UC Irvine Anteaters @ UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
| 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|
UCI | 28 | 33 | 61 |
UCSB | 30 | 22 | 52 |
UC Irvine defeats UC Santa Barbara 61-52
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Mike Best scored 20 points and UC Irvine defeated UC Santa Barbara 61-52 on Saturday.
Best was 8 of 13 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds for the Anteaters (15-5, 4-0 Big West). Mamadou Ndiaye scored 11 points with 13 boards and Luke Nelson added 10, despite 4-of-16 shooting.
UC Santa Barbara (7-9, 1-2) was led by Gabe Vincent with 14 points, Michael Bryson with 13 and Eric Childress with 12.
UCSB led most of the game and was up eight, 52-44, with 10:50 to go -- but the Gauchos didn't score again, missing their last 10 shots.
UC Irvine eventually took the lead with 3:51 to go on Nelson's 3-pointer. Best and Alex Young both made a pair of free throws in the last minute to seal it.
The Anteaters made 19 of 32 free throw attempts while UCSB hit just 1 of 5 from the line.
Game Information
Santa Barbara, CA
Referee:Randy McCall
Referee:Kurt Walker
Referee:Frank Harvey
2025-26 Standings
| Big West Conference | CONF | GB | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| UC Irvine | 15-5 | - | 23-12 |
| Hawai'i | 14-6 | 1 | 24-9 |
| UC San Diego | 12-8 | 3 | 23-11 |
| Cal State Northridge | 12-8 | 3 | 20-14 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 12-8 | 3 | 18-16 |
| UC Davis | 11-9 | 4 | 19-14 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 11-9 | 4 | 18-14 |
| Cal Poly | 10-10 | 5 | 14-19 |
| Long Beach State | 6-14 | 9 | 10-22 |
| UC Riverside | 5-15 | 10 | 10-22 |
| Cal State Bakersfield | 2-18 | 13 | 8-24 |
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