IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine dropped an 85-67 loss to UC San Diego at the Bren Events Center Saturday evening.
 
The Tritons hit 16-31 from three-point distance (51.6) and shot 53.7 percent (29-54) from the floor overall, while the Anteaters were just 6-20 from long range and 19-49 overall (0.388). UCSD took advantage of 18 UCI turnovers, scoring 20 points.
 
Both teams go to 20-4 overall and are now tied for first in the Big West standings with a 10-2 record.

FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"Credit to UC San Diego; they out-played us and out-shot us. It might have been a record of three-pointers in a half against us. We had a great crowd tonight. Something I haven't seen in all my years here. It was a great college basketball environment tonight and I am grateful for that. It felt a little bit like that was hard for our guys in the second half when UC San Diego rose to that occasion better than we did like we did there last month. I don't know if it helped us to be off for a whole week. I am not using that as an excuse, but we just got lackadaisical. They played really well and we just didn't have the answers. We fought like we always do, but we didn't get a call, make a play, or get a shot to make it close down the stretch which was disappointing with how great of an atmosphere we had tonight."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Center Bent Leuchten led UCI with 23 points, going 6-9 from the floor and 11-12 from the free throw line
> Forward Devin Tillis had a game-high nine rebounds to go with 13 points, four assists, and two steals
> Guard Myles Che added 13 points, hitting three three-pointers and 4-4 from the line
> Guard Justin Hohn totaled seven points and four assists
> The Anteaters topped the Tritons in rebounds, 30-27, and scored 11 second chance points
> UCSD had 16 points from the bench, while UCI had just two
> Four Tritons scored double-digit points led by Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones' game-high 22 points, eight assists and eight rebounds
 
FIRST HALF
> Three straight three-pointers from UC San Diego's Chris Howell on a 9-2 run put the Tritons in front, 11-5 at 16:42
> Myles Che (14:40) saw his shot sink in from long-range before Devin Tillis (13:55) went to work, spinning on the baseline for the lay-in, to drawn within two at 13-11
> The Tritons shot back out by six (17-11) then Tillis lobbed the ball down to Leuchten for the hook and two makes from the line by Leuchten brought the game back to a two-point margin, 17-15 (9:39)
> Free throws from the Anteaters, one by Jurian Dixon (9:02) and two by Che (8:21), kept UCI in striking distance (19-18)
> UC Irvine jumped in front briefly, 23-22, as Tillis got the ball to Leuchten in the paint at 6:56 and kicked out to Justin Hohn (6:16) for a triple
> Leuchten got crafty to keep the 'Eaters ahead, overcoming the strength of three defenders for a put-in and a second chance no look tip-in, 30-28 (3:45)
> Only four more points were scored after the under-four media break, all by the Tritons, to go in front 32-30 at the half
 
SECOND HALF
> UC Irvine posted three straight three-point scores, two on back-to-back treys from Che (18:36, 17:55) and a basket from Dixon (17:31) plus the free throw make to hold the 39-37 edge
> Leuchten had his pair of free throw makes sandwiched between three Triton three-pointers as UCSD moved in front, 46-41 at 15:49
> A double-teamed Kyle Evans found a bit of space to get the ball over to Tillis for the layup with a free throw before Torian Lee has a last second dish over to Evans as the block for the score before the shot clock rang to knot it up 46-all (13:46)
> The Tritons fired off seven straight as part of a 10-2 run to gain a 56-48 advantage at 12:06
> UCSD remained inspired, scoring 11 points in a row on three unanswered three-pointers to stay ahead at 9:52 (67-50)
> Tillis drained a three up top before exciting the Bren crowd with two big defensive stops to go with a layup by Leuchten with Tritons hanging all over him and another layup by Tillis, to close to 61-70 with 5:29 to play
> UCSD scored eight of the next 10 points, all by Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, to extend the margin to 78-63 at 2:29
> The Tritons out-scored UCI 7-4 to end the game, 85-67
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine saw their 22-game home winning streak snapped, dating back to Feb. 23, 2023 in a 99-91 set-back to the Tritons
> During the game, UCI honored the 2014-15 team that won the first Big West Tournament Championship and made the program's first NCAA appearance 10-years ago
> The series between UC Irvine and UC San Diego has been split the last three seasons with the road team taking the victory in each meeting of 2025
> The Anteaters gave up 16 three-pointers, as season-high by an opponent
> UCI drops to 7-3 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 133, needing 11 more to pass Evan Leonard (143, 2016-20) for sixth
> Hohn is the 25th all-time scorer in the program (1,205 points) now three points away from passing Chris McNealy (1,207, 2010-14) for 24th
> Devin Tillis jumps to 18th in the all-time rebounding list with 591, just five behind assistant coach Michael Wilder (596, 2009-13)
> Bent Leuchten is 23rd in the rebounding standings with 543, needing 11 more to move in front of Eric Wise (553, 2008-11) for 22nd and 12 to go in front of Mamadou Ndiaye (554, 2013-16) for 21st
> Myles Che recorded his 12th straight double figure scoring game, the longest of any Anteater this season
 
UP NEXT
UCI hosts UC Santa Barbara next Thursday (Feb. 13) at 8:00 p.m. inside the Bren Events Center.