UCI opens with two games in San Diego State event; plans for home debut without fans

Collin Welp, one of the top returning players, drives to the basket last season. (Photo courtesy UCI Athletic Communications)

UC Irvine’s men’s basketball team opens the 2020-21 regular season at the San Diego State multi-team event on Wednesday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 27.

The Anteaters will open with a neutral site game against Pepperdine Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in San Diego and then play San Diego State on Friday at 4 p.m. Both games are at Viejas Arena.

UCI officials also announced that the Anteaters will open the season at home on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. against Bethesda (California) at the Bren Events Center. All Big West teams will begin the season without fans in attendance due to safety precautions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Coach Russell Turner’s UCI team was 21-11 last season, the eighth consecutive winning season for the Anteaters. They also won their second straight Big West regular season crown and their fifth in seven years. UCI was picked by the media to capture the title again this year.

Turner became the winningest coach in school history last season.

UCI returns two all-conference players, junior Collin Welp and senior Brad Greene. Welp came off the bench and led UCI in scoring (13.0 ppg) and was second in rebounding (5.9), averaging 23.4 minutes per game.

Welp was selected to the All-Big West first team and was the sixth man of the year. Greene led the Big West in rebounding (7.7) and had nine double-doubles and was named a Big West honorable mention selection.

Other top returning players include guard Austin Johnson, who averaged 3.3 rebounds and 4.2 rebounds last year. JC Butler, who redshirted last year, returns. He averaged 8.7 rebounds, 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in two tornament games in the 2018-19 season.

Sophomore guards Isaiah Lee and Jeron Artest, who each played in all 32 games last year as freshmen, also return. Lee was second in the team in assists (2.25) and averaged 3.2 points. Artest averaged 2.8 points.

Source: UCI Athletic Communications

Related stories on UCI basketball and the Big West: