Postgame Press Conference | Postgame Press Conference Transcription

INDIANAPOLIS – No. 1 seed UC Irvine used a late 7-0 spurt to pull away and beat North Texas 69-67 in a semifinal of the National Invitation Tournament from Hinkle Fieldhouse Tuesday evening.
 
UC Irvine will advance to the championship game Thursday (Apr. 3) at 6:00 p.m. PT playing Chattanooga.
 
The Anteaters set a school record with its 32nd victory, improving to 32-6 overall. UCI joins Duke, Florida, Houston and Auburn as the only schools with 32 or more wins this season.
 
North Texas slid ahead 60-59 on a three-pointer with 2:07 to play before the Anteaters ignited seven in row on a Justin Hohn fall-away three-pointer as the shot-clock wound down, two Bent Leuchten free-throws and a goaltend call on the Mean Green as Myles Che found Jurian Dixon streaking down the court for a lay-up to take a 66-60 lead with 40 seconds left to play. Up by three (67-64) with six seconds to go, Leuchten was fouled and stepped to the line and made both to solidify the win.
 
Forward Devin Tillis led four Anteaters in double-figures, recording his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The senior was 6-11 (0.545) from the floor including two three-pointers and 2-3 from the line. 10 of his 11 boards came on the defensive end.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Center Bent Leuchten came alive in the second half, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the final 20 minutes. For the game, the senior had 14 points and nine rebounds, going 3-7 from the field and 8-10 from the line. He also dished three assists and had two blocks
> Graduate student Justin Hohn went 3-3 in the second half, all three-pointers, on his way to 12 points overall
> Hohn was one shy of his career-high with eight assists
> Guard Myles Che went 4-8 from the floor and 2-3 from long range for 11 points and dished five assists
> Guards Jurian Dixon and Torian Lee each chipped in six points with Dixon pulling down six rebounds, one shy of his career-best
> Sophomore Kyle Evans once again made the most of his time on the court, going 2-2 from the floor with three rebounds and a block in nine minutes of action
> The Anteaters shot 49 percent from the floor (24-49), knocking down 9-18 (0.500) from beyond the arc
> UCI held a slight 39-34 advantage in rebounding, but the Mean Green scored 22 point on second chances
> North Texas shot 34.3 percent (24-70) and scored 10 points on 17 UCI turnovers
> UNT (27-9) was led by Atin Wright's game-high 25 points and Moulaye Sissoko's 13 rebounds
 
FIRST HALF
> The Mean Green started with a 9-0 lead, hitting three three-pointers as the Anteaters had four early turnovers
> Bent Leuchten scored UCI's first two points from the free throw line at 15:32 (9-2)
> A Kyle Evans block on the defensive end led to UCI first field goal, a layup by Justin Hohn, on the offensive end at 12:36, 13-4
> Torian Lee drained a three-pointer from the right corner to give UCI a lift, 15-7  (11:09)
> A technical foul on a UNT player away from the ball landed Devin Tillis on the line for a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 10, 19-9, at 9:44
> North Texas added five more before Che was able to hit a jumper, 24-11 (8:08)
> UCI exploded for a 9-0 run started by a Tillis layup and a Jurian Dixon turnaround jumper just inside the free throw line. Hohn stripped the ball and dish to Dixon for a layup then Tillis hit a three-pointer, 26-21 (4:59)
> A 9-2 spurt, capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Lee and Tillis, tied the score with 1:45 in the half and would be the final score for either team, 30-30

SECOND HALF
> North Texas started with a three before Leuchten made one of two from the line, 33-31 at 18:43
> It took awhile for the Anteaters to get their first basket, the first when Che found Evens down low for a layup, 36-33 (14:20)
> Evans pulled down a rebound on the defensive end then followed for a dunk before Che (11:46) tied the contest with a three-pointer on the right side as the shot clock was about to expire, 38-38
> Hohn found Leuchten for a layup then Hohn hit a three-pointer up top to go up 43-41 at 9:16
> With the score tied 45-45, Leuchten threaded a pass thru traffic to Tillis for a layup then on the next possession Che drained a three-pointer from the right corner with a defender draped all over him, 50-45 (7:07)
> An airball by Che landed at the hands of Leuchten for a layup before North Texas had a driving layup and free throw to equalize at 54-all at the 4:34 mark
> Hohn had to toss it up as the shot clock wound down and hit a fall away three-pointer at 4:04 (57-54)
> Three North Texas free throws would knot the score again, 57-57
> Following a Tillis put in, a scramble for a rebound resulted in a kickout for a three-pointer to put UNT to move the Mean Green back in front, 60-59, at 2:07
> UCI answered with seven straight, a Hohn three-pointer, pair of Leuchten free throws, and a great pass up the floor by Che found a streaking Dixon who put up a layup that was swatted and called a goaltend with 40 seconds remaining to go up 66-60
> A North Texas basket led to a foul on Hohn on the inbounds. He made the first of two with 12 seconds remaining (67-62)
> The Anteaters would commit a foul on the other end to keep it interesting as the Mean Green stayed within three, 67-64, with seven seconds to play
> Leuchten was quickly fouled and made two of the most important free throws in UCI history to put the Anteaters up by five, 69-64, with six seconds to play  
> Those free throws were needed as Atin Wright hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the 69-67 final

NOTES
> UC Irvine advances to the NIT championship game for the first time in program history
> UCI picked up its nation leading 15th win away from Irvine
> The Anteaters earned their first win when tied at the half (1-1)
> 69 points were the most scored on the North Texas defense since their Dec. 31, 2024 win over UAB (W, 78-75)
> Over the four NIT games, Tillis has averaged 16.5 points and 9.0 rebounds to go with 10 assists and six steals
> Justin Hohn ranks fifth in all-time career steals (149)
> Hohn is fifth all-time with 206 career made three-pointers, needing 18 more to match assistant coach Michael Widler (224, 2009-13) for fourth
> Devin Tillis moves all the way up to tenth in the all-time rebounding list with 695, just three away from meeting Wayne Engelstad (698, 1984-88) for ninth, while Bent Leuchten holds the 15th spot with 667
> Leuchten climbs up the board to second and is ten rebounds away from matching Kevin Magee's (353, 1981-82) all-time rebounds in a season record
> Hohn (11th--1,363), Leuchten (26th--1,165), and Tillis (34th--1,060) keep moving in the 1,000-career point scoring list

UP NEXT
The last remaining ranked seed in No. 1 UC Irvine will face Chattanooga at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) on Thursday, April 3rd.