UCI Coach Russell Turner, the Big West Conference coach of the year, leads the Anteaters into the conference tourney (Photo courtesy UCI Athletic Communications).
UC Irvine’s men’s basketball has had a remarkable season so far, winning the Big West Conference regular season title with a 15-1 record.
But the Anteaters and Coach Russell Turner still have some unfinished business as they try to secure a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
In order to do that top-seeded UCI (27-5) will need to win three games and the Big West Conference post season tournament this weekend at Honda Center.
UCI faces eighth-seeded UC Riverside (10-22) Thursday night at 6.
UCI hopes to make it to the semifinals Friday night at 6:30 and the championship Saturday night at 9.
Turner didn’t expect his team would post 27 wins but he said during Monday’s media press conference that the coaches were expecting a big year from their team.
“We knew coming into the season that we had a good team,” Turner said.
“But I don’t think the number like we hit was what any of us thought would be possible. And it’s probably good that we didn’t worry about that. We’ve just worked at steadily getting better and taking care of what’s right in front of us and that’s led us to a good place.”
Turner, the Big West Conference coach of the year, said the players and coaches took pride that they were able to finish the regular season with an 86-74 victory over Cal State Northridge Saturday night at the Bren Center. (Please click here to read about that game)
It turned out to be an emotional night, especially for the seniors.
“I felt like going into this season, our program had never been stronger and I feel even more that way at the end of the regular season,” Turner said. “The senior class that we have is a big part of that. These guys have each made outstanding individual contributions so there was a lot of emotion in that last home game.
“It was easy to feel that all around the arena. It’s very difficult to play well under that type of pressure so I’m glad that we got a little bit of that experience.”
UCI has an .844 winning percentage, the best wining percentage in program history.
This year’s team has already won the most regular season wins in program history (27). The record for most overall wins in a season is 28 recorded by the 2015-16 squad.
Yet, it will take three more wins for UCI to advance to the big dance. The Anteaters only other trip to the tournament came in 2015 when they defeated Hawaii 67-58 in the Big West Tournament championship game.
“We accept to get to the NCAA Tournament we need to win the Big West Tournament,” Turner said.
“If we approach this as having an opportunity to accomplish something special and historic here at Irvine and we go for it, I think we will play well. If we look at the other side of that coin and approach it as what we miss out on then it will negatively impact us. That’s the nature of human thinking. I think when we faced the toughest situations this year, specifically on the road, that’s when we’ve bound together best.
“We have to do that again now in the tournament and we embrace that challenge.”
UCI will be facing a UC Riverside team that it handled twice during the regular season. The Anteaters defeated Riverside 82-64 on Jan. 24 at the Bren Center and 68-47 March 2 at Riverside.
“We definitely know that it’s a new season and that everybody starts fresh now,” Turner said. “Riverside is a capable team. We know that and we have had success against them a couple of times.
“We game plan individually for each opponent and we have different things that we stress to our team and how we want to play each time we play someone. We’ve gotten a good look at them a couple times and we will continue to adjust, just as we know they will. I have confidence that we can adapt to that and a lot of the things that we want to do against them will remain consistent.”
Besides Turner’s coach of the year award, his third, the Anteaters earned a number of all-conference honors:
–Jonathan Galloway made history for the Anteaters when he became the first three-time recipient Big West Defensive Player of the Year. Galloway was also named all-conference for the first time.
Galloway is UCI’s all-time career leading rebounder.
-Elston Jones was named the best sixth man in the conference.
-Max Hazzard earned second team honors and Evan Leonard and Tommy Rutherford received honorable mention recognition.
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
Thursday, March 14 – Quarterfinals (ESPN3)
#2 UC Santa Barbara vs. #7 CSUN, Noon
#3 Cal State Fullerton vs. #6 UC Davis, 2:30 p.m.
#1 UC Irvine vs. #8 UC Riverside, 6 p.m.
#4 Hawaii vs. #5 Long Beach State, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, March 15 – Semifinals (ESPNU)
*Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed, 6:30 p.m.
Other two quarterfinal winners – 9 p.m.
Saturday, March 16 – Championship (ESPN2)
Two semifinal winners, 9 p.m.
*Will be tape delayed and will air at the conclusion of the 9 p.m. semifinal. Both semifinal games will be available live on ESPN3
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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