No. 2 Hawaii vs. No. 1 UC Irvine
Saturday, Mar. 14 | 7:00 p.m. PT
Lee's Family Forum | Henderson, Nev.
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No. 1 UC Irvine will face No. 2 Hawaii in the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men's Basketball Championship Saturday (Mar. 14) at 7:00 p.m at the Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. with a title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

Saturday's game will broadcast on ESPN 2 with Roxy Bernstein and Corey Williams on the call.

STORYLINES
No. 1 UC Irvine advanced to the title game after a 93-78 victory over fourth-seeded CSUN in Friday's semifinal.

The Anteaters are in the title game for the 11th time in program history and for the second consecutive year.

UCI will face No. 2 Hawaii in the championship, after going 1-1 against each other in the regular season.

Hawaii's Hunter Erickson hit a fade-away free throw line jumper as time expired to give the Rainbow Warriors the 67-66 victory at the Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center before UC Irvine won 83-76 in overtime at the Bren Events Center. The Anteaters outscored UH 15-4 in the extra five minutes to secure the victory.

UCI is 3-0 all-time against Hawaii at the Big West Championship, including a 67-58 win in 2015 to capture the program's first Big West title.

The Anteaters have won the championship twice, the last in 2019 with a 92-64 triumph over Cal State Fullerton.

UC Irvine is 23-10 overall, recording 20-plus wins for the 11th time under head coach Russell Turner and 16th time in program history.

UCI has won five in a row and seven of the last eight games.

The Anteaters were the regular season champs for the 10th time in program history and third in the last four years with a 15-5 record.

Nationally, UC Irvine ranks third in blocks (5.9) and in field goal percentage defense (38.4) and seventh in defensive rebounds (28.82).

Senior Kyle Evans, who became the UC Irvine and Big West single season block record holder, surpassing former Anteater Mamadou Ndiaye's mark of 106 set in 2013-14, currently leads the country with 110. He has 18 more than the next highest player in the country. The Big West's 2026 Defensive Player of the Year also tops the country in block average at 3.33 per contest.

UCI has averaged 93 points over the last three games. The Anteaters have shot .532 (100-188) from the floor, hitting 22-58 from behind the arc. They are getting to the line an average of 26 times, going 57-77.

UC Irvine is 20-1 when leading at the half. The lone loss was at Cal Poly.

HAWAI'I BREAKDOWN
It comes down to the rubber match between the top two seeds in the Big West, regular season champion UC Irvine and second-seed Hawai'i who enters 23-8 overall. The Rainbow Warriors got a bye to the semifinal as well and took care of business against third-seed Cal State Fullerton, 78-63. UH went on a 17-3 run in the second half and never looked back. UH did most of their damage inside the arc while shooting 25-for-26 from the line and outrebounding CSF, 53-26, led by Isaac Johnson scoring 19 points in 22 minutes

In the first matchup in Hawaii, Derin Saran scored the last of his game-high 22 points on a layup with 12 seconds left to put the Anteaters on top only to watch Erickson's last second heroics win it for UH. The tightly contested game saw 22 lead changes throughout the night.

In Irvine, Hawaii overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and a 10-point margin in the second half to force overtime. The Anteaters dominated the extra time with Andre Henry scoring eight of his then-season-high 17 points to secure the win. The Anteaters were led by a pair of double-doubles from Kyle Evans and Jurian Dixon each with 19 points. Evans grabbed 11 rebounds and recording a career-high tying eight blocks. Dixon pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds and had four assists. Isaac Johnson led Hawaii recording 17 points, all in the second half, including two free throws with four seconds left to send the game to overtime. The 'Bows drained 13 3s.

UCI has won all three matchups in the Big West Championship including the 2013 and 2018 quarterfinals. The only meeting in the final came in 2015, UC Irvine's first championship win, 67-58.

This will be the final Big West meeting with Hawaii as they move to the Mountain West next year.

DIXON DOES IT ALL
Guard Jurian Dixon was named All-Big West first team and is seventh in the Big West in scoring at 16.0 per game overall. He leads the team with 68 three-pointers, making 2.1 per game, which is eighth-best in the Big West. He has made .391 from long range, fourth best in the league. The guard has recorded double-digit scoring in all but four games this season and posted 20 or more points seven times this season. He had a career-high 26 points against CSU Bakersfield. The 2024-25 Big West Freshman of the Year has been named Big West Player of the Week twice this season.

SOMETHING ABOUT SARAN
Guard Derin Saran was unstoppable on Friday night leading UCI with 23 points. The guard hit 9-18 from the floor with three three-pointers and 2-2 from the line. He grabbed a team-high nine boards with five assists and a season-high four steals. The honorable mention All-Big West choice is third on the team in scoring (11.2) and rebounds at 5.4 which is 15th in the Big West. The redshirt sophomore is fourth in steals in the league averaging 1.7 and is averaging 3.4 assists per game which is eighth in the Big West. He has led the Anteaters in scoring nine times this season, including a career-high 29 versus Northern Iowa.

MAN AT THE RIM
Senior Kyle Evans was a first team All-Big West selection and became the sixth Anteater to earn the Best Defensive Player honor to add to his long list of accolades. This week, Evans was also named a Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year finalist as well as the Lou Henson Award finalist for best mid-major player. He has been named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list as well as earning Lute Olson Award National Player of the Week on Feb. 2. He was named Big West Player of the Week on December 29, 2025 and the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational MVP.

The senior is second in the Big West in rebounding at 8.5 per game and field goal percentage (.629) while averaging 12.0 points per game. He has recorded 10 double-doubles on the season, which are second most in the Big West. The senior totaled a career-high 24 points versus North Dakota State and 16 rebounds in the first meeting with CSUN. He has totaled five or more blocks six times during the regular season, including a career-best eight versus Northern Iowa.

He has 161 career blocks over 74 games which ranks third in UCI career blocks behind Will Davis II in second with 208 and Mamadou Ndiaye in first with 218.

OH HENRY
Graduate student Andre Henry was named honorable mention All-Big West as well as Best Sixth Man, joining Anteaters Colin Welp in 2020 and Elston Jones in 2019 who have won the award.

He showed why he earned the sixth man honor, scoring 12 off the bench against the Matadors last night. He has made his way back after an injury to play in 29 games this season, all off the bench. The guard is averaging 10.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. The graduate student has totaled points in double figures 19 times this season, including 13 of the last 14 outings. He posted a season-high 19 points to lead UCI against Cal State Fullerton, going a perfect 8-8 from the floor with three threes. Over the last three games he has averaged 14.3 points per game.

The guard is the NCAA's co-active leader in career games played at the same school, seeing action in 144 over his five-plus years. It is his second career honorable mention selection, while being named the Big West Defensive Player of the Year in 2024.

OFF THE BENCH
Jovan Jester Jr. was a spark again in the semifinal game, scoring nine points and recording two steals in 11 minutes. He is second on the team in steals with 45 and ranks 12th in the Big West with a 1.4 average. He swiped a career-high six against North Dakota State. The redshirt freshman is averaging 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists.

Forward Harrison Carrington is averaging 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds on the year. He went 2-2 from the floor and 1-2 at the line in the semifinal.

Elijah Chol, who missed eight games with an injury, scored at least two points and grabbed at least one rebound in all but one game he has played in this season and is averaging 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He is second on the team in blocks, swatting 1.0 per contest.

RUNNING THE SHOW
Freshman Tama Isaac has started every game this season at point guard, averaging 4.1 assists per game which ranks third among Big West players. He dished a career-best 13 assists versus CSU Bakersfield, the third most in the league this year and most by an Anteater since Pierre Crockrell II had 16 against CSU Bakersfield in 2023. He is averaging 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

TEAM EFFORT
UC Irvine has a balanced offensive attack with four or more players recording double-digit points in 21 games this year, including four the semifinal Friday night. Six different Anteaters have led UCI in scoring this season with Jurian Dixon topping the squad 17 times.

Akiva McBirney-Griffin has started each of the last 13 games, putting in a career-high 12 points versus Cal Poly last week..

The Anteater bench has out-scored the opponents 165-85 over the last five games.
 
SEMIFINAL REWIND
UCI defeated fourth-seed CSUN 93-78 Friday leading wire-to-wire. UCI jumped out early and never looked back shooting 58.1 percent (18-31) from the floor to hold a 49-37 halftime lead. The Anteaters ended the game shooting 51.6% (33-64) from the field and 17-22 from the line (77.3%). CSUN only made eight trips to the line making five. UCI dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Matadors 44-26.

Four Anteaters scored in double-digits led by redshirt sophomore guard Derin Saran with 23 points. Guard Jurian Dixon followed with 18 points, while Kyle Evans recorded 15 points and Andre Henry had 12 points off the bench.