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Schueler for 2
What 2 Watch 4
Four Big West teams have separated themselves from the pack in conference play. Two squads are still unscathed in UC Irvine (5-0) and UC San Diego (5-0). Right behind those two are UC Davis (5-1) and CSUN (4-1).
The Anteaters and Tritons will collide on Thursday in a battle of the conference’s two unbeaten teams. Both teams come in with five-game win streaks. UC Santa Barbara (3-3), the preseason favorites, have won three straight and will head to fourth-place CSUN, the league’s surprising upstart team. Long Beach State (3-3) will host Hawai’i (2-3) in a game that will be locally televised on Spectrum SportsNet at 7 p.m. PT.
The other two contests on Thursday’s schedule are UC Riverside (2-4) at Cal State Bakersfield (0-5) and UC Davis at Cal State Fullerton (1-4).
Saturday’s schedule features UC Irvine at UC Davis in a matchup of two of the top four teams in the league. The Anteaters came away with a 74-71 overtime win the last time the two squads met. The slate will also feature Cal State Fullerton at UC Santa Barbara, locally televised on Spectrum SportsNet at 1 p.m. PT.
The other three games on Saturday are Hawai’i at UC San Diego, CSUN at UC Riverside, and Cal Poly (0-6) at Cal State Bakersfield.
All Big West basketball games are set to air on ESPN+. Check listings for more information and a complete game schedule.
Weekly Highlights
Four teams went undefeated in week three of conference play.
UC San Diego took care of Long Beach State at home, 88-74, on Thursday and Cal Poly on the road, 86-61, on Saturday. Bryce Pope averaged 21.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the two wins and was named The Big West Player of the Week.
UC Santa Barbara escaped with a 66-64 overtime home victory over Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday. Ajay Mitchell compiled 22 points and three assists, including a jumper with two seconds left in regulation and the pass to Jason Fontenot II’s game-winning bucket in overtime. Two days later, the Gauchos downed visiting Long Beach State 85-76 in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. Mitchell amassed 26 points and five assists in the win.
UC Davis defeated CSUN 95-75 at home on Thursday with three players scoring over 20 points in Kane Milling (28), Elijah Pepper (20) and Ty Johnson (20). On Saturday, the Aggies needed overtime to defeat Cal State Bakersfield at home, 78-71. Johnson and Pepper had 22 and 18 points, respectively.
UC Irvine won its lone game of the week with a 60-50 win at Hawai’i on Thursday. Pierre Crockrell II led the Anteaters with 16 points and three assists.
Accomplished Anteaters
UC Irvine is 12-5 overall and 5-0 through three weeks of conference play. The Anteaters’ success has come from sharing the ball, leading The Big West in assists averaging 16.7 per contest. Senior guard Pierre Crockrell II dishes out a league-leading 6.0 assists per game, while senior guard Justin Hohn (14.0), freshman guard Derin Saran (11.1), junior forward Devin Tillis (9.7) and senior guard Andre Henry (9.5) are the top scorers of a balanced lineup. UCI gets good production from its reserves and role players with 29.1 bench points per game, which ranks 26th in the nation. The Anteaters are first in the league in scoring margin (+10.5) and second in field goal percentage (.481), 3-point percentage (.371), scoring defense (66.5), and field goal percentage defense (.399).
Triton Tide
UC San Diego is on a five-game win streak to improve to 11-6 overall and 5-0 in Big West play. The Tritons top the league in 3-pointers made per game (9.1) and free throw percentage (.763), and second in scoring margin (+10.4). Byrce Pope ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 18.7 points per contest. Junior swingman Tyler McGhie (14.4), junior forward Francis Nwaokorie (12.5), junior swingman Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (12.1) and junior guard Hayden Gray (10.0) all average double digits in scoring for UCSD.
Red Hot Chili Pepper
UC Davis is off to a 5-1 record in conference play thanks to senior guard Elijah Pepper who leads The Big West in scoring averaging 21.6 points per game. Pepper dropped 21 points against UC Merced on Dec. 21 to become the all-time leading points scorer in UC Davis program history and currently has 1,969 career points. Junior guard Ty Johnson averages 16 points and 3.6 assists per game.
Marvelous Matadors
First-year head coach Andy Newman has CSUN off to a 13-4 overall record and a 4-1 conference record. The Matadors specialize in defense and rebounding, ranking first in the league in field goal percentage defense (.392), 3-point percentage defense (.294), rebounds per game (42.5), offensive rebounds per game (12.9), defensive rebounds per game (29.6) and rebound margin (+10.6). CSUN is nationally ranked in the top 25 in those statistics excluding offensive rebounds per game and 3-point percentage defense. Graduate forward De’Sean Allen-Eikens is the top scorer for the Matadors, averaging a conference fifth-best 18.6 points per game. Junior guard Dionte Bostick (15.4), junior forward Keonte Jones (12.8) and senior guard Gianni Hunt (10.5) average double digits in scoring as well.
Big West 1K Club
10 Big West players have scored more than 1,000 career points in the NCAA. Elijah Pepper of UC Davis is just 31 points away from becoming the seventh player in conference history to surpass the 2,000-point milestone in The Big West.
• Elijah Pepper, UCD 1,969
• Bryce Pope, UCSD 1,340
• Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, UCSD 1,266
• De’Sean Allen-Eikens, CSUN 1,213
• Marcus Tsohonis, LBSU 1,203
• Ajay Mitchell, UCSB 1,167
• Noel Coleman, UH 1,095
• Dylan Thoerner, UCI 1,046
• Messiah Thompson, LBSU 1,043
• DJ Brewton, CSUF 1,039
Lou Henson Mid-Season Watch List
Three Big West men's basketball players were named to the Lou Henson Award mid-season Watch List:
• De'Sean Allen-Eikens, CSUN
• Ajay Mitchell, UC Santa Barbara
• Elijah Pepper, UC Davis
The Lou Henson Award is an award given annually by CollegeInsider.com to the most outstanding mid-major men's college basketball player in NCAA Division I competition.
Preseason Prognostications
UC Santa Barbara tops The Big West men’s basketball preseason poll for the third year in succession, having garnered nine of the 11 first-place votes by league head coaches.
The Gauchos received nine first-place votes for a total of 92 points. Last season UC Santa Barbara went 27-8 overall, won a share of the regular season title with a 15-5 conference record and were victorious in The Big West Championship, earning the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Gauchos were defeated in the first round of the tournament by No. 3 seed Baylor.
UC Santa Barbara is expected to be led by preseason All-Big West selection Ajay Mitchell. The junior guard from Ans, Belgium is a two-time All-Big West honoree and was last season’s Player of the Year after averaging 16.3 points and a league-leading 5.1 assists.
The remaining two first-place nods went to Long Beach State for a total of 82 points. Hawai’i (80), 2022-23 co-regular season champion UC Irvine (75) and UC Davis (69) fill out the top five. Cal State Fullerton (58), last year’s championship runner-up, was selected sixth, followed by UC Riverside (45), Cal State Bakersfield (36), UC San Diego (31), CSUN (18) and Cal Poly (12) to round out the poll.
The Long Beach State duo of junior forward Aboubacar Traore, an All-Big West Honorable Mention selection last year, and junior forward Lassina Traore, the reigning Big West Newcomer of the Year and First Teamer, get nods onto the preseason team.
Hawai’i senior guard JoVon McClanahan earns a spot on the preseason team after averaging 11.3 points and 3.5 assists per game last season that culminated into an All-Big West Second Team selection.
UC Davis senior guard Elijah Pepper claims territory on the preseason team after being the leading scorer in The Big West last season, putting up 22.5 points.
Triton senior guard Bryce Pope takes the final spot on this year’s preseason team. Pope was an All-Big West Second Team selection and the second-leading scorer in the conference averaging 18.4 points per game last season.
2023-24 Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll and Team
The Big West + Spectrum SportsNet
The Big West announced a slate of 15 men’s and women’s basketball contests to air on Spectrum SportsNet during the 2023-24 season.
The package includes five women’s games featuring eight squads. UC Irvine and UC Davis tip it off on Jan. 6 at 3 p.m. as part of Big West doubleheader. UC Santa Barbara hosts Cal State Bakersfield Feb. 3 at 1 p.m., and the Aggies travel to Long Beach State Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Closing the year with a pair of men’s/women’s doubleheaders, Cal State Fullerton hosts UC San Diego on Feb. 17 while the Beach welcome in Hawai’i on Feb. 24, with both games slated for 3 p.m. starts. Read more >>>
2022-23 Postseason Rewind
No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara defeated No. 4 seed Cal State Fullerton 72-62 in the 2023 Big West Championship title game to win its second crown in three seasons and fifth overall at The Dollar Loan Center.
Ajay Mitchell scored 20 points and dished out four assists in the title game to lead the Gauchos and was named the Tournament MVP. Teammate Miles Norris averaged 13.3 points over three games and was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Dawson Baker (UC Irvine), Flynn Cameron (UC Riverside), Tory San Antonio (Cal State Fullerton) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (Cal State Fullerton) rounded the All-Tournament Team.
No. 8 seed Cal State Bakersfield defeated No. 9 seed CSUN 61-47 and No. 10 seed Cal Poly upset No. 7 seed Long Beach State 88-68 in the first round.
In the qurterfinals, top-seeded UC Irvine cruised past the Roadrunners 75-51, Cal State Fullerton outlasted No. 5 seed Hawai’i 62-60 in overtime, UC Santa Barbara bested the Mustangs 64-54, and No. 3 seed UC Riverside downed No. 6 seed UC Davis 68-52.
In two competitive semifinals, the Titans defeated the Anteaters 83-80 and the Gauchos topped the Highalnders 92-87 to set up the title game matchup.
2023 Big West Men's Basketball Championship
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