IRVINE, Calif. – Defense was key in UC Irvine's 82-62 win over Cal State Fullerton at the Bren Events Center on Thursday night. 
 
The Anteaters pulled down a season-high 51 rebounds, including 39 on the defensive end, and scored 17 points off Titan turnovers. 
 
UC Irvine was led by Bent Leuchten who recorded his eighth double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. Leuchten knocked down a career-best three three-pointers in the win, going 60 percent from long-range (3-5). The center is one of six players nationally to have six or more 20 point, 10 rebound games this season. 
 
UCI Improves to 16-2 overall and remains undefeated, 6-0 in the Big West, and 5-0 at home. With the win, the Anteaters tie the school record for most consecutive home wins with 19 in a row. 

FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"I am pleased to win. I am especially pleased with the progress I am seeing in some areas of our team. I thought Jurian Dixon was excellent tonight with his ball handling and his decision making. He has been embracing a defensive role and it is hard to find offensive comfort with the defensive effort he has done. I thought Justin Hohn looked like a veteran today. We got too jump shot happy in the first half I thought which was because a lot of our early shots went in. Credit to Cal State Fullerton. We knew they were going to play hard, and they caused a few problems that we learned to adjust to. To be 16-2 and 6-0 is pretty hard to imagine. I would like to be focused on the opportunity we have created to generate the success we have created because I know we can continue to get better."
 
FROM BENT LEUCHTEN
"It feels amazing to put up big numbers. I feel like it has been a long time coming for me. I worked hard this summer. I had these types of games in the past but wasn't able to do it consistently. It is great to be able to do that. It is super nice to be able to shoot the three sometimes especially when we have great guys like we do and the defense is focused on keeping them out of the game and leaving me available."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Redshirt freshman Jurian Dixon registered a career-high five assists to go with 16 points, just one point shy of his career-high
> Dixon knocked down a career-best two triples
> Guard Myles Che added 13 points, three assists, and three boards
> Guard Justin Hohn rounded out the double-digit scoring for the 'Eaters with 11 points and added five assists and five rebounds
> Forward Kyle Evans grabbed a career and game-high 11 rebounds. 
> Redshirt freshman Ben Egbo recorded a career-high four points 
> Redshirt sophomore Elijah Chol pulled down four boards in his first career start
> UCI held the glass advantage, 51-47
> It is the tenth time the Anteaters have held opponents to 62 points or fewer
> The Titans were powered by their bench who poured in 37 points, 59 percent of the scoring effort
> Zion Richardson led Cal State Fullerton (5-14, 0-7) with 14 points, including three triples, and matched Evans with a game-high 11 rebounds
 
FIRST HALF
> UC Irvine took an early 11-2 lead (16:27) on the strength of three buckets from Bent Leuchten, including two from beyond the arc, and a triple from Jurian Dixon
> The 'Eaters and Titans traded buckets over the next several minutes to cut the lead to 21-17 at the 11:40 mark
> Cal State Fullerton utilized a 10-2 run, spearheaded by two three-pointers from Zion Richardson, to cut the lead to just one (23-22) at the 8:45 mark before two triples from Justin Hohn flipped the momentum back to the Anteaters, 31-25 (5:05)
> UCI went on a 14-4 run that began with an and-1 from Dixon (3:36), and saw five points from Che and four from Leuchten, to put the 'Eaters back up by double digits at the end of the half, 45-31
 
SECOND HALF
> The 'Eaters opened the second half on a 10-2 run, powered by Dixon's five points on a three-point play conversion and layup, to increase the lead to 55-33 at the 14:56 mark
> Both teams kept pushing on offense, going back and forth over the next several minutes. Che sank a triple (12:12), a driving layup (11:08), and two free throws (10:37) while Leuchten drilled one from beyond the arc (8:51) to make it 71-47
> Cal State Fullerton used six made free throws to fuel a 13-4 run to cut the Anteater advantage to 75-60 (2:40)
> UC Irvine finished the game outscoring the Titans 7-2, the last a Tishan Ahir free throw, to secure the 82-62 victory 
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine's 6-0 Big West record ties their best start in league play for the fifth time in program history (1981-82, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2023-24, and 2024-25)
> UCI is one of four teams in the country to reach the 16-win mark, joining Auburn, Tennessee, and Utah State
> It is the fifth time this season where two UC Irvine players have recorded double digit rebounds in a game, second time in a Big West game
> The Anteaters are one home win away from breaking the school record of 19 consecutive home wins set from Dec. 2, 2000-Jan 17, 2002
> Bent Leuchten posted his sixth 20+ point effort of the season
> Justin Hohn sits seventh in the career steals leader board with 125, needing 19 more to pass Evan Leonard (143, 2016-20) for sixth
> Hohn is the 28th all-time scorer in the program now just one points away from moving in front of Patrick Sanders (1,136—2004-08) for 27th and 11 from surpassing Bill Moore (1,145—1969-72) for 26th
> Ofure Ujadughele notched his 100th career steal in the contest
> Myles Che recorded his sixth straight double figure scoring game, the longest of any Anteater this season
 
UP NEXT
RV UC Irvine continues the homestand with Cal Poly on Saturday Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. to close out the season series.