IRVINE, Calif. – Five UC Irvine men's basketball players earned All-Big West and specialty honors, the conference office announced Tuesday afternoon.

All five starters in Jurian Dixon, Bent Leuchten, Devin Tillis, Justin Hohn, and Myles Che were recognized by the conference.

Redshirt freshman Jurian Dixon headlined the awards as he was named the Big West's Freshman of the Year after an impressive campaign in his first season as an Anteater. Dixon is the first UCI player to win the award since Dawson Baker in 2021 and becomes the seventh player in history joining Baker, Luke Nelson (2014), Alex Young (2013), Jerry Green (1999), Kevin Simmons (1995), and Ben McDonald (1981).

Dixon ranks first among all Big West freshmen in scoring and is fifth on the team averaging 11.0 points per game in league games, 8.8 overall. The guard is second on the team in steals (30) and ranks third of all starters in field goal percentage (98-225, 0.436). Dixon posted several career performances during the conference portion of the schedule, the last a 23-point effort with perfect 9-9 shooting at the free throw line at UC Santa Barbara (Mar. 8).
  
Bent Leuchten headlined the awards as he earned his first career postseason honor as he places on the All-Big West First Team. The senior leads the Big West and is ninth in the nation with 16 double-doubles as he averages a league-best 9.1 rebounds per game (290 total) and is fifth with 15.4 points per game (494 total). Leuchten is having a season for the books as he reached both the 1,000-point scorer and 500-rebound career milestones during the regular season as well as jumping into the program's all-time single season rebounding ranks at sixth with 290. The center scored in double figures in 26 contests and pulled down double digit rebounds in 17. Leuchten was also a monster in the paint on defense with 42 blocks, good for second in the league, and went for a career-best four swats in back-to-back contests.
 
Devin Tillis has made his mark on the program, also earning his first postseason honor, as he landed on the All-Big West Second Team. Tillis is second on the team in scoring with a 13.1 average, 405 total points, and second in rebounding with a 7.6 average, 235 total. The forward has scored 20 or more points on six occasions, the last on Mar. 8 at UC Santa Barbara with 21 points. Tillis has had some big moments in conference games this season, including hitting the game winning shot with 0.6 seconds left on the clock against the Gauchos. The redshirt senior has 11 career double-doubles and posted five of them in 2024-25. Lastly, Tillis became apart of the 500-career rebound club with 642 which sits 14th all-time and is 35 points away from hitting the 1,000-career point milestone in a UC Irvine uniform.

Both Justin Hohn and Myles Che were selected as All-Big West Honorable Mentions to round out the Anteater accolades.

Hohn grabs his second career postseason honor in his final season, as he leads the team in assists (117) and steals (46) while scoring 11.6 points per game. The guard has hit several career milestones throughout the course of 2024-25, becoming the 33rd Anteater to reach the 1,000-career point scorers club, sitting 16th with 1,277 career tallies, is tied sixth in the all-time career steals ladder with 143, and is tied seventh with 190 three-pointers in the career-made triples board. In 20 of his games played this season, Hohn has led the team in assists in 20 of those and tops all UCI players with 61 career double figure scoring games. The graduate student had several standout performances this season, his most recent at UC Santa Barbara (Mar. 8) with a near double-double of 17 points and a career-high nine assists.
  
Che finished the regular season third on the squad in points (12.5) and second in both three-point percentage (42-103, 0.408) and assists (86) during his first season at UC Irvine. He also finished second in the league with an 88.6 percent shooting clip at the free throw line, 27th nationally. The guard had a team second-best 20 double figure scoring games in 2024-25, three of them 20 or more points, and recorded the Anteaters first 30-point game in two seasons. Che went on a 15-game streak where he made a three-pointer and knocked down a career-best three triples five times.
  
UC Irvine earned the No. 2 seed at the 2025 Big West Championship taking on the winner between the No. 3 seed in UC Riverside and either No. 6 UC Davis/No. 7 Cal Poly. The Anteaters will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. on Friday Mar. 14 on ESPN2.