LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Visiting Westwood to play No. 12 UCLA, UC Irvine dropped its second and final exhibition game of the season 94-64. 

UCLA broke open the game in the first half, leading 58-27 after shooting 58.3% (21-36) from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The backcourt duo of Derin Saran and Jurian Dixon led the Anteaters with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Saran was 5-11 from the floor, including 2-4 from beyond the arc with a team-high four assists and three steals. Dixon had seven of his points in the second half with a three-pointer and 4-4 night from the line.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"Tough night for the 'Eaters. Credit to UCLA, they were really ready. I thought we got physically dominated in the first half on the glass. Our defense was poor. It's a lot different playing against those guys than playing against ourselves in practice. I came into this game knowing I wanted to play everyone because of the opportunity to play UCLA, but I don't think that was the best to create rhythm for us. Some guys got discouraged with how well UCLA played offensively and our defensive level was not at all what I expect and we will be able to make that better because of this experience."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>In his first action of the season, Elijah Chol went 3-3 from the field, including 1-1 from long range for seven points
>Forward Kyle Evans led the team in rebounding with four, while recording five points on 2-3 from the floor. He added a block, steal and an assist
>Freshman guard Tama Isaac went 4-4 from the line with two rebounds and two assists
>Post player Akiva McBirney-Griffin recorded six points and three rebounds
>Harrison Carrington and Jovan Jester Jr. each pulled down three rebounds with Jester Jr. adding three points, an assist and a block
>Luke Isaak and Bryce Goldman knocked down two of UCI's seven threes
>The Anteaters went 18-56 (32.1%) from the floor and 21-29 (72.4%) from the line, while the Bruins ended the night 36-75 (48.0%) from the field and 12-14 from the stripe (85.7%)
>10 different Bruins scored including five in double digits. Tyler Bilodeau led all players with 19 points
>UCLA out-rebounded the Anteaters 51-29 and held a 21-11 assist advantage

FIRST HALF
>The Bruins opened the game on a 6-0 run ending with a Skyy Clark layup at 18:07
>UC Irvine recorded their first field goal from Elijah Chol layup (17:52)
>Chol then knocked down a three at 16:30, 7-10
>UCI answered a three made by UCLA with a Derin Saran three to even the score at 12 (15:49)
>The Bruins went on a 11-0 scoring run, capped off with a Donovan Dent converted and-one layup to extend the margin, 23-12 (11:13)
>The Anteaters ended the run after 4:25 scoreless minutes with a Jovan Jester Jr. free throw (11:03)
>After UCLA scored five straight, UC Irvine got back to the line for a pair of bonus free throws made by Akiva McBirney-Griffin, 15-28 (10:11)
>UCI went on a 7-0 run, fueled by a Saran three-pointer, a Jurian Dixon jumper and punctuated by more McBirney-Griffin free throws to keep it within 10, 22-32 (7:42)
>The Anteaters would score six points in the last 6:01 of the half, watching UCLA's Tyler Bilodeau score 12 points in the last 2:48 to open a 58-27 Bruin lead in the first period of play 

SECOND HALF
>After UCLA opened the half on a 4-0 spurt, UCI got on the board with a pair of free throws made by Tama Isaac, 29-63 (18:19)
>Bryce Goldman hit a three at 11:30, 38-78
>Saran got back-to-back buckets in the paint, one coming on a loose ball and the other on a floater (7:54, 47-82)
>UCI went on a 5-0 run, getting a three by Dixon and layup by Chol (6:44, 52-85)
>Joshua Palmer got into the scoring column with a three-pointer from the top of the key, UCI's final points of the game with 1:34 to play
>A Bruin basket ended the scoring for a UCLA 94-64 victory

NOTES
>Palmer played in front of his father Rod, a UCLA assistant coach and UCI alumni
>All 15 UCI players in uniform got minutes and 12 added at least two points

UP NEXT
UCI opens its regular season at home on Monday (Nov. 3) against Bethesda with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off at the Bren Events Center.