UC Irvine on the national stage
'Eaters in Indy for NIT Final Four. The Big West is bleeding players, and now coaches.
A busy off-season has started for 10 of the 11 Big West teams, but one squad still has games on its schedule. The Anteaters (31-6) are on one final road trip, visiting Indianapolis for the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament. UC Irvine meets the North Texas Mean Green (27-8) in this evening’s first game at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University.
North Texas is no stranger to the NIT. The Mean Green have played in the last 4 NIT’s, winning the championship two years ago. UNT, a former Big West Conference member (1996-2000), won its NIT title in its last act as a member of Conference USA. Then-head coach Grant McCasland moved on to Texas Tech, where he took the Red Raiders to an NCAA Regional final this season. Ross Hodge was elevated to head coach and led the Mean Green in their transition to the American Athletic Conference. North Texas finished 2nd in conference play this season (14-4) before losing to 3rd-seeded UAB in the AAC semifinals. Now Hodge is a lame-duck coach, as he is leaving for West Virginia at the end of the season.
Some of the ‘Eaters will remember Atin Wright. The former CSUN Matador led the Mean Green in scoring this season at 14.9 points per game. Wright has almost identical shooting percentages from outside and inside the 3-point line (40%). The 6’1” senior guard was a unanimous AAC First Team All-Conference selection and was voted to the AAC All-Newcomer Team. Jasper Floyd hands out 3.9 assists per game and has a 2-to-1 assist/turnover ratio. Moulaye Sissoko is the Mean Green’s top rebounder at 6.5 boards per game. Brenen Lorient comes off the bench to score 11.8 points a contest, connecting on 57.7% of his shots from the field. Lorient gets to the free throw line more than any other UNT player (134 attempts) and leads the team in blocks (39).
North Texas is a stingy team, allowing just 59.9 points per game to rank 3rd in Division I. The Mean Green are an extremely slow tempo team, ranking 3rd slowest in adjusted tempo by KenPom. North Texas is effective on the offensive end of the floor, leading the AAC in field goal percentage (.472) and 3-point percentage (.376). One potential point of exploitation: UNT averaged the most turnovers (13.9) in The American.
UC Irvine would set a school record for wins (31) with a victory tonight. The ‘Eaters have won 18 of 22 games away from home this season. Only Auburn, in San Antonio for the NCAA Tournament Final Four, has won more games away from home this season. The ‘Eaters allow 66.5 points per game but hold opponents to a much lower field goal percentage from the floor (.396 to UNT’s .451). UC Irvine is shooting .803 from the free throw line but uncharacteristically missed the front end of four one-plus-one situations in its quarterfinal victory over UAB.
The winner of tonight’s game will play for the championship on Thursday at 6 pm PDT vs. Chattanooga (Myles Che’s previous school) or Loyola Chicago.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 4:00 pm PDT
Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Ind.
Turnover isn’t just the end of a bad offensive possession. It’s the new normal of college basketball. The Big West, by most metric measurements, was the 12th-ranked conference in Division I in 2024-25. This comparatively lofty ranking has made the conference’s players, and coaches, targets for promotion to high-major schools. Already, 50 players on Big West rosters have entered the NCAA Portal looking for a new team in 2025-26. Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton have the most potential losses at 10 apiece, with UC Riverside close behind at 8. Marcus Adams Jr., a Second Team All-Conference selection at CSUN this season, has already chosen his landing spot: Arizona State of the Big 12.
Riverside’s mass exodus now includes its head coach. Mike Magpayo, who started his college coaching career as an assistant at Columbia, returns to New York City to lead Fordham. Interestingly, Magpayo met his wife, a UCR graduate, during his time at Columbia. Magpayo showed an ability to do more with less in his 5 seasons as head coach at UC Riverside, twice topping 20 wins and earning an NIT invitation this season. UCR had never been to a post-season tournament in its Division I history until this season.
The top target among Big West coaches may have been Eric Olen after UC San Diego’s stunning 30-win season and Big West regular season and tournament championships. Olen parlayed that run into a five-year contract to coach New Mexico, taking over the position vacated by Richard Pitino moving on to Xavier. Olen twice won 30 games while at UCSD, expertly shepherding the program into Division I over the last 5 seasons.
The ground continues to shift in earthquake country. The Portal is open for another 22 days. One successful head coach (Russell Turner) is still coaching. Stay tuned.