THIS WEEK IN ANTEATER BASKETBALL
UC Irvine (12-7, 5-2) at UC Riverside (7-12, 2-5)
SRC Center - Riverside, Calif.
Thursday, Jan. 22 - 7:00 PM | ESPN+ |  Live Stats 

UC Irvine (12-7, 5-2) at UC San Diego (14-5, 4-3)
LionTree Arena - La Jolla, Calif.
Saturday, Jan. 24 - 7:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats 

UC Irvine concludes its January road schedule with a contest at UC Riverside Thursday (Jan. 22) at the SRC Center then UC San Diego Saturday (Jan. 24) at LionTree Arena. Both games tip at 7:00 p.m.

UCI returns home next week to host Hawaii on Jan. 29 at the Bren Events Center. The game time has changed to 8:00 p.m. and will be televised by ESPNU.

STORYLINES
UC Irvine is 12-7 overall and 5-2 in the Big West, sitting on top of the conference standings with Hawaii.

UCI, winners of nine of their last 12 games, are finishing four straight away from Irvine. The Anteaters are playing six of eight games in January on the road.

UCI and UC Riverside met in the season opener back in December with the Anteaters taking a 73-60 victory at the Bren Events Center. Kyle Evans led the Anteaters with 19 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. UCR's Marqui Worthy Jr. had a game-high 26 points. The Highlanders 7-12 overall and 2-5 in the Big West, coming off an 81-72 win over Cal State Fullerton. 

Saturday's meeting with the Tritons is a rematch of the 2025 Big West Championship game. UCSD is ranked 16th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major poll, while the Anteaters are receiving votes. UC San Diego, who enters the week 14-5 overall and 4-3 Big West, travels to UC Davis Thursday before hosting the Anteaters.

UCI has lost the last two outings by a total of four points. In the lone game last week, the Anteaters fell 72-75 on the road at UC Davis. Jurian Dixon led UCI with 16 points, while Evans recorded his fifth double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Nationally, the Anteaters are once again one of the best defenses, currently ranked fifth in blocks per game (6.3) and field goal percentage defense (37.9) and 16th in defensive rebounds (28.53).  

UC RIVERSIDE LOWDOWN
The Highlanders are the first Big West opponent that UCI will complete its season series. The Anteaters improved to 56-27 all-time with a 73-60 win in the Big West opener in early December, but now the matchups switches to Riverside where the hosts have won the last two meetings.

The first meeting, UCI never trailed, building a 10-point lead within the first seven minutes of the game and never seeing the margin get narrower than eight points the rest of the way. UCI hit 10 threes in the victory.

TRITONS ON THE HORIZON
The teams split regular season games last season, winning in each other's arenas. After winning at the Bren Center, UCSD captured the Big West title, 75-61 in Henderson, NV.

UCI continues to lead the all-time series, 16-5, and between Division I foes they are 7-4. UCI is 7-2 on the road in the series with just one loss since UCSD became Division I and that took overtime.

The Tritons are 14-5, having alternated wins and losses over their last nine games. Notable non-conference results included winning the early-season MTE in Florida, a win at Fresno State, and a loss to USD. Big West losses have come at Cal Poly and home versus Fullerton and CSUN.

Leo Beath's 15.7 PPG leads the squad followed by three others averaging double digits.

BLOCK PARTY
Senior forward Kyle Evans leads the nation in total blocks with 61 and in blocking average at 3.21. Evans' 61 blocks are the most in a season by a UCI player since Austin Johnson had 61 in 25 games during the 2021-22 season. Evans has recorded four or more blocks in seven games this season.

Evans leads the Big West in field goal percentage (.647) and is second in rebounding with an 8.2 average.

EN GARDE
UCI boasts of an impressive core of young guards. Redshirt sophomore Jurian Dixon is fifth in the Big West in scoring with a 15.8 mark. He has led the Anteaters in scoring eight times and posted 20 or more points four times this season.

Redshirt sophomore Derin Saran ranks third in assists (4.0), 13th in rebounds (5.7) and 24th in points (12.2) among Big West players. He has recorded 20 or more points four times this season, including a career and Anteater-high 29 versus Northern Iowa. He has led the Anteaters in scoring on seven occasions in 2025-26.

True freshman Tama Isaac is averaging 3.8 assists per game, which is sixth in the Big West. Both Saran and Isaac have dished 10 or more assists in a game this season.

Off the bench, redshirt freshman Jovan Jester Jr. and graduate student Andre Henry make an impact. Jester Jr. is averaging 7.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 16.7 minutes of action per game. He has posted double-digit points five times, including 12 against UC Davis last week. He is second on the team in three pointers with 19 and has 25 steals. Over the last three games, Jester Jr. has averaged 9.7 points per game.

Henry, the 2024 Big West Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 7.1 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. He has a season-high 15 points in the win over the Titans earlier this month.

PATROLLING THE PAINT
Along with Evans, UCI has a talented group of post players patrolling the rim. Elijah Chol has started all but three game this season and is averaging 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per outing. He is second on the team in blocks with 22. He had a career-high 15 points in the win at Cal State Fullerton, knocking down 6-7 from the field and 3-4 from three-point range.

Transfer Harrison Carrington is averaging 7.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, shooting 57.6 percent (53-92) from the floor. He is coming off an 11-point performance at UC Davis, his sixth double-digit game of the year.

Freshman Nes Emeneke is averaging 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 points with 16 blocks, while redshirt  Akiva McBirney-Griffin averages 2.1 points and 1.7 boards per game.