One more game
UC Irvine earns berth in NIT Championship game with gutty win over North Texas. 'Eaters to face Chattanooga in title match.
(1) UC Irvine 69, (2) North Texas 67
INDIANAPOLIS — Devin Tillis scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Anteaters (32-6) used a late surge to beat the Mean Green (27-9), advancing to the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament. Justin Hohn triggered a decisive 7-0 run with a 3-pointer with 2:07 remaining, giving UC Irvine the lead for good. North Texas went 0 for 5 from the field down the stretch before a meaningless Atin Wright 3-pointer as time expired.
Hohn, a rare graduate senior who has played his entire college career at UC Irvine, scored 12 points, making 3 of 6 three-pointers, and handed out 8 assists. Bent Leuchten scored 11 of his 14 points in the 2nd half as the ‘Eaters recovered from another slow start. UC Irvine fell behind 24-9 in the first 11-1/2 minutes, turning the ball over 7 times, before pulling even by halftime. The Anteaters won a school-record 32nd game despite having a -12 turnover differential, largely by holding North Texas to 34% shooting from the floor and out-rebounding the Mean Green 39-34.
The ‘Eaters advance to tonight’s championship game vs. Chattanooga. The Mocs (28-9) were the regular season champions of the Southern Conference and are 19-2 since Jan. 9. Chattanooga, unseeded in the NIT, won a triple overtime game at #4 seed Middle Tennessee, beat #1 seed Dayton at home and won at #3 Bradley to advance to Indianapolis. Trey Bonham led 4 double figure scorers with 23 points in an 80-73 semifinal victory over Loyola Chicago. The Mocs led the final 17:51 of the game and held the Ramblers scoreless over the final 2:37. Chattanooga is making its first major championship game appearance since the 1977 squad won the Division II National Championship.
Chattanooga is an excellent shooting team, ranked 24th in field goal percentage (.483), 53rd in 3-point percentage (.363) and 31st in free throw percentage (.769). The Mocs have an impressive assist/turnover ratio at 1.70, ranked 7th in the country, and they record an assist on 17.1 baskets per game. Chattanooga scores 79.6 points per game.
Honor Huff, a 5’10” junior guard from Brooklyn, averages 15.2 points per game and is now the national leader in made 3-pointers with 128 after making 4 of 10 vs. Loyola. Garrison Keeslar is the national leader in assist/turnover ratio at an incredible 5.38 (113 assists vs. 21 turnovers). Bonham, a 6’0” senior guard, averages 14.5 points and Bash Wieland, a 6’6” graduate guard averages 14.1 points. The Mocs hold their own on the boards despite being undersized.
It’s been quite a run for the Anteaters and for the Big West, which has placed a team in a major championship final for the first time since 1990, when UNLV won the National Championship. UC Irvine has a significant size advantage over Chattanooga, but the Mocs are deadly shooters and have shown an ability to nullify height. UCI has been plagued by slow starts all season long, but they almost always find a way to overtake their opponent. Myles Che should be fired up. He transferred to UC Irvine this season after playing last year at Chattanooga.
One more tip.
Thursday, April 3, 2025, 6:00 pm PDT
National Invitation Tournament, Championship
Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Ind.
ESPN, ESPN+, ESPN en Español, ESPN+ en Español
Would someone please tell Fran Fraschilla that the school’s name is UC Irvine? Not Cal Irvine. While they’re at it, please let the former Manhattan, St. John’s and New Mexico head coach that it’s CSUN, not Cal Northridge? My gosh. What is his obsession with the word Cal?
Branding is an important part of promoting your school to the world. An athletic department can spend a lot of money on getting its branding right. All of that work goes down the drain if you have a rogue announcer on national television who ignores your branding and uses whatever name pops up in his head. If I were leading the UCI athletic department, I would meet with ESPN and emphasize the “UC Irvine” branding. I would want the play-by-play and color announcers in the room along with the graphics display folks. How many chances does a Big West school get to be on a national stage?
C’mon, Fran! Do your homework! U C Irvine. Zot!
Nicely written...enjoyed your comments on branding and mistake prone announcers.
Agree with Mike, great job! A counter point on naming, though, is that these schools should actually adopt Cal-this and Cal-that for naming. Yes, there's the UC vs State distinction, but when it comes to _branding_, name recognition can either be a huge issue or a huge advantage.
UCSB would be _much_ better as Cal Santa Barbara, and it would be _best_ if they could drop the Cal altogether. Simply the University of Santa Barbara, which would end up being verbally reduced to Santa Barbara. (They could add a ", California" in small print for many graphics). Santa Barbara as a location is an enormous attraction. Hiding behind letters is disadvantageous. Using letters that the rest of the country doesn't naturally use, or want to use, is also disadvantageous.
There's no _good_ reason to swim upstream here from a selling perspective.