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Big West NIT History
IRVINE, Calif. -- No. 1 Seed UC Irvine earned an 81-77 overtime win over UAB in the quarterfinals of the 2025 National Invitational Tournament (NIT), Wednesday night at Bren Events Center.
With the win, the Anteaters improve to 31-6 on the year and advance to the final site of the tournament, held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. UC Irvine will play No. 2 seed North Texas on Tuesday, April 1 at 4 p.m. PT. UCI has the opportunity to become the second Big West team to win the NIT. Fresno State won the NIT in 1983, when the Bulldogs were still part of the conference.
The Anteaters trailed for the majority of the first half and went into the locker room down by five points, 36-31, at the end of 20 minutes.
Both teams would go back-and-forth in a wild second half, as the score would be tied seven times. With UCI down by two points in the closing moments of regulation,
Devin Tillis made a layup with 17 seconds remaining to force overtime.
Tillis came up huge again in the extra period, hitting a game-tying 3-pointer with 1:23 on the clock. On the next possession,
Bent Leuchten made a layup that would give the Anteaters the lead for good.
Four Anteaters scored in double figures with Tillis (22 points, 11 rebounds) and Leuchten (18 points, 10 rebounds) recording double-doubles. Jurian Dixon pitched in 16 and Myles Che had 13 points.