The race for the regular-season crown is a multi-team battle with two weeks remaining on the schedule. Closing out the slate with a final ESPN wildcard contest on Saturday, March 7, league-leading UC Irvine hosts UC Davis on ESPNU. Tipoff from the Bren Events Center has been adjusted to 5 p.m. to account for the television schedule.
UC Irvine (18-10, 11-5 BW) is in a three-way tie for first in The Big West standings with matching league marks with Hawai’i and CSUN in the penultimate week of competition before teams converge on Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev., for the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men’s Basketball Championship. Both UCI and UCD are firmly in the field with seven of the eight teams determined with every seed still in flux.
The Anteaters, who enter the weekend ranked No. 20 in the Feb. 23 edition of the College Insider Mid-Major Madness Top 25, are one of the top defensive teams in the nation. Nationally, UC Irvine ranks third in field goal percentage defense (37.8), fourth in blocks per game (6.0) and ninth in defensive rebounds per game (28.75). Senior forward Kyle Evans is The Big West and nation’s leader in blocks with 96 total on the season, for an average of 3.43 per game. Evans also contributes 12.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per outing. Sophomore guard Jurian Dixon, the reigning Big West Freshman of the Year, leads UC Irvine in scoring (15.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.3 APG) with junior guard Derin Saran (11.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 3.4 APG) rounding out the double-digit scorers.
This week, Anteaters play crucial games at CSUN (18-10, 11-5) on Thursday before an ESPN2 contest on Saturday. UCI is set to play host to UC Santa Barbara (17-11, 10-7 BW) on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in another contest sure to have implications on The Big West standings.
UC Davis (17-11) is 1.5 games behind the trio of league leaders with a 10-7 conference mark, knotted with the Gauchos and Cal State Fullerton. The Aggies put pressure on the ball and are ranked 19th nationally in turnovers forced per game (14.86) and are the conference leaders in steals per game (8.0). UC Davis is led by junior guard Connor Sevilla (13.7 PPG), a lethal shooter who leads the league in 3-point (.426) and free throw (.894) percentages. Junior guard Nils Cooper (12.3 PPG, 4.6 RPG) and redshirt freshman guard Marcus Wilson (11.3 PPG, 4.0 APG) are major contributors for the Aggies.
UC Davis takes on Hawai’i (19-7, 11-5 BW) this Thursday at home in their lone contest of the week with a road game at Long Beach State dotting the schedule on March 5 leading into the tussle with the Anteaters.
Historically, UCI holds a 32-20 advantage in the all-time series against UC Davis. Back on Jan. 17 in the season’s first meeting between the two, the Aggies defeated the Anteaters 75-72 at the University Credit Union Center in Davis.
Later in the night following the conclusion of the wildcard matchup on March 7, the bracket will be set for the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Men’s Basketball Championship, with the top eight teams heading to Henderson to compete for the league’s automatic bid to compete in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
ESPN Networks is airing every game of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Basketball Championships, including three linear men’s basketball matchups. The first Big West men’s semifinal matchup on Friday, March 13 will air live on ESPNU on 6 p.m., with the second semifinal slated for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff on ESPN2. The championship game on Saturday, March 14 is set for broadcast on ESPN2 at 7 o’clock, as The Big West crowns their 50th men’s basketball champion. For additional championship information, please visit BigWest.org/2026.
Along with the regular- and postseason linear ESPN Networks games, all additional Big West men’s and women’s basketball contests throughout the 2025-26 regular season and Big West Championships are slated to air digitally to subscribers on ESPN+. To sign up, please visit espn.com/watch. Hawai’i home games also air locally on Spectrum Sports.