What 2 Watch 4
Five contests on this week’s docket are sure to include teams that will be making their way to the postseason as squads prepare for the penultimate week of the regular season. Thursday’s big matchup comes on O’ahu as Hawai’i (16-10, 10-6 BW) hosts UC Davis (21-7, 14-3 BW) as the two enter the game on a hot streak. The contest is one of two Play 4 Kay games scheduled to wrap up the month of celebration and awareness.
Saturday’s pink-inspired matchup is at CSUN (9-16, 5-11 BW) as the Matadors host UC Riverside (9-18, 7-10 BW) still looking for one more victory to clinch their place in the bracket. Also of note, league-leading UC Irvine (23-4, 14-2) heads to UC Santa Barbara (18-8, 10-7 BW) in the final game of the season’s Spectrum SportsNet television package.
Every Big West home contest appears on ESPN+ throughout the season. Check listings for specific game information.
The Big West in the Rankings
Two Big West schools are listed in the latest College Insider Women’s Basketball Mid-Major Top 25 poll, with UC Irvine occupying 19th and UC Davis receiving votes in the latest poll.
Four teams and four players find themselves in the top 10 of the NCAA Division I women’s basketball statistical rankings. Some notables include:
• UC Irvine - fifth in free throw percentage (79.6) and seventh in both free throws per game (17.04) and field goal percentage defense (34.9)
• Cal State Fullerton is second the country in steals per game (15.8) and turnovers forced per game (23.37) and third in offensive rebounds (17.9); Titan Cristina Jones rates second in offensive rebounds (5.0) and fifth in steals average (3.85).
• UC Riverside’s Hannah Wickstrom puts up 23.5 points per game to lead The Big West and rate fifth nationally.
• UC Davis’ Megan Norris has recorded 18 double-doubles (3rd), while collecting 13.2 rebounds per game (3rd) and a nation’s best 10.1 defensive boards.
Hoopin’ in Henderson - Bracket Watch
All but one place in the field of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Basketball Championship bracket is secured, but every seed is up for grabs. The final place has opportunities to be secured this week with everyone still jostling for position - and for the regular-season crown with five teams still mathematically in the mix heading into the week. Learn more about the Championship at bigwest.org/2026.
Last Week, Today
Two more teams entered The Big West postseason, punching their tickets to Henderson. The trio of Hawai’i, UC Davis and UC Irvine extended their winning streaks while seven squads recorded at least one victory last week. Some notable highlights include:
UC Irvine (23-4, 14-2 BW)
Riding a six-game winning streak, the Anteaters took down Long Beach State before a marquee battle for the top of the standings at UC San Diego. UCI came away with the comeback victory, trailing by 10 in the third before senior Hunter Hernandez took over with seven points, one rebound and a steal over the final 4:34 to help close the gap to one, tallying 11 of the team’s 20 points in the period. Hernandez capped the game with 18 points and five boards as the Anteaters secured the 70-68 final decision to leap back to the top of the league standings. UCI is on the hunt for a top-two seed in The Big West Championship field for the third straight season, with four games to play.
UC Davis (21-7, 14-3 BW)
After a pair of home wins, the Aggies are riding a five-game winning streak and stand in second in The Big West heading down the homestretch. Sophomore Ryann Bennett helped lead the team in both efforts with 16 points, six assists and three steals against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday. In Saturdays win over UC Riverside, Bennet added 19 with four boards and shot a combined 63 percent from the field (10-of-16) on the week.
Hawai’i (16-10, 10-6 BW)
Preseason favorite Rainbow Wahine picked up a pair of road wins, downing Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara in the trip to the Central Coast to extend the string to four consecutive. Senior Imani Perez turned in a remarkably efficient week from distance while scoring 14 points in both contests. Perez was a combined 9-for-14 (64.3%) from the field and went 7-for-10 from three-point range, highlighted by a career-high four triples in just five attempts in San Luis Obispo on Thursday. With Saturday’s victory over the Gauchos, UH jumped up to fifth in the league standings.
Cal State Fullerton (16-11, 12-5 BW)
The Titans finished the week with a split, with a narrow road loss a UC Davis before returning home to pick up a three-point victory against Cal State Bakersfield. Sophomore Cristina Jones picked up a second career 20-20 game against the Roadrunners, finishing with 21 points and 21 rebounds - including nine of the offensive variety. Also finishing with four steals, Jones broke the Cal State Fullerton season record, now standing at 100 acts of thievery on the year. The 20-20 game stands as just the sixth in Titans’ program history.
CSUN (9-16, 5-11 BW)
CSUN sophomore Jite Gbemuotor was the leader for the Matadors in a split week, averaging 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. In Saturday’s 10-point victory over Long Beach State Gbemuotor finished with a seventh career double-double with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting with 10 boards, three assists and a pair of steals in 28 minutes of action.
UC Santa Barbara (18-8, 10-7 BW)
Zoe Borter led the Gauchos in a split weekend, shooting .429 from the field and an impressive of 7-of-15 mark from three-point range. In the 16-point win at CSUN, Borter finished with a sixth 20-point game of the season, powered by four triples and 50 percent shooting.
UC Riverside (9-18, 7-10 BW)
The Big West’s leading scorer Hannah Wickstrom powered the Highlanders a 1-1 road week with 27.5 points and 8.00 rebounds per game. Wickstrom finished with 24 points on 50 percent shooting with nine boards in Thursday’s win at Cal State Bakersfield before pouring in 31 at UC Davis. The sophomore from Melbourne, Australia is averaging 23.5 points per game, good for fifth in NCAA Division I.
League Look-Around - 2025-26 Moments & Milestones
• UC Irvine set a school record with a 16-game winning streak that spanned over two months of competition before a narrow loss against UC San Diego on Jan. 24 to stop the string and hand the Anteaters their first home loss of the season.
• Cal State Fullerton surpassed the 10-win league mark for the first time since the 1990-91 season when the team went 14-4 in conference play and 25-8 overall. The Titans are guaranteed at least a .500 mark in Big West play for just the third time in the last two decades (2006-07, ’19-20).
Non-Conference Notables
• UC Davis set a program attendance record in their home win against Idaho, with 5,567 fans on hand.
• Cal State Fullerton broke a 34-year-old program scoring record on Dec. 28, downing La Sierra 110-22 to best the previous high point tally (108) set on March 7 1991.
• Cal State Bakersfield’s 85 points scored in a win over Eastern Washington on Dec. 20 stands as the most points against a Division I opponent since the 2018-19 season.
• 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. UC Santa Barbara took home the hardware at the CBU Invitational with wins over the host Lancers and Chattanooga over Thanksgiving week.
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.
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. The top eight teams will converge in the four-day event to vie for the league’s automatic berth into the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. Single- and All-Session tickets to see The Big West in the Las Vegas Valley are available now! BigWest.org/26bkbtix.
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 2026 Credit Union I 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 >>>
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.
Celebrating Officials' Appreciation Week
As part of the celebration of Officials' Appreciation Week, Big West Women’s Basketball Coordinator of Officials Violet Palmer sat down with Chloe Clark to reflect on a remarkable career, to date. Palmer shared some of the steps in the journey from Compton to Cal Poly Pomona as a Division II national champion. Trading playing shoes and layup lines for the Broncos for the whistle and running the baselines on professional courts around the country, Palmer reached the pinnacle of the profession and is now training others to follow in those footsteps. Read more >>>
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GET TOUGH!
Continuing the annual fundraising initiative in The Big West, 2025-26’s Tough Like Tammy campaign has a goal of securing a $50,000 grant from the Kay Yow Cancer Fund to assist women in underserved communities in southern California.
Currently, the joint venture between Big West women’s basketball, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and Big West women’s basketball analyst Tammy Blackburn stands over 92% of the way towards reaching the goal, with $23,017 raised of $25,000.
Throughout the month of February teams will “Play for Kay” as part of National Breast Cancer Prevention Month.
Those games are:
Saturday Feb. 7
UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine
Cal State Fullerton at Cal State Bakersfield
CSUN at UC Riverside
Saturday, Feb. 14
UC Davis at Long Beach State
Thursday Feb. 19
Hawai’i at Cal Poly
Cal State Fullerton at UC Davis
Saturday, Feb. 21
Hawai’i at UC Santa Barbara
Cal State Bakersfield at Cal State Fullerton
UC Irvine at UC San Diego
Thursday, Feb 26
UC Davis at Hawai’i
Saturday, Feb. 28
UC Riverside at CSUN
Fans can donate today at BigWest.org/TLT. |