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UC Irvine men dig early hole, lose to UNLV in NIT opener

March 18, 2026

IRVINE — After a painfully slow start for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team on Tuesday night, the Anteaters ripped off the band-aid and mounted a second-half comeback but ultimately ran out of time in a 75-72 loss to UNLV in an NIT first-round game at the Bren Events Center.

UCI fell behind 19-5 in the first seven minutes and trailed by as much as 18 points in the first half before making it close down the stretch.

The deficit proved too large to overcome, however.

“Water doesn’t boil until it gets to 212 [degrees],” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “We were just a little bit less than that, and when you’re less than that, you don’t look good, and we were not good enough early in the game.”

The Anteaters (23-12) made nine of their first 11 shots in the second half to pull within 53-50 on a basket by Harrison Carrington off a feed from Jovan Jester Jr. with 10:40 left.

UCI had two chances to make it a one-point game, but Jester missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw situation with 9:16 to go, and Derin Saran missed on a fast-break layup on the next trip down the court.

After falling back behind by nine, UCI made another push to cut the margin to three on a dunk by Kyle Evans with 39 seconds left.

UNLV (18-16) left the door open by missing the front end of two 1-and-1s, but UCI couldn’t convert on the other end until Jurian Dixon was intentionally fouled with 3.9 seconds left and made both free throws to make it a one-point game.

Kimani Hamilton then made two free throws for the Rebels with 2.9 seconds remaining and UCI’s half-court heave at the buzzer wasn’t close.

UCI, the fourth-seeded team in the Tulsa Region, was making its fourth straight NIT appearance after reaching the championship game of the 32-team tournament last season and losing in overtime to Chattanooga.

“Congratulations to UNLV,” Turner said. “They came in here and played an outstanding game and it was too much for us to overcome, but I was pleased. The spirit, the character of my team was evident in the second half, especially. I know we weren’t able to climb all the way out of the hole we had dug for ourselves.”

Saran had 18 points, six assists and three steals, Carrington scored 14 off the bench, Dixon had 13 points and three steals, and Evans finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds for his second straight double-double for UCI, which was coming off a 71-64 loss to Hawaii in the Big West Tournament championship game on Saturday night.

The Anteaters had entered the conference tournament as the top-seeded team.

“I do think it’s really difficult to have to turn around – and I’m not making excuses – I’m saying I’ve just experienced this difficulty to have to turn around after losing a game like we lost on Saturday that’s such a meaningful opportunity,” Turner said. “And to not do that, you have to generate the competitive edge that’s required to win against really good teams (like UNLV).”

Hamilton led five UNLV players in double figures with 14 points.

The Rebels advanced to play at top-seeded Tulsa, an 89-84 overtime winner against Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday.

The Anteaters entered the game fourth in the nation in blocked shots (5.9 per game) and third in field-goal percentage defense, but the Rebels finished with an 8-3 edge in blocks and they shot 53.7% from the floor.

“They blocked a lot of shots,” Turner said. “We were incredibly poor at finishing around the rim in this game. The credit for that goes to them. We often do that to other teams. They did that to us tonight.”

The Anteaters missed their first eight field-goal attempts before Saran made a layup with 12:15 left in the first half to cut their deficit to 19-7.

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn sank an open 3-pointer from the corner to give the Rebels their biggest lead of the first half at 29-11 with 8:18 left.

The Anteaters managed to cut it to 11 on a tip-in by Carrington with 11 seconds remaining in the half, but Howie Fleming Jr. made a layup with one second left to give the Rebels a 37-24 lead at the break.

UCI shot just 24.2% from the field in the first half, compared to 51.9% for UNLV. The Anteaters were outrebounded 25-19, but helped themselves by forcing 11 turnovers that resulted in nine extra points.

Orange County Register

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UC Irvine men dig early hole, lose to UNLV in NIT opener

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