Tipping Off
What 2 Watch 4
Six Big West squads at or above .500 after the first three weeks of non-conference play, paced by preseason favorite Hawai’i (4-0), fresh off the tournament win at the Bank of Hawai’i Classic. The Rainbow Wahine continue their season-opening homestand hosting Vermont, Lindenwood and Santa Clara.
UC Santa Barbara (4-1) heads to the CBU Classic, first taking on future league foe California Baptist while UC Davis (4-2) plays at the Tiger Turkey Tip-Off in Stockton against Jacksonville State and Milwaukee. UC Irivne (4-2) is home to host Wichita State and Colgate.
Two Power 4s are on the slate as UC San Diego (3-3) heads to Seattle to take on Washington on Friday and Cal State Bakersfield travels to Arizona on Saturday with the Roadrunners coming in as winners of their last two.
All told, at least 12 games on the schedule will air on ESPN+ with every Big West home contest appearing on ESPN+ throughout the season. Check listings for specific game information.
Last Week, Today
• UC Irvine senior Jada Wynn paced the Anteaters to the title at the Great Alaskan Shootout, earning most outstanding player with a pair of stellar performances against Bowling Green and St. Thomas. Wynn averaged 17.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals, knocking down four threes and shooting 92 percent (12-of-13) from the line.
• UC Santa Barbara’s Zoe Borter went off for a career-high 22 points on 43 percent shooting in the Gauchos’ 75-60 victory at San Jose State, their lone contest of the week after the game against Westcliff was cancelled due to limited available players on the opposing team.
• Hawai’i sophomore center Ritorya Tamilo’s season debut weekend resulted in MVP honors at the Bank of Hawai’i Classic where the ’Bows took down WCC foes LMU and Portland to capture the title. Tamilo tied a career high with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and scored the go-ahead bucket with 46 seconds left in UH’s win over the Pilots in the tournament finale.
• Makayla Rose led UC San Diego to a 55-43 home win over Air Force, putting together an all-around game with 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, all category leaders for the Tritons.
• Cal State Bakersfield’s Chrishawn Coleman averaged 18.5 points on 52 percent shooting and 4.5 rebounds as the Roadrunners claimed wins at Omaha and Wichita State. Coleman put up 25 against the Mavericks in the nine-point victory.
• Cal State Fullerton freshman Nicole Steiner secured a second career double-double in the Titans’ win at Pacific, leading all scorers with 22 points on 64 percent shooting to go along with 11 rebounds and two assists.
• Big West Player of the Week went to Cal Poly’s Vanessa McManus after the conference scoring leader averaged 28.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in losses against Eastern Washington and Southern Utah. McManus scored a career-high 34 points against Southern Utah, including the game-tying three as time expired to send the game to overtime.
Additional non-conference notables
• UC Davis set a program attendance record in their home win against Idaho, with 5,567 fans on hand.
• Title winners! UC Irvine won the Great Alaska Shootout with victories over Bowling Green and St. Thomas Nov. 21-22, with Jada Wynn named most outstanding player. Hawai’i took home the crown at the Bank of Hawai’i Classic on Nov. 21-23 as Ritorya Tamilo earned MVP honors.
The Big West in the Rankings
Preseason favorite Hawai’i is receiving votes in the latest College Insider Women’s Basketball Mid-Major Top 25 poll,. College Insider Women’s Basketball Mid-Major Top 25 poll, seeing their names in the listings in each of the first three polls.
Welcome to The Big West
New head coach at Cal State Fullerton John Bonner heads to the Titans after a Division II national runner-up season with Cal State Dominguez Hills. Bonner boasts the only two 30-win seasons in Toreros’ program history including a record 36 victories in 2024-25 and was twice named CCAA Coach of the Year.
GET TOUGH!
The Big West has announced the return of its Tough Like Tammy fundraising initiative for the 2025-26 women’s basketball season and the goal of securing a $50,000 grant from the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
The joint venture between Big West women’s basketball, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and Big West women’s basketball analyst Tammy Blackburn, has raised more than $25,000 in support life-saving research on all cancers affecting women since its inception in 2023. The effort in 2025-26 revolves around securing a $50,000 grant to assist women in underserved communities in southern California. Currently, the Tough Like Tammy program stands over 60% of the way towards reaching the goal and fans can donate today at BigWest.org/TLT. Learn more >>>
Additionally The Big West recently announced its nation-leading nine receipients of the Kay Yow Servant Leader Award, who will be sporting a jersey patch all season long for exemplifying leadership, selflessness and service in the fight against all cancers affecting women. Meet the servant leaders >>>
Hoops in Henderson
The Big West announced an enhanced agreement with Credit Union 1, the Official Credit Union, Bank and Financial Services Partner of The Big West, to become the title partner of the 2026 Big West Basketball Championships, March 11-14, 2026, at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. All-Session tickets are available now! Learn more >>>
Watch Us Work
Building on one of the most successful men’s and women’s seasons since the 1990’s, The Big West has announced that more than 350 men’s and women’s basketball games will be available nationally on the ESPN family of networks and Spectrum SportsNet during 2025-26 season. All Big West men’s and women’s basketball home games and all seven games of the Credit Union I 2026 Big West Women’s Basketball Championship will stream nationally on ESPN+. Additionally, The Big West will continue its regional partnership with Spectrum SportsNet for the fifth consecutive season. Five women’s contests are part of the 14-game Spectrum SportsNet package with Long Beach State, UC San Diego, Hawai’i, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly each slated to appear. Learn more >>>
Back for Bold Week
Continuing a bold scheduling strategy into the 2025-26 season, The Big West will open its 11-week true round robin basketball slate with Bold Week, taking place Dec. 4-6, 2025.
Both men’s and women’s basketball will tip-off conference action the first week of December, providing access to games before the holiday season to improve both the fan and student-athlete experience while adding early season intrigue and ensuring conference weeks feature a consistent Thursday/Saturday schedule format.
2024-25 Season Rewind
The Big West is coming off a season of parity where four teams reached the 20-win mark: Hawai’i (22-10), UC Irvine (21-10), UC Davis (21-12) and UC San Diego (20-16). The Big West Championship was won by No. 4 seed UC San Diego, who bested third-seeded UC Davis in the finale from Henderson. Regular-season champion Hawai’i was nipped at the buzzer in the semifinals, dropping their game to the eventual champions.
Winning both The Big West men’s and women’s titles to earn NCAA qualification in their first year of eligibility, UC San Diego is the first school in NCAA Division I history to accomplish that feat.
Preseason Prognostications
In yet another vote with the slimmest of margins, Hawai’i has been selected to win the 2025-26 Big West women’s basketball crown in a vote of The Big West’s 11 head coaches. It is the fourth consecutive season that the Rainbow Wahine have landed atop the preseason voting.
Hawai’i received 91 total points and four first-place votes after last year’s regular-season championship. UC Irvine, picked to finish second in the polling in consecutive seasons, landed just one point shy of UH, compiling 90 points with four first-place votes. UC Davis and UC San Diego are slotted in third and fourth, also earning the top nods on the ballot in what looks to be a four-team race to the crown.
Five of the seven Preseason All-Big West Team selections play for the top quartet, with Hawai’i the only team to record a pair of picks. Typically a six-person team, ties in the voting warranted a seventh slot be awarded, also showcasing the projected parity in not only the team predictions but the expected individual play across The Big West.
Last season, UH finished the campaign with a 22-10 overall record and a 16-4 mark in Big West action. After falling in the semifinal round of the 2025 Big West Women’s Basketball Championship, presented by Credit Union 1 to eventual victors UC San Diego, the ’Bows saw themselves in the field of the NCAA’s WBIT for consecutive seasons and a fourth-straight national postseason. Two Rainbow Wahine find themselves on the Preseason All-Big West Team in lone returning senior Imani Perez and reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Ritorya Tamilo.
Skylar Burke (UC Santa Barbara), Erin Condron (UC San Diego), Shelley Duchemin (UC Riverside), Hunter Hernandez (UC Irvine) and Megan Norris (UC Davis) round out the Preseason Coaches Team. See the complete poll and read more about the team here >>>
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