IRVINE — UC San Diego took a monumental step toward winning the Big West Conference championship by beating one of the conference’s perennial powers Saturday night.
The Tritons dominated the second half in routing first-place UC Irvine, 85-67, in front of a capacity crowd of 5,000 at the Bren Events Center on campus.
The victory not only put UCSD (20-4, 10-2) in a first-place tie with the Anteaters (20-4, 10-2). It also ended UCI’s 22-game winning streak at home. Ironically, Irvine’s last home defeat came against the Tritons on Feb. 23, 2023.
The crowd included about 300 students who made the trip from La Jolla, many of them carrying homemade signs, and sat in the arena’s north end. The players showed their appreciation as a group after the game by acknowledging them before going into the locker room.
“It’s huge for our program,” UCSD guard Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones said about the victory. “It’s awesome. I mean, you saw the students. You saw how students were crying out there. We’re stoked. The coaching staff is stoked. Man, it’s one for the history books.”
UCSD coach Eric Olen viewed the triumph more analytically, especially with the conference’s two top-seeded teams receiving byes into the postseason tournament.
“We were able to win at the first-place team on the road,” Olen said. “That does a lot in of potential seeding in the conference tournament, which is really important given our (conference’s) structure.”
With 13:46 to play and the score tied at 46, the Tritons took control. UCSD made eight consecutive baskets — including four in succession from 3-point range — during a 19-4 blitz that gave the visitors a 67-50 lead with 9:51 remaining.
In the first 12 minutes of the second half, UCSD made 13 of 18 shots from the floor, nine of 13 from beyond the arc.
“They play some box-and-one or diamond-and-one, and they really limit Tyler McGhie’s impact on the game; he’s a fantastic scorer,” Olen said. “But because of that, there are some shots available, and having the experience of playing them the first time, we’re a little more comfortable with when and where those shots were coming from and how we wanted to get to them.”
UCI narrowed the deficit to 70-61 with 7:23 left, then Tait-Jones took over.
After making a 3-point shot with 5:10 to go, the senior from New Zealand blocked Justin Hohn’s driving lay-in with 3:32 remaining. The ball glanced off Hohn and out of bounds, giving UCSD possession.
Tait-Jones ended that possession by making two free throws in the bonus situation with 3:03 to play. The swingman then converted a turnover into another 3-pointer with 2:28 left, made two more foul shots in the bonus with 2:08 to go and finished a 12-2 surge with two more free throws that put the Tritons ahead, 85-65, with 1:12 remaining.
Tait-Jones finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and has averaged 25.8 points in his past six games. Chris Howell and Nordin Kapic each added 15 points; Hayden Gray contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
Bent Leuchten led Irvine with 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Teammates Myles Che and Devin Tillis scored 13 points apiece, with Tillis securing a game-high nine rebounds.
— JOSEPH D’HIPPOLITO
