IRVINE, Calif. – Several records fell in UC Irvine's 130-63 victory over Lincoln at the Bren Events Center Monday.

The Anteaters (2-1) bettered the school record for assists in a game for the second time this season with 40, six more than the mark set last week versus Bethesda.

The team's 59 made field goals are a school and Bren Center record, while the 88 attempts are also a new Bren Center record, just one shy of the overall school mark.

The Anteaters 71 second half points are a Bren Center record, surpassing the old record of 70 set twice before, the last in 2020.

UC Irvine's 130 points are the most since the Anteaters scored a school record 135 in a victory over Bethesda on Nov. 28, 2020. The Anteaters 67.0 field goal percentage (59-88) tonight is also the best since that Bethesda game when UCI shot 69.1 percent (56-81).

UCI out-rebounded the Oaklanders 55-21, the most boards since the Anteaters also had 55 versus Life Pacific on Nov. 21, 2022.

Another highlight was guard Derin Saran posting a triple-double, joining Nebraska's Rienk Mast as the only two players to record the feat in the country this season. The redshirt sophomore poured in a career-high 20 points, a career and game-best 10 assists and 12 rebounds in the victory. He went 9-16 from the floor with a three-pointer and 1-1 from the line. Nine of the guard's boards came off the defensive glass. He also had three steals.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"I'm feeling relieved and ready to move forward. I'm giving Lincoln credit for coming here and playing us. That's a tough assignment. I thought that we asserted ourselves and we knew we were supposed to do that to win the game. Our team was unselfish tonight. I appreciate that. We've got to keep getting better as a rebounding group because we're going to be aggressive defensively to protect the rim and block shots."

"Non-Division I games are important. They're important for us to have performances from guys who are trying to establish themselves like Nes Emeneke tonight. Every opponent we face is going to present different challenges. Our ability to be good is going to require us to shoot the ball well in addition to passing the ball well."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Saran shared the team-high in points with forward Nes Emeneke. The freshman went 8-12 from the field and 4-5 from the line for his career-high in points. He also pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds and swatted a career-best five blocks
>Forward Harrison Carrington was a perfect 9-9 from the floor and 1-1 from the line for a career-best 19 points. He also had four rebounds, and two steals
>Guard Jurian Dixon knocked down 4-8 from long distance on his way to 18 points. He had three assists and two rebounds
>Forward Kyle Evans shot 6-8 from the floor for 12 points to go with six rebounds and two blocks
>Guards Ben Egbo and Jovan Jester Jr. along with post player Akiva McBirney-Griffin each totaled eight points with Jester Jr. recording a career-best nine assists and four steals
>Guard Tama Isaac fired eight assists to go with seven points, six rebounds and two steals
>Center Elijah Chol tallied six points with a 3-3 shooting night  and had three rebounds and two assists
>Guard Tishan Ahir rounded out the scoring with four points
>Lincoln (0-2) was led by Laolu Kalejaiye with 19 points, including five three-pointers
>Overall, the Oaklanders drained 11 three-pointers on the night 

FIRST HALF
>Harrison Carrington scored the first four points of the game before Lincoln ripped off a 7-0 run to take the lead (17:42)
>The Anteaters answered with a layup by Carrington and another by Derin Saran, 8-7 (16:45)
>Following the first media timeout, UCI scored five straight baskets, four on layups by Akiva McBirney-Griffin, Ben Egbo, Elijah Chol and Jurian Dixon. Chol also had a dunk off of a Jovan Jester Jr. steal in the run that put UCI up 20-12 (14:18)
>UCI exploded on a 19-0 run which included six points from Nes Emeneke, five from Saran and four from McBirney-Griffin, 41-16 (8:12)
>Lincoln stopped the streak with one of their four three-pointers (7:46)
>Kyle Evans would have a block and a dunk to give the Anteaters a 47-23 advantage (5:34)
>Emeneke found Egbo driving baseline for a layup to open a 30-point lead with 2:27 to go in the half 55-25 (2:27)
>A baseline jumper by Dixon ended the scoring, 59-31

SECOND HALF
>The Anteaters opened the half on a 10-2 run with a pair of Evans layups and back-to-back three-pointers by Dixon (18:16)
>UCI held Lincoln to just one point over a 3:34 span and grew its lead to 77-40 after a converted Emeneke and-one layup (14:07)
>UC Irvine ripped off seven straight points in under a minute, powered by five from Saran and a Jester Jr. dunk (12:29)
>The seven points came as part of a larger 16-2 Anteater run that expanded the UCI lead to 93-45 (10:47)
>UC Irvine broke the 100-point mark with a Saran putback layup to give the Anteaters a 100-53 lead (8:52)
>Tishan Ahir got a layup to go on an assist from Saran (8:10)
>McBirney Griffin found Chol driving down the paint for the school record 35 assist, 112-57 (5:19)
>Saran found Evans for a dunk to record the redshirt sophomore's 10th assist and first career triple double (3:28)
> The Anteaters closed out their second victory of the season on a 28-7 run, winning by a 130-63 final score

NOTES
>Emeneke's 5 blocks is the most by an Anteaters since Chol rejected five against Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 25, 2025
>It is the second time this season five Anteaters have recorded double-digit scoring
>All 11 players scored at least four points and all but one had a rebound and assist

UP NEXT
UCI continues its homestand against Weber State Saturday (Nov. 15) at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.