SAN JOSE, Calif.—Guard Derin Saran and forward Harrison Carrington powered UC Irvine to a 72-63 victory over San Jose State Sunday afternoon at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.

Saran poured in 24 points and a team-best seven rebounds. The guard went 10-18 from the floor, including 2-3 from three-point range. He had three assists and a steal to round out his stat line.

Carrington came off the bench to score 17 points, on an efficient 8-10 shooting from the field. The redshirt junior added six rebounds in addition to his scoring.

The Anteaters shot 49.1% from the field (30-61) overall, UCI's best field goal percentage against a Division I opponent in 2025-26. UC Irvine, who entered the game ranked sixth in field goal percentage defense nationally, held the Spartans to a .314 mark (22-70).

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"I was really pleased with the great road kill from our guys.I thought we set the tone with our team defensive commitment. It was great to see Harrsion Carrington with a big game, Tama Isaac with a dominate defensive performance and Derin (Saran) leading us both in scoring and rebounding. It's not easy to win and we showed some resolve with this performance. None of us feels good about being 5-4, but we feel better being 5-4 than we would 4-5. We needed to perform better than we did in our first road outing so I thought the guys really stepped up to the challenge and I'm pleased with that."

FORWARD HARRISON CARRINGTON SAID:
"We did a good job of moving the ball today. We took care of the ball for the most part and moved it side to side. If we moved the ball well, we were going to break down the defense and I think that's what we did well tonight."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Elijah Chol added nine points, going 4-6 from the floor. He pulled down four rebounds
>Forward Kyle Evans totaled seven points, six rebounds and two blocks
>Guard Jurian Dixon recorded seven points, four assists and two rebounds
>Guard Tama Isaac led the passing efforts for UC Irvine, dishing five assists to go with six rebounds
>Akiva McBirney-Griffin had four points and three rebounds in nine minutes of action
>UCI shot 51 percent from the floor (16-31) in the first half
>The Spartans, who drop to 3-5 overall were led by Ben Rosenborough's 12 points  
>SJSU hit nine threes (37.5%) and went 10-13 from the line (76.9%)

FIRST HALF
>UC Irvine and San Jose State played an even first few minutes, with UCI holding an 8-7 lead at the initial media timeout. In the first four minutes, the Anteaters held SJSU to just 2-9 shooting from the field 
>After SJSU briefly took a lead, UCI ripped off a 9-0 run, led by four points from Harrison Carrington, a three-pointer by Andre Henry, and a put-back layup by Akiva McBirney-Griffin, 21-15 (10:14)
>Derin Saran generated six straight points, getting a layup, then splitting the defense for a floater, and finally zipping a pass to Elijah Chol on the next possession for a layup to put UCI ahead 27-20 (8:13)
>The Spartans fought back with a 7-1 run, but another Saran layup ended the SJSU hot streak, 30-17 (6:19)
>The Anteaters went on an 8-0 run, hallmarked by Saran again, who had six of UCI's eight in the span. Carrington capped off the stretch with a layup to give UCI a 36-27 lead with just under three minutes to go in the half
>The Spartans would tip-in a rebound at the buzzer, but UC Irvine would hold the 36-34 advantage at the half

SECOND HALF
>Both offenses jumped out to quick starts in the early second half, with UCI getting 12 points in the first five minutes on 5-10 shooting from the field and SJSU scoring 10 points including two three-pointers in the same span
>Saran continued slicing up the Spartan defense, converting a layup before finding Chol for another easy layup to give UCI a 50-44 lead (14:41)
>The Anteaters went on a 7-0 spurt powered by finishes at the rim from Carrington and McBirney-Griffin to put the Anteaters up by double-digits, 61-49 (8:59)
>SJSU went on a 7-0 run of its own, cutting the UCI lead to just five before Saran silenced the Spartan crowd with a three-pointer from the right wing. He followed the three with a layup and a three-pointer from Jurian Dixon to increase the lead back to 11, 69-58 (4:25)
>The Anteaters held SJSU without a field goal for 4:23 during the closing minutes, going on to win, 72-63

NOTES
>UCI held the lead for 35:45 with San Jose State largest lead of three points coming in the first half at the 12:30 mark
>UCI scored 50 points in the paint, recording 24 points on fast breaks
>Saran has three 20-plus point outings, while Carrington recorded his third 15-plus point game this season
>All 10 players that saw the court grabbed at least one rebound and eight contributed points

UP NEXT
UC Irvine opens Big West play at the Bren Events Center, hosting UC Riverside Thursday (Dec. 4) and CSUN Saturday (Dec. 6). Both games start at 7:00 p.m.