UH Vs. UCI (3/14/26) Big West Tournament Championship

They hit pay dirt!

The number two seed University of Hawaiʻi Men’s Basketball team fought hard and hit the jackpot in Henderson, NV with a win, 71-64, over the number one seed UC Irvine Anteaters to win the Credit Union 1 Big West Tournament Championship at the Lee’s Family Forum on Saturday! It was the first time since 2016 that UH had won the Big West Tournament!

Isaac Johnson, the All-Tournament Most Valuable Player, led the ‘Bows with 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting and chipped in seven rebounds and three of UH’s 10 total blocks. Harry Rouhliadeff and Dre Bullock each added 15 with Rouhliadeff getting 12 rebounds for a double-double to Bullock’s seven! Isaiah Kerr added 10 points off the bench, and Hunter Erickson dished out a game-high eight assists despite scoring just three.

Jurian Dixon led the Anteaters with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Kyle Evans was next with 13 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Derin Saran also added 13 himself, and five rebounds; Andre Henry came off the bench for 12 points.

Irvine scored the first four points of the game, but UH’s Isaac Finlinson kickstarted what was a 13-4 run to tie an early 13-8 lead by the halfway point.

UH continued to play efficient defense, but Irvine did not go down without a fight. UH built its lead to eight off a Johnson triple with 6:51 to go.

Irvine came back and took the lead off of two Evans free throws, 28-27, with 2:22 to go.

UH’s Kerr stepped up and made a couple of driving layups to put UH back up, 31-28, with 1:21 to go.

Irvine’s Jovon Jester Jr. would make a layup with 27 seconds left, but Saran missed a triple at the buzzer to end the first half with UH up one, 31-30!

Irvine wasted little time to take the lead in the second half and did so off a Dixon triple under 30 seconds in!

Both teams remained close with each other, but Irvine had a hard time attaining the lead.

With 17:21 to go, Bullock gave UH back the lead for good, 37-36, off of two made free throws following a foul on UCI’s Akiva Mcbirney-Griffin.

Irvine tied the score at 44-44 after Jester went 1-of-2 at the free throw line off a Yacine Toumi foul, but UH answered that challenge.

Kerr buried back-to-back triples to give UH a 50-46 lead with 11:46 remaining!

Irvine came back to tie the score once again, 50-50, off a Dixon jumper, but UH’s Johnson ignited a 7-0 UH run with a second chance layup! The run was punctuated on an Erickson triple with 8:45 to go!

Irvine tried to make a final push to cause an upset and got within two, 66-64, off an Evans layup with 38 seconds left; ultimately, that Evans layup was Irvine’s second and final field goal of the game, as Irvine missed 11 of their final 13 field goals to end the game.

Bullock added a lot of flare for UH with a windmill slam dunk, and Rouhliadeff went 1-of-2 at the free throw line with 10 seconds left! Rouhliadeff got his own rebound off the missed second free throw to end the game!

UH improves to 24-8 overall and will learn of their opponent and destination when the NCAA Selection Show airs on Sunday, Mar. 15 at 12 pm HST.