Box Score IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine shared the ball a school record 34 times in a 125-49 victory over Bethesda in the season opener at the Bren Events Center Monday.

The Anteaters bettered the old mark of 31 against Bethesda in 2020. Eight different players recorded at least one assist, led by freshman Tama Isaac's 10. Isaac's 10 assists were the most since Pierre Crockrell II had 11 versus Cal Poly on March 7, 2024.

Forward Kyle Evans had a team and career-best 22 points in just 13 minutes of action. He went 7-11 from the floor and 8-10 from the free throw line, while pulling down five rebounds.

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"It was good to see some guys share the ball the way we did the night, make some shots, make some plays. We did rebound tonight, which was the thing I was most concerned with about the UCLA game. So, hopefully, we can continue to give that [effort]. We know we've got to be a lot better on Friday [against Cal Baptist] than we were tonight."

"I thought tonight Jurian just made the right plays, which is what I think defines his offensive game. He made the shots that he took because they were all good shots. Many of them were created by his teammates. We passed the ball, shared the ball well, and I think we all know Jurian is going to score effectively, efficiently when he makes good decisions."

SENIOR FORWARD KYLE EVANS SAID:
"We're just trying to work on stuff we work on every single day. It's been a long offseason of beating each other up. So it's fun to go out there and play different opponents. We wanted to set the tone early. We knew we had a size advantage going in. The win feels good. I'm ready for a long season. This is a good one to get. We have to get back to work tomorrow, we got a good one on Friday."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Jurian Dixon recorded 21 points and a career-best six assists. The sophomore was 8-12 from the floor, including three three-pointers
>Isaac went 6-7 from the floor, including 3-4 from long range and 3-4 from the line for 18 points. The guard also had five rebounds and a steal
>Guard Derin Saran had a career-high 10 rebounds, seven on the defensive end to go with a career-high seven assists. The redshirt sophomore added nine points on 4-6 shooting
>Redshirt freshman Jovan Jester Jr. was a perfect 5-5 from the field, including a three-pointer and 4-5 from the free throw line for 15 points. He totaled four rebounds and two assists in his first game as an Anteater
>Transfer Harrison Carrington was also efficient from the floor recording 15 points, making 6 of 7 attempts, including a three and 2-2 from the line. The forward pulled down seven boards, all on the defensive end
>Redshirt junior Elijah Chol had a career-high 11 rebounds to lead all players. He also had a career-best seven points and two assists
>Akiva McBirney-Griffin had seven points and a career-best seven rebounds, while Ben Egbo had six points, a career-high four assists and a career and game-high three steals
>Nes Emeneke made his collegiate debut, scoring four points and grabbing seven rebounds
>Guard Tishan Ahir rounded out the scoring with a point
>The Anteaters shot 61 percent from the floor (47-77) and 63.9 percent from the line (23-36)
>UCI dominated the glass, 67-22
>Bethesda was led by Cameron Durr's 12 points

FIRST HALF
>Kyle Evans scored 10 straight for the Anteaters, capped off by a two-handed dunk on an assist from Jurian Dixon, 12-4 (16:34)
>UCI extended its lead to double-digits for the first time on the night with a Harrison Carrington layup in transition to make the score 15-4 (15:22)
>The Anteaters held Bethesda scoreless for 5:40, going on an 20-0 run finished by a Jovan Jester Jr. three-pointer to bring the score to 28-6 (11:48)
>After Bethesda stopped the run, the Anteaters got back-to-back scores at the rim by Carrington, 32-6 (11:15)
>UCI opened up a 30-point lead after a transition three-pointer by Tama Isaac gave the Anteaters a 38-8 advantage at 9:44
>The Anteaters went on a 13-0 run during the 4:04 scoring drought for Bethesda, giving UCI a 45-10 advantage (6:29)
>UC Irvine went on a 14-3 run to close the half, giving UCI a 67-20 advantage going into halftime
>UC Irvine's 67 points in the first half was just three points shy of a program record for points scored in a half

SECOND HALF
> UCI opened the second half with two layups to give the Anteaters a 50-point lead at 71-20 (19:08)
>The Anteaters extended the lead to 60 on an Isaac catch-and-shoot three-pointer, 95-33 (10:35)
>UCI broke the 100-point mark on an alley-oop to Ben Egbo with 8:09 to play, 101-37
> An Evans free throw was followed by a Dixon three-pointer to help UCI to a 116-42 advantage (4:42)
>Tishan Ahir checked in and hit a free throw for his first point of the season, 123-44 (1:18)
>UCI ended the game by the score of 125-49

NOTES
>The 76-point margin of defeat is the most since the Anteaters beat Bethesda 135-55 on Nov. 28, 2020
>It is the 104^th time in program history that the Anteaters have scored 100 or more points
>Bethesda's 49 points are the fewest allowed by the Anteaters since the UCI held Kent State to 39 points on 11/29/25
>UCI celebrated the 2024-25 NIT run with a banner reveal before the game

"I'm appreciative of that banner because I know how hard it is to accomplish what last year's team did." Turner said. That team didn't win a championship, but we did something that's never been done here before. So those guys left a mark on this community and hung a banner that's going to stay up there as long as this place."

UP NEXT
UCI will host California Baptist Friday (Nov. 7) at 7:30 p.m. game ....NOTE GAME TIME CHANGE TO 7:30