UC Riverside Highlanders at UC Irvine Anteaters
· Big West Conference Tournament - Semifinal
UC Irvine defeats UC Riverside, gains Big West title game
The second-seeded Anteaters (18-8) will take on top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in Saturday's championship game.
Welp was just 3-of-14 from the field but added 11 of 13 from the free-throw line. UC Irvine was 26 of 30 at the line — 16 of 19 after halftime. Nearly half of Irvine's second-half points came from the line.
A Davis jumper put the Anteaters up 62-46 with 8:41 remaining — matching their largest lead of the game at 16 points.
Riverside (14-8), holding its highest-ever seed into the tourney at three, rallied with an 12-5 run over the next five minutes and cut the lead down to nine. But Baker and Isaiah Lee scored back-to-back, pushing Irvine's advantage back to 14 and the Anteaters closed it out with free throws.
Arinze Chidom scored16 points with four 3-pointers for Riverside and Jock Perry also scored 16.
How can I watch UC Riverside vs. UC Irvine?
Recent Plays
| 2nd 0:00 | End of Game | 61 - 78 |
| 2nd 0:00 | End of 2nd half | 61 - 78 |
| 2nd 0:00 | UC Riverside Offensive Rebound. | 61 - 78 |
| 2nd 0:00 | Brad Greene Block. | 61 - 78 |
| 2nd 0:00 | George Willborn III missed Layup. | 61 - 78 |
Statistics
 UCR |
 UCI |
|
|---|---|---|
| 21-61 | FG | 23-50 |
| 34 | Field Goal % | 46 |
| 6-29 | 3PT | 6-17 |
| 21 | Three Point % | 35 |
| 13-14 | FT | 26-30 |
| 93 | Free Throw % | 87 |
| 26 | Rebounds | 32 |
| 8 | Offensive Rebounds | 7 |
| 18 | Defensive Rebounds | 25 |
| 11 | Assists | 8 |
| 3 | Steals | 7 |
| 1 | Blocks | 5 |
| 10 | Turnovers | 10 |
| 1 | Team Turnovers | 0 |
| 10 | Total Turnovers | 10 |
| 0 | Technical Fouls | 0 |
| 0 | Total Technical Fouls | 0 |
| 0 | Flagrant Fouls | 0 |
| 0 | Points Off Turnovers | 0 |
| 0 | Fast Break Points | 0 |
| 0 | Points in Paint | 0 |
| 20 | Fouls | 19 |
Game Information
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Capacity:
2025-26 Big West Conference Standings
| TEAM | CONF | GB | OVER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |