OREM, Utah — Protect the paint. It’s been the unofficial motto of the UC Irvine men’s basketball program since Coach Russell Turner arrived in 2010.
That’s what made the Anteaters’ 79-72 loss to Utah Valley on Wednesday night so stunning.
Utah Valley outscored UCI 50-30 in the paint and held a 43-35 rebounding advantage to beat the visitors at their own game in a Cancun Challenge opener at UVU.
The Anteaters, who trailed by as much as 12 points in the first half, battled back to tie the score with six minutes left but could not hold off the Wolverines from there. Utah Valley went on a 7-1 run to push its lead back to six points with 4:09 left. UCI got within 71-67 on a Jovan Jester Jr. basket, but the Wolverines scored the next six points for a 77-67 advantage with 1:25 remaining and closed out the win from there.
“We got beat tonight, beat in a way that we aren’t used to our program getting beat, being dominated in the paint,” Turner said. “Give Utah Valley credit. They played at a high level, much like we did in our last home game. They were the better team tonight. Our guys are as disappointed as I am. We will use tonight’s experience to figure out how to get better. We have a long way to go, but we will get better.”
Jurian Dixon had 18 points and five rebounds to lead the Anteaters (3-2). Jester had 11 points and five assists, Elijah Chol had a career-best 10 points in just just under 10 minutes, and Kyle Evans had eight points and a team-high and season-best 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Harrison Carrington, Tama Isaac and Derin Saran each added seven points on a night when UCI shot 39.7% from the field (25 for 63). The Anteaters were 6 for 21 from 3-point range and 16 for 21 at the free-throw line.
Isaac Davis had a career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with five assists for UVU (3-2), which shot 65.4% from the floor in the second half (17 for 26) and 51.7% for the night (31 for 60). Trevan Leonhardt had a career-high 15 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists, while Hayden Welling scored 14 points and Jackson Holcombe had 12 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals.
UCI fell behind from the outset as UVU made its intentions clear. The Wolverines scored the game’s first 10 points, most of it on layups, then stretched their lead to 16-4 less than seven minutes into the game.
A Chol 3-pointer and a Dixon pull-up jumper cut the margin to five points late in the first half and UCI trailed 31-27 at the intermission.
Isaac hit a 3-pointer to begin the second half and Chol eventually gave the Anteaters their first lead of the night at 45-44 on a three-point play with 13:10 remaining. The teams took turns surging from there, with a Carrington hook shot and three Isaac free throws tying the score at 58-all with 7:26 left, setting up the tight finish.
A Jester 3-pointer with 1:10 left proved to be the Anteaters’ last gasp.
UP NEXT
UCI returns home to host Northern Iowa on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Bren Events Center before resuming the Cancun Challenge with games against New Mexico State and South Dakota State next week (Nov. 25-26) at the Hard Rock Cancun Riviera Maya.
