IRVINE, Calif. – Senior Kyle Evans put his name in the record books in UC Irvine's 107-85 victory over Cal Poly at the Bren Events Center Thursday.

Evans recorded five blocks to set the UC Irvine and Big West single season block record, surpassing the old mark of 106 held by former Anteater Mamadou Ndiaye in 2013-14. The forward also poured in 17 points on 7-11 shooting from the floor and 3-4 from the free throw line and a team-best eight rebounds.

Guard Jurian Dixon recorded a game-high 22 points, hitting 8-16 from the field, including two three-pointers and 4-4 from the line. He also had six rebounds, five assists and a steal.

With the win, UCI improves to 21-10 and 14-5 in the Big West, solidifying a top two finish and a bye into the semifinals of the Credit Union 1 Big West Basketball Championships next Friday (Mar. 13) at the Lee's Family Forum.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Guard Andre Henry recorded 16 points, hitting 6-14 from the field with a three-pointer. The graduate student had three rebounds, two assists and two steals
>Forward Harrison Carrington shot 6-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the line for 14 points. He grabbed five rebounds and dished three assists
>Akiva McBirney-Griffin had a career-high 12 points, going 3-5 from the field and 6-7 from the line. He pulled down five rebounds
>Guard Tama Isaac went 3-4 from the floor, including two three-pointers for eight points to go with five assists and a steal
>Guard Derin Saran totaled seven points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals
>The Anteaters shot 56.3 percent from the field (40-71) overall, including 62.9 percent (22-35) in the second half
>Cal Poly was led by Cayden Wade with 16 points
>The stout UCI defense held Cal Poly to 38.7 percent (29-57) from the floor. The Mustangs hit 10 threes
>The teams were tied on the boards with 43 rebounds each
>The Anteater bench made an impact once again, out-scoring Cal Poly's 41-24

HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER SAID:
"It's good to be an Anteater student, supporter, community member, whatever it may be, and I do enjoy it when others come and get to see our team compete. Credit to the guys that we have for how hard we fight and how connected we are. That's what I think the story of the game was tonight. Our team was focused and ready and could see that early. We controlled the game for most of the 40 minutes, which is really hard to do against Cal Poly, the way they play. We're going to play a championship game on Saturday. I hope that the student community, especially, will come out and support our team on senior night, where we're going honor three guys who are really important in this program."

"it's hard to describe [Evan's impact]. I'm really happy for him that he gets recognized for the incredible performance he's had this year. Kyle, in his own way, has defined our team's success this season with his competitiveness and brain and character. Being from Orange County, having his family here is really special. Seeing him emerge after having a really meaningful role on last year's team that won the school record number of games and now becoming a force for us on both defense and offense on this team is really cool. Those are the type of development stories I think that make college basketball so special and fun. And there couldn't be a better representative of UC Irvine than Kyle Evans. And no better representative of our program, so I'm just really excited and grateful to be his coach."

FORWARD KYLE EVANS SAID:
"We're going to dial in tomorrow at practice and compete for a championship on Saturday. That's it. That's really all we just talked about in the postgame speech. Dial in, tighten up, we need to tighten up, and go compete for a championship on Saturday."
"I got a little overwhelmed with emotions there for a second [after the record-setting block].?Then I came back to reality and I just remembered we have to compete for a championship on Saturday, but that's all I'm focused on right now. I'm proud of myself, proud of my teammates for getting the win. But I was saying, we just got to focus in and put our best game on the court on Saturday."

FIRST HALF
>UC Irvine won the tip and got the ball to Tama Isaac in the corner for a three-pointer to open the game (19:39)
>Cal Poly got a dunk and a pair of triples to begin the Mustangs' scoring. In response, Akiva McBirney-Griffin and Derin Saran scored six for UCI to give the Anteaters an early 9-8 lead (16:47)
>Jovan Jester Jr. made a pair of highlight plays for UCI, getting downhill for a layup before driving again and dishing to Nes Emeneke for a two-hand slam to give the Anteaters a 19-15 lead on the next possession (13:01)
>UC Irvine and Cal Poly continued a close battle, with a Kyle Evans layup sending the game into its third media timeout as UCI led 29-24 (7:41)
>The Anteaters began to separate, going on a 6-1 run with a Harrison Carrington floater and four points from Jurian Dixon to build a 37-28 advantage for UC Irvine (5:26)
>Dixon ripped off a quick 5-0 run on his own, putting in a pair of free throws and a catch-and-shoot triple to give UCI a 52-37 lead (1:20)
>Cal Poly scored the final five points of the half sending the Anteaters into the break leading 52-42

SECOND HALF
>The Anteaters opened the second half with an Evans block on defense and McBirney-Griffin layup on the other end to push their lead back to 12 (19:37)
>Cal Poly stayed in the game, cutting the UC Irvine advantage back to single digits (71-63) with a pair of free throws (13:31)
>Jester Jr. created another highlight, dropping a Cal Poly defender with a spin dribble and depositing a pass to a cutting Carrington for a layup, giving UCI an 82-67 lead (9:52)
>The Bren lit up as another Evans block led to a transition bucket, this time a Dixon layup to put the score at 92-78 (6:07)
>UC Irvine broke the 100-point mark for the third time this season with an Andre Henry jumper (2:38)
>Tishan Ahir checked in and hit a three-pointer for the Anteaters, closing out a 107-85 victory 

NOTES
>UCI had a season-low five turnovers, scoring 17 points off 12 Mustang miscues
>It is the ninth time this season, five Anteaters have scored in double-digits
>Dixon has recorded 20 or more points for the sixth time this season
>UCI scored 64 points in the paint

UP NEXT
UCI closes out the regular season hosting UC Davis Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center. Please note time change due to being on ESPNU.
UCI will honor graduating players Kyle Evans, Akiva McBirney-Griffin and Andre Henry before the game.