The top two teams in the preseason polling, the game between current league-leader and preseason favorite UC Irvine and predicted runner-up UC Santa Barbara has been selected for a national television audience. The contest will air on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. PT from the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif.
The first of two scheduled meetings on the docket, the rematch in Santa Barbara is set for Saturday, March 8 to close out the regular-season schedule.
The Anteaters (20-3, 10-1 Big West) were just the third team to reach the 20-win mark this season and match the 2000-01 squad as the fastest to accomplish the feat. Riding a 22-game home winning streak, UCI is led by the play of senior
Bent Leuchten, whose 11 double-doubles paces the conference and rates seventh nationally. Leuchten averages 15.7 points and a league-high 9.2 rebounds per game with a bevy of talented teammates making big contributions.
Devin Tillis supplies 13.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while connecting 54.6 percent of the time.
Myles Che and
Justin Hohn each add over a dozen points per contest. UCI rates third nationally from the free throw line at 80.7 percent while averaging 17.4 points per contest from the stripe.
UCI has taken the last three meetings in the series and four of the last seven against UCSB.
Meanwhile, UC Santa Barbara (14-8, 6-5 Big West) leads the conference in efficiency, shooting 47.3 percent from the floor and connecting on 38.6 of their attempts from distance, 15th in the nation. The trio of
Stephan Swenson (12.9 ppg),
Kenny Pohto (12.0 ppg) and
Jason Fontenet II (10.4 ppg) each average double figure scoring with
Cole Anderson’s sharpshooting from beyond the arc pacing the nation, connecting on an eye-popping 53.7 percent pace.
Prior to the meeting between the Anteaters and Gauchos, UC Irvine is set for a big clash
on ESPNU this Saturday as they welcome in second-place UC San Diego (18-4, 8-2 Big West) into the Bren Events Center, their lone game before the matchup against UCSB. Currently knotted for fifth in the league standings, the Gauchos travel to Cal State Bakersfield and welcome in Hawai’i this weekend leading up to the ESPNU contest on Feb. 13.
There is one more regular-season Big West game yet to be selected, set to to appear on ESPN2 on Saturday, March 8, which will also be chosen through a “wildcard” format. The pairing will be determined and announced at least 10 days prior to the contest.
All games in the 2025 Hercules Tires Big West Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by Credit Union 1 will be televised on ESPN+, with the two semifinals on Friday, March 14 and the championship game on Saturday, March 15 also appearing on ESPN’s linear networks. For additional championship information, please visit
BigWest.org/2025.
All Big West men’s and women’s basketball games throughout the remainder of the regular season are slated to air digitally to subscribers on ESPN+.To sign up, please visit
espn.com/watch.
About The Big West
The Big West is an NCAA Division I member with 11 members with the shared goal of empowering every student-athlete in competition and in life and uniting its university communities through championship experiences. Formed in 1969, The Big West membership consists of Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Hawai‘i, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. The Big West is united in the pursuit of boundless opportunities, enduring integrity, bold activism, fearless innovation and the pacific spirit of freedom, exploration and progress.
The Big West sponsors 21 sports at the NCAA Division I level: baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s volleyball, women’s beach volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field, men’s and women’s water polo and men's and women's swimming and diving. For more information, visit BigWest.org or follow The Big West
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