1-4 (18:52)
>DJ Davis drained a three and got fouled on the shot, making the free throw to close the gap, 5-6 (16:10)
>After a steal, Justin Hohn would find Davis on the right side for another trey, giving UCI its first lead 10-9 at 15:04
>The advantage was short lived as UH scored the next four, the last at 14:19
>Ofure Ujadughele drove down the court for a layup at 13:27 to trail by one, 12-13
>Following a Hawai'i basket, Hohn banked in a three-pointer (12:19) then JC Butler hit a free throw (11:53), 16-15
>A 6-0 streak by the Anteaters on jumpers by Davis (8:59) and Crockrell II (8:29) and a rebound putback by Bent Leuchten put UCI ahead, 26-21 (7:38)
>The Rainbow Warriors would out-score UCI 7-2 on a dunk, layup and three-pointer to tie the score 28-28 (5:36)
>Davis handed the ball to Keeler who handed it right back to the guard for a trey (4:10), then had a pair of free throws (3:37) for the 33-28 Anteater advantage
>Keeler added a basket to put UCI up by seven, 35-28 (2:59) before Hawai'i chipped away with the next four, the last at 1:50 to close out the half of scoring, 35-33 
 
SECOND HALF
>Leuchten rebounded his own shot and put it back in to get the second half started, 37-33 (19:08)
>The Anteaters were unselfish dishing to teammates, Chazz Hutchison (18:22) and Leuchten (17:40), for two layups to expand the lead to 41-35
>Following a UH layup, Davis would hit from long range at 15:58 (44-37)
>Baker made his first field goal, a fall away in the paint (15:11) then hit a three-pointer (14:27), 49-43
>Hawai'i wouldn't go away scoring the next six, 49-46 (13:25)
>UCI led by six on a JC Butler layup before the Rainbow Warriors went on score the next four, 53-51 (9:52)
>Baskets by Baker (9:24) and Davis (8:57) answered to put UCI back up 57-51
>Jovon McClanahan had a jumper which was followed by Davis stealing the ball, lobbing it across the court to find Crockrell II on the outlet who then dropped it off to Baker streaking to the hoop at 8:02, 59-53
>Nine in a row by UH catapulted the 'Bows to a 62-59 lead 5:01
>Davis would knock down another long three to stop the momentum at 4:15 and tie the game at 62 all
>Two free throws and a layup by Hawai'i put UH back in front 66-62 with 2:10 to play
>Keeler had a floater at 1:20, but UH would respond with four consecutive free throws, 70-64 (0:39)
>Davis hit his sixth three of the night with a hand in his face with 34 ticks to go to narrow the deficit to 67-70
>McClanahan had two free throws for UH at 10.1 for the final points of the night as two UCI attempts were off the mark
 
NOTES
>UC Irvine has now lost three straight games at the Stan Sheriff Center
>UCI outscored their opponent in all five-specialty stat categories
>Baker has recorded double-digit points in 25 consecutive games, 29 on the season, and 51 in his career to average 15.8 points a game (17.5 in conference)
>Baker is now 45 points away from reaching the 1,000-career point milestone
>Davis now sits 12^th all-time in UC Irvine history with 135 career made three-pointers, moving up four spots in one night. He needs seven more make to catch Scott Brooks (1985-87) and Travis Souza (2011-15) for 11^th with 142 triples.
>Davis has made at least one three-pointer in his 29 games played this season, averaging 2.6 a game
>Davis has posted six 20-point efforts this season
>UC Irvine is in a three-way tie for first place in the Big West with UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside

UP NEXT
UC Irvine will close out the conference road stretch at UC Riverside on Thursday March 2, with a 7 p.m. start.