The frustration continues for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team, which again was denied a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Hayden Gray had 22 points (six 3-pointers) and top-seeded UC San Diego held off second-seeded UCI, 75-61, in the Big West Tournament championship game on Saturday night in Henderson, Nevada.
The win sends the Tritons to the NCAA Tournament in their first year of eligibility and denies the Anteaters, who were looking to make their third trip to the Big Dance and their first since 2019.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for UCSD (30-4), which beat UCI (28-6) for the second time in three meetings season and won the eight-team Big West Tournament in its first try. Gray shot 6 for 7 from 3-point range as the Tritons went 12 for 29 from behind the arc and shot 49% overall.
Justin Hohn had 18 points and five rebounds to lead UCI, which shot just 35% from the field and just 8 for 29 from 3-point range. Devin Tillis added 12 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, and Bent Leuchten had 10 points and seven rebounds.
UCI has been the most consistently successful program in the Big West Conference for more than a decade but has just two trips to the NCAA Tournament to show for it (2015, 2019).
The Anteaters have won the Big West regular-season title seven of the past 11 years and have 10 20-win seasons in 15 years under Coach Russell Turner, but the conference tournament has been their trouble spot.
UCI, the runner-up to UCSD in the regular season, has won just once in its past five appearances in the Big West championship game and was upset in the semifinals as the tournament’s top seed in 2023 and 2024.
UCSD will learn the opponent, site and location for its first-round game when the 68-team bracket is revealed during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday at 3 p.m. PT (CBS, Ch. 2). The Tritons could also be placed into one of the First Four games that will be played Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio.
UCI will find out of it is selected for the NIT or another postseason tournament later Sunday.
Much more to come on this story.