UC Irvine one win away from NIT Final Four
Anteaters defeat Jacksonville State in Round of 16 and host UAB on Wednesday.
UC Irvine 66, Jacksonville State 61
IRVINE, Calif. — Graduate student Justin Hohn scored a season-high 22 points to spark the Anteaters (30-6) to victory over the Gamecocks (23-13) of Conference USA. Hohn was 7 of 15 from the field and made 4 of his 7 three-point attempts. Bent Leuchten scored 10 points, including a traditional 3-point play with 5:20 remaining that gave UCI a 56-55 lead. The ‘Eaters, who reached the 30-win plateau for the second time in Russell Turner’s time as head coach, would never trail again. Devin Tillis scored 4 points in the final 5 minutes, his only points of the game.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 6:00 pm PDT
UAB at (1) UC Irvine, NIT Quarterfinals
The top-seeded Anteaters have won two home games in the National Invitation Tournament and will have one more contest in Bren Events Center, this time vs. unseeded UAB of the American Athletic Conference. The Blazers (24-12) are led by AAC Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg, a 6’9” senior averaging 17.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Christian Coleman (11.3 ppg), Ja’Borri McGhee (11.1 ppg) and Alejandro Vasquez (11.1 ppg) are threats to score. Efrem “Butta” Johnson and Tyren Moore are the likeliest to take threes, but UAB prefers to pound the ball into the paint. The Blazers take 70.4% of their shots from inside the 3-point line and have 101 more free throw attempts than their opponents. UAB is 16th in the nation in scoring at 82.3 points per game and 10th overall in assist/turnover ratio (1.63).