Men's Basketball 2023 Season Review

BIG WEST REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS

With their 52-44 win over CSU Bakersfield on Mar. 4, UC Irvine was able to clinch a share of the Big West regular season title. The victory resulted in UCI’s sixth regular season title under Head Coach Russell Turner and eighth Big West in a ten-year span. The Anteaters earned the automatic berth to the NIT marking the seventh postseason appearance for UCI.

DOWN GO THE DUCKS

After a heartbreaking loss to Oregon in the second round of the NCAA March Madness tournament in 2019, UC Irvine came back with a vengeance to defeat the then nationally ranked Ducks on their home court by the largest margin of victory over Oregon in series history (13 points), 69-56 on November 11, 2022.

It had been 40 years since the Kevin Magee-led Anteaters beat Oregon, 46-44, in overtime on Nov. 29, 1982. UCI earned their first win over a Pac-12 opponent since beating Washington 86-72 on Nov. 14, 2013, and the last win over a ranked team since topping Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The 'Eaters have won their first ranked road win since defeating No. 15 Stanford in 2005. 

The ’Eaters early success was recognized as they received four votes in the Nov. 14 Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll. In addition, reporter Andy Katz and NCAA March Madness named UC Irvine the Team of the Week for the first weekly award of the season after their dominating performance over the Ducks.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

UC Irvine was crowned the champions of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic Invite after defeating both Nicholls and New Mexico State by double-digits. Pierre Crockrell II was named to the All-Tournament team and DJ Davis was named the MVP. All 15 Anteaters saw action in the two games played.

In game one of the neutral site meetings, UCI entered the half tied 29-29 with Nicholls. The Anteaters had a riveting 54-point second half thrusting them past the Colonels, 83-56. Davis led UCI with a game high 18 points, going 7-12 from the floor and 4-7 from behind the arc. UC Irvine held Nicholls to only one three-pointer in the contest where they shot 1-20 (0.050) from long range.

The ‘Eaters never trailed against New Mexico State in the championship game and led by as much as 21 points. Justin Hohn was a perfect 4-4 from three-point range and Dean Keeler grabbed 10 rebounds, the second double figuring rebounding game for the ‘Eaters thus far in the season. 

THRILLER AT VIEJAS ARENA

The Anteaters trekked down to then No. 24/24 San Diego State for UCI’s second game against an AP top-25 team. DJ Davis poured in a career best 28-points on 9-17 shooting from the field and 4-6 from behind the arc for his third 20-point effort this season.

UC Irvine took SDSU down to the final 2.4 seconds where the Aztecs hit a clutch three-point basket and a free throw to claim the 72-69 victory. UCI led for most of the second half of action as they trailed by no more than nine in the contest.

COACHING CAREER MILESTONE REACHED

Russell Turner earned his career milestone 250th win at CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 31, 2022, all his wins coming from his 13 years at UC Irvine. Out of 365 active head coaches in Division I, only 108 have hit this career milestone and 15 of them completing this feat at one institution. Turner also moved ahead of the late New Mexico State head coach Neil McCarthy to rank fourth in the Big West overall victory ledger. Turner finished the 2022-23 campaign with 265 overall and 145 Big West career wins.

RECORD SETTERS

UC Irvine broke a 28-year-old school record in free throw attempts in the 79-75 victory over CSU Bakersfield, shooting 51 from the line (30 made). The previous record of 49 (33 made) was set on January 27, 1994, against rival Long Beach State. Baker (15 att.), Davis (8 att.), Keeler (4 att.), Leuchten (4 made, 8 att.), and Tillis (6 made, 8 att.) all set career bests at the line.

WWWWWINNING WAYS

The Anteaters earned their fifth consecutive conference win after defeating CSUN 71-57 in Northridge on Jan. 14. Five wins was the longest victory streak for UCI this season. The last time the ‘Eaters started conference play 5-0 was in 2016-17 where UC Irvine opened league play 6-0.

UCI had another five game win streak that stretched from Feb. 9 to Feb. 20, defeating Cal Poly twice, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis.

20-WIN SEASON

UC Irvine earned its 13th 20-win season in program history and eighth under head coach Russell Turner after recording a 59-56 victory over Cal Poly on Feb. 20. The last 20 or more-win season was in 2019-20 when the squad finished the campaign with a record of 21-11.

SENIOR SALUTE

JC Butler played in 117 games as an Anteater. In his freshman campaign, Butler played in 30 games, helping UC Irvine to a Big West regular season championship, the Big West tournament title, and played in UCI’s first ever NCAA tournament win. The 6-foot-5 forward also played a role in the team’s fifth regular season title under head coach Russell Turner in the 2019-2020 season.  Butler is one of the most effective and efficient shooters for UC Irvine over the last three years, shooting at a 0.480 clip from the floor. 

Butler leaves UC Irvine as a three-time regular season champion, a conference tournament champion, with 108 wins, and 62 Big West victories.

MR. CONSISTENT

Dawson Baker was dubbed Mr. Consistent as he scored in double figures 32 of his 35 games played this season and held a streak of 26 consecutive games where he scored in double-digits. The junior became the 32nd Anteater to reach the 1,000-point career milestone with 1,017-career tallies. Baker led the squad with 537 points and took and made the most field goals (188-403, 0.467). The last time the Anteaters had a leading scorer who scored over 500 points in a season was Luke Nelson in 2015-16. 

Baker was named to the All-Big West Second Team and the six player Big West Championships All-Tournament Team. The junior guard finished the season averaging 15.3 points per game, 16.6 in league play.

3J DAVIS

With a knack for making deep shots, DJ Davis led the team and conference in three-point shooting making 88 of his 219 attempts from three-point range and ranks 33rd nationally in three-point percentage (0.402). The guard etched his name into the UC Irvine record book for career made three-pointers and currently sits 11th all-time with 149 triples. Davis is a prolific shooter at the free throw line as well, ranking first in the Big West and 26th nationally for his 102-116 (0.879) shooting at the stripe. 

Davis earned his first career postseason award as he was named to the All-Big West First Team. The junior guard was recognized as the leagues Player of the Week on November 14th following the Anteaters win at then No. 21 Oregon. Davis averaged 15.0 ppg in 2022-23 and 2.6 threes a game.

DISHIN’ DIMES

As a true pass-first point guard, Pierre Crockrell II tallied 178 assists which stands at fourth all-time in a single season in program history. The senior finished the season ranked 22nd in total assists, 36th in assist-turnover ratio (2.47), and 40th in assists per game (5.1) in the nation. The last Anteater to average over 5.0 assists per game in a season was Aaron Fitzgerald in 2005-06 (6.6 apg).

Crockrell II had four double-figure assist games, setting a new career high of 11 and tallied his first career double-double (10 points, 10 assists) at Long Beach State on Feb. 4. The Anteaters held a 15-3 record when the senior guard dished out five or more dimes in a game. Crockrell II earned Big West Honorable Mention nods in his first year in the league.

SEEING DOUBLE

Almost a full calendar year after the Anteaters last double-double, Devin Tillis notched two consecutive and the first and second of his career. Tillis posted the first in the 70-65 win over Cal St. Fullerton (10 pts, 12 reb.) on Jan. 11 and the second at CSUN (10 pts., 11 reb.) on Jan. 14. The redshirt sophomore recorded his third career double-double at Oregon (10 pts. 11 reb.) on Mar. 15.

Tillis had 206 boards in the 2022-23 campaign, averaging 6.2 a game. The forward tallied 11 double-digit scoring and four double figure rebounding efforts in 33 games. 

BIG MEN ON CAMPUS

The trio of Bent Leuchten, Dean Keeler, and Akiva McBirney-Griffin made their presence known in the paint.

Bent Leuchten earned Big West recognition on Jan. 9 for his efforts in UC Irvine’s 2-0 week. Leuchten recorded an impressive stat line against UC Davis and Long Beach State, shooting 17-21 (0.810) from the field, 4-5 (0.800) from three-point range, and 8-9 (0.889) from the line to average 23 points a game. The sophomore set a career best 31 points against the Aggies. Leuchten, who had missed eight games due to injury, made his return to the lineup against Cal Poly on Feb. 9. And hit the game-winning three-pointer. The center is one of the teams’ leaders off the glass, averaging 5.7 rebounds a game in 27 contests played.

Dean Keeler scored a career high 13 points in the 73-65 loss to UC Santa Barbara, the first double figure performance of the senior’s career. Keeler also shot at a 0.750 clip from the floor (6-8) and a perfect 1-1 at the charity stripe. The senior was impressive off the bench with 11 points, going 3-6 from the field and 5-5 from the line at Cal Poly on Feb. 20 for his third career double-digit scoring game.

Akiva McBirney-Griffin had four consecutive career nights stretching from Jan. 19 to Feb. 2. In the game at UC San Diego, he put up career bests in rebounds (6), assists (3), field goals made (5), and field goal attempts (7). Against CSUN, McBirney-Griffin set highs in blocks, free throws made, and attempted shot from the line. The forward set highs in points, steals, and three-point field goal attempts against Hawai’i. During the game against the Tritons, McBirney-Griffin notched his second double-figure scoring effort.

UC Irvine finished the 2022-23 season with a 23-12 overall record, 15-5 in the Big West. The Anteaters saw their season come to an end in the first round of the NIT, but have plenty look forward to entering the 2023-24 slate.