HONOLULU – The UC Irvine defense held Hawai'i to a season-low in points in a 66-49 victory at the Stan Sherrif Center at SimpliFi Arena Saturday evening.
 
UCI caused 14 turnovers, scoring 16 points off Hawai'i miscues. The Anteaters held the Rainbow Warriors to just 29.1 percent shooting from the field, including 2-11 (0.182) from long distance.
 
Senior Bent Leuchten led all players with 21 points, his ninth 20+ point performance of the season. The center went 7-8 from the floor and 7-10 from the line, scoring 13 of his points in the second half. Leuchten competed on both ends, pulling down seven rebounds and recording a career-high four blocks.
 
UC Irvine earned their tenth road win, tied for most in the country with Central Connecticut State with an identical 10-3 road record. Similarly, the Anteaters are tied with Auburn for most wins (13) away from their home court.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"I am really pleased with our impressive defensive performance tonight. I thought our seniors who were playing here for the last time really set the tone in our overall readiness for this game. We dictated with our defense and created offense with our defense early in the game and controlled it from that side of the ball. I felt Bent [Leuchten] was outstanding again. Bent and Devin [Tillis] both were terrific tonight. Bent didn't get off to a great start, but boy he competed and was good on both offense and defense. Devin was really a problem for them too and helped us build a big lead in the first half. Really please for Berk Can Akin with the two big shots that he made which were ones he made in high-level basketball in other parts of the world. It was big for him to make those shots tonight. I am excited for Torian Lee who was just an outstanding defensive factor, scrambling the game with his speed, athleticism, and intelligence."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Devin Tillis went 5-9 from the floor and 4-6 from the free throw line for 15 points
> Tillis matched Leuchten with seven rebounds
> Guard Jurian Dixon was effective, adding 10 points to go with three rebounds and three assists
> Guard Myles Che had eight points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals
> Guard Justin Hohn had a team-best four assists and three steals plus four points
> It was the 11th time an opponent has scored 60 or less points against the Anteaters this season
> Both teams shot 15-20 (0.750) from the charity stripe
> UCI was outrebounded 18-15 in the first half but finished with the 35-34 edge at the end of 40 minutes
> UH is the third to not be able to block a UCI shot at the rim
> Hawai'i had four players with double-digit points, led by Tanner Christensen's 11 points. Ryan Rapp had a game-high eight rebounds
 
FIRST HALF
> UC Irvine quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead at 18:34, seeing Bent Leuchten back down and spin on the defender (19:18), Jurian Dixon (19:00) strip the ball away from a Rainbow Warrior to take it down the court for a layup, and Leuchten receiving the cross-lane dish from Justin Hohn for a layup
> Hawai'i knotted the score, 8-8, on a pair of free throw makes at 15:31
> The Anteaters ripped for 11 straight points which saw both Myles Che (14:16) and Berk Can Akin (11:31) knock down three pointers, 19-8 (9:42)
> UH made two baskets to stop the bleeding, but a Kyle Evans (7:36) hook, a Dixon (7:13) layup, and Hohn (6:49) stop and pop put the 'Eaters up by 13 (25-12)
> UCI was outscored 6-1 in a two-and-a-half-minute span to draw to 26-18 (3:59)
> Devin Tillis carried the offense for a seven-point stretch on his own, hitting a pair of free throws (3:34), slipping baseline for the reverse shot (2:50), and stepping like he was going to drive to the hoop before going up for a triple (1:37), 33-20
> Myles Che gave the Anteaters their largest lead of the half at a 15-point margin on his free throw makes with 48 seconds left (35-20)
> A Hawai'i layup with 34 seconds left ended the half, 35-22
> UCI took advantage of 10 Hawai'i turnovers, scoring 14 points
 
SECOND HALF
> Hohn (19:27) started the half with a layup high off the glass before Tillis (17:49) elevated for the layup after faking out the defense, 39-22
> Leuchten had a pump fake then drove down the paint for a floater that beat the shot clock at 17:03, 41-24
> Hawai'i knocked down a three-pointer at 15:39, their first field goal of the half, to start an 11-4 run, pulling UH within 10, 45-35 at 12:38
> Tillis drove baseline and dished to Leuchten through traffic for a high-arching floater, 47-35 (11:14)
> Leuchten drew three players to him in the paint, but got around them to dish to Che in the corner for a triple at 8:39, 52-35
> Leuchten became the Anteater offense, scoring UCI's next six points to go up 58-40 with 5:38 to play
>UH rattled off the next seven to keep in withing reach, 58-47 (4:01)
> A Tillis free throw was followed at the defensive end with a block by Leuchten. The center was fouled on the offensive possession knocking down a pair at the line with 2:37 to play, 61-47
> Five more Anteater points preceded a Hawai'i layup as time expired, 66-49
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine has won the last four games against Hawai'i
> The Anteaters have held the Rainbow Warriors to 60 points or fewer in three of the last four meetings
> It was the second time this season an opponent did not make a three-pointer in a half (last at CSUN on Jan. 9)
> UCI improves to 9-3 on the season when Justin Hohn dishes out four or more assists in a game
> Justin Hohn sits seventh in the career steals leader board with 138, needing six more to pass Evan Leonard (143, 2016-20) for sixth
> Hohn is the 22ndd all-time scorer in the program (1,217 points) now six points away from passing Jeff Herdman (1,222, 1987-91) for 21st
> Devin Tillis jumps to 17th in the all-time rebounding list with 606, just five behind assistant coach Ricky Butler (611, 1988-91) for 16th
> Bent Leuchten is 23rd in the rebounding standings with 554, tied with Mamadou Ndiaye (554, 2013-16) for 21st
> Leuchten is nine points away from the 1,000-point career milestone
> Myles Che has knocked down a three-pointer in 11 straight games
 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters are set to close out the season series with CSUN on Thursday Feb. 20 for a 7 p.m. start inside the Bren Events Center.