UC Riverside men’s basketball head coach Mike Magpayo is the recipient of the Joe B. Hall award, announced CollegeInsider.com on Thursday.
The Joe B. Hall award is presented annually to the top first-year coach in Division I college basketball. A longtime Kentucky assistant, Hall was given the task of following the legendary Adolph Rupp at the school. In his first season, Hall finished 20-8, won the SEC and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals. Hall coached the Wildcats from 1972-85, winning 297 games and the National Championship in 1978.
Magpayo, the first Division I men’s head coach of Asian descent, led the Highlanders to a historically successful 2020-21 season.
• Team finished 14-8 overall, the .636 winning percentage tops in the program’s 20-year Division I history.
• Posted 8-4 Big West record to place third in league standings. Third place finish and No. 3 seed in conference tournament are both program bests.
• The eight Big West wins ties the UCR D-I record shared by the 2008-09 squad (8-8). This year’s team reached the eight win mark in four fewer games.
• The Highlanders earned a first round bye for the first time in the Big West Tournament.
• Led UCR to the Big West Tournament semifinals for just the second time in school history after the Highlanders defeated No. 6 seed Hawai‘i in the quarterfinals. UCR’s only other semifinal appearance was in 2011.
Magpayo, the architect of the one of the nation’s top defenses under former Highlander head coach David Patrick in 2019-20 when the team won a school Division I record 17 games, continued to harass opposing teams throughout this year’s campaign.
UCR ranked No. 28 nationally in scoring defense (63.6 PPG) and No. 23 in field goal percentage defense (.402). UCR also led the Big West in three-point field goal percentage defense (.318).
UCR went 7-1 when holding opponents to less than 60 points.
Offensively, the Highlanders canned a conference-best 201 three pointers in 22 games, an average of 9.1 per game. Seven different Highlanders made at least 18 threes for the season.
Four players received Big West postseason awards under Magpayo. Senior Arinze Chidom became just the fourth player in school history – and the first since 2015 – to earn first team all-conference accolades. Senior Jock Perry and sophomore Zyon Pullin were named All-Big West Honorable Mention. It was the first time in school three Highlanders garnered all-conference recognition.
In addition, senior Dominick Pickett claimed the Big West’s Best Hustle Player award.
It has been a whirlwind year for Magpayo, who on Nov. 25 flew back from northern California on the night of his head coaching debut to be with his wife for the birth of the couple’s first child.