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UCI players celebrate after the Anteaters’ overtime win over UAB Wednesday night. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
UC Irvine’s men’s basketball team made history again Wednesday night, rallying from a five-point halftime deficit to defeat University Alabama-Birmingham 81-77 in overtime in the quarterfinals of the NIT before an enthusiastic gathering of Anteater fans and a national television audience at the Bren Events Center.
Anteater fans everywhere are celebrating that their team is still playing in April, an accomplishment UCI Coach Russell Turner emphasized after the game.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
UCI players, as is their custom, high fived students after the game, but this celebration was extra sweet for the team with a jubilant Turner joining in the celebration too.
It’s the first time in school history UCI has advanced to the final four of the NIT. Top-seeded UCI (31-6) moves on to the semifinals to face North Texas Tuesday night at Hinkle Field House in Indianapolis, Ind. The game, starting at 4 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time will be televised by ESPN.
The winner faces the winner of the other semifinal between Chattanooga and Loyola Chicago in the championship game Thursday, April 3 at 6 p.m. also on ESPN.
“First of all, credit to UAB, they’re really good,” Turner said after the game. “They’re really talented and really physical and they bothered us to start the game. We’ve experienced that in a lot of games this year where we have to go through an adjustment period against a team that comes in with a game plan to face us. We also looked a little unsure, I thought, early in the game which is also normal.
“We gave them a bunch of easy points in transition early which is the thing we try to focus the most on preventing, knowing that’s what they want. They wanted to play a different tempo game than we did. I thought in the second half, we were able to dictate the game by going inside and by getting back on defense better and by controlling the paint better.
“That’s what we thought we had to do to win and I’m just super impressed with my guys continued belief, really all year, that we can find a way because of the defensive excellence we’ve committed to and find a way to defend really good teams and really good players and do it as a team and get enough rebounds to frustrate teams and find ways to make enough baskets to win.
“It was an incredible performance down the stretch from Devin (Tillis), from Myles (Che) and Bent (Leuchten) winning the tip in overtime.”
Tillis led UCI with 22 points, 11 rebounds and three 3-pointers. Leuchten had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Jurian Dixon 16 points and five rebounds and Che 13 points, 11 coming in the second half. Che came up big with four 3-pointers in the second half and also had five assists. Kyle Evans added eight points and three blocks.
Christian Coleman had 21 points, Alejandro Vasquez 14 points and Yaxel Lendeborg 13 points to lead UAB (24-13).
UCI struggled in the first half, making just 11 of 33 field goals (33 percent) but the Anteaters got untracked in the second half connecting on 15 of 32 (46.9 percent). UCI wound up making 41.4 percent of its field goal attempts.
The 1,378 fans fans were treated to a competitive first half and a thrilling ending. In the final minutes of regulation, UAB moved ahead by two, but Tillis hit a jumper with 17.8 seconds to tie the game 69-69.
After UAB turned the ball over, UCI got the ball back with 3.5 seconds, then called timeout at midcourt with less than a second left. After the timeout, a desperation shot by Che fell of the rim to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime, UCI moved out to a 74-71 lead with three minutes left. However the lead changed when Ja’Borri McGhee put UAB ahead 77-74 on a basket with 1:26 left. Tillis then countered with a 3-pointer to tie the game 77-77.
The Anteaters moved ahead for good 79-77 on a basket by Leuchten off a pass from Che with 30 seconds remaining. UAB then missed a 3-pointer but UCI turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and UAB got the ball back with 16.5 seconds with one more chance.
UAB missed two shots trying to send the game into a second OT. Tillis rebounded the second miss and was fouled, then made two free throws with 2.6 seconds to clinch the win.
“I had belief the whole time,” Tillis said. “We’ve had games where we’ve been down by a lot or it’s been close and tight and we’ve earned the win. I never once felt we weren’t going to win that game. It’s exciting to make the final four of any tournament, it may not be the NCAA Tournament, but the NIT Tournament is still a really good tournament.”
It’s spring break for for UCI, so the student turnout was a bit smaller, but very enthusiastic and high-energy which the UCI players appreciated.
“It meant something to us, I don’t know if you guys could feel it, we could feel it in that overtime segment and the second half,” said Tillis. “They were part of our team, they played an impact helping affect their free throws, they missed free throws at the end and helped us get our energy up.”
“They played a part for sure,” added Dixon. “You could feel the energy on the court, it does really help us when we’re out there, it just makes us want to play harder. We felt the impact and we’re very grateful.”
UAB wound up making 40 percent of its field goal attempts and also outrebounded the Anteaters 47-44. UAB made 13 of 14 free throws (92.9 percent) while UCI sank 15 of 21 (71.4 percent).
There were 13 lead changes and the game was tied eight times. Both teams had 11 turnovers.
To see the post-game celebration, go to X (@ocsportszone).
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com