No. 1 Seed UC Irvine Wins NIT Quarterfinal In Thrilling Overtime Fashion

[Coach Andy Mac]

LINK: https://ucirvinesports.com/news/2025/3/26/mens-basketball-no-1-seed-uc-irvine-wins-nit-quarterfinal-in-thrilling-overtime-fashion.aspx

IRVINE, Calif. – Forward Devin Tillis scored five of his game-high 22 points in the final 1:23 and grabbed a big rebound with three seconds left in No. 1 seed UC Irvine's 81-77 victory over UAB in the quarterfinal of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday at the Bren Events Center.
 
A 6-0 run by UAB gave the Blazers a 77-74 lead with 1:33 to play before Tillis drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 77 all with 1:23 left. The Blazers were a perfect 13-13 from the line until a miss with 51 seconds left opened the door for UCI. Center Bent Leuchten hit a jumper in the paint with 31 seconds on the clock then on the other end UAB missed two layups, the second rebound was pulled down by Tillis who was fouled with two seconds left solidifying the win with a pair of free throws, 81-77.
 
Tillis recorded his sixth double-double of the year, with 22 points and team-high 11 rebounds. The redshirt senior went 7-15 from the floor, including three three-pointers, and 5-6 from the line. He added three assists and a steal in his 34 minutes on the floor.
 
UC Irvine advances to the semifinals April 1 against North Texas at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. The Anteaters improve to 31-7, tying the school record for most wins with the 2018-19 squad who went 31-6.
 
UCI, who made 15 of their free throws in tonight's win, broke the school record of free throws made in a season with their 617 over 37 contests. The previous standard was held by the 1971-72 team who made 616 of their 873 attempts in 28 games.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Center Bent Leuchten recorded his 19th double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds, seven coming on the defensive glass
> Leuchten went 6-10 from the field and 5-6 from the line
> Guard Jurian Dixon scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half, totaling five rebounds and two assists
> Guard Myles Che knocked down three three-pointers and finished 13 points
> Che dished five assists and grabbed five rebounds.
> Sophomore Kyle Evans was important off the bench, going 3-4  from the floor and 2-2 from the line with three blocks
> Guard Justin Hohn was quiet offensively with four points but had eight rebounds, five assists, and a steal
> The Anteaters shot 41.4 percent (29-70) from the floor and 71.4 percent from the line (15-21) while the Blazers shot 40.5 percent (30-74) from the field and 92.9 percent (13-14) from the line
> UCI hit eight three-pointers (8-24, 0.333) and the Blazers went 4-20 (0.200)
> UAB (24-13) was Christian Coleman had a team-best 21 points with 14 rebounds, while Yaxel Lendeborg recorded 13 points and a game-high 17 rebounds
 
FIRST HALF
> Myles Che drew the defense to the middle of the court, finding a way to pass out to Jurian Dixon (18:45) who knocked down the three-pointer to put UC Irvine up slight, 3-2, but UAB scored nine unanswered to go ahead 11-3 at 15:21
> The Anteaters brought it within two, 13-11, on a 8-2 run that saw a layup from Devin Tillis (15:09), a basket and two free throws from Kyle Evans (14:32, 13:58), and a Justin Hohn (13:29) run and score
> Dixon grabbed the defensive board and took it all the way down the court, got fouled while in the air, the ball fell through the hoop, and he made the extra shot to draw to 17-16 at 11:35
> The Blazers two triples were countered by four total makes from the line, two from Bent Leuchten and two from Che, 23-20 (10:01)
> Both teams went scoreless for three-minute periods, but two straight scores from UAB put them up, 29-22 (5:22)
> Leuchten had an answered for the Blazers shot, hitting a corner three-pointer then hooking it over the defense at 2:12, 33-29
> Ofure Ujadughele played furious defense and poke the ball away, driving down the court and drop the ball off. A missed layup would land in the hands of Dixon for the put-back with 13 seconds left. UCI went into the break trailing 31-36 at the half
 
SECOND HALF
> Tillis scored five of the Anteaters first eight points out of the break, three were free throws and the last a backdown hook shot at 14:53, 44-39
> UCI put up eight straight scores on a soft hook by Leuchten, a Dixon hanging layup from a long Tillis lead pass, another layup by Dixon and a final layup by Evans to give the Anteaters a 47-44 lead (12:12)
> UAB scored the next four to knot the score at 50-all at 9:31
> Following four UAB free throws, Tillis knocked down a three-pointer as the shot clock expired, 57-56 (6:41)
> The teams traded baskets until Che (2:33) stopped and popped from three, 62-60
> Consecutive layups by UAB was followed by a fallaway jumper by Che moving to 64-64 (1:11)
> The teams exchanged three-pointers before UAB went ahead on a pair of free throws with 41 seconds left, 69-67
> Tillis worked his way under the basket for a layup with 17 seconds left to tie the game, 69-69
> A UAB travel gave the Anteaters possession with 3.7 on the clock. After pushing the ball up the court Hohn called timeout with 0.7 left, but the Anteaters couldn't score out of the break, sending the game to overtime

OVERTIME
> Leuchten put one in down low then was fouled and stepped to the line on the next possession and hit the first of two, 72-69 (3:59)
> A UCI turnover led to a Blazer layup (3:20) before Leuchten battled for a rebound and was fouled, adding two more points from the stripe at 3:07, 74-71
> UAB had two from the line then had a rebound put-back and jumper to move in front, 77-74 (1:33)
> Tillis poured in a three from up top then Leuchten went down the paint and floated one in from four feet with 31 seconds left, 79-77
> A UAB shot went out of bounds then the Anteaters threw the inbounds play away giving UAB the ball with eight seconds remaining
> The Blazers missed two layups with Tillis pulling down the rebound and getting fouled on the last with two seconds to go. He stepped to the line and deposit them both for the 81-77 final score
 
NOTES
> UC Irvine improves to 3-1 in overtime contests
> UCI is the first team to reach the NIT semifinals since the 1983 Fresno State squad that won it all
> The Anteaters are tied third in the nation in win total (31)
> UCI is a combined 23-4 record when either one or both of them dishes out four or more assists a game (Hohn 13-4, Che 10-0). 
> It is the fourth time Tillis and Leuchten have recorded double-doubles in the same game
> Justin Hohn ranks fifth in all-time career steals (148)
> Hohn moves to fifth all-time with 203 career made three-pointers, needing 19 more to match assistant coach Michael Widler (224, 2009-13) for fourth
> Devin Tillis is now 13th in the all-time rebounding list with 684, just one away from meeting Tommy Rutherford (685, 2016-20) for 12th, while Bent Leuchten holds the 15th spot with 658
> Leuchten is now three rebounds away from matching Kevin Magee (337, 1980-91) for second all-time rebounds in a season
> Leuchten ranks sixth nationally and first in the Big West with 19 double-doubles
> At the free throw line, Leuchten has made 200 free throws this season, ranking sixth nationally, setting the new single season record in made shots at the line. It was previously held Jerry Green with 196 (235 attempts) in 2000-01 
> Hohn (11th--1,351), Leuchten (26th--1,151), and Tillis (34th--1,044) keep moving in the 1,000-career point scoring list
 
UP NEXT
No. 1 seed UC Irvine will make the trip out to Indianapolis for the NIT semifinals where they are pitted against North Texas on Tuesday Apr. 1 at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT).
 

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[Coach Andy Mac]

Post Game Press Conference (UNT opponent discussion starts at 11:08)

 

Edited Thursday at 02:26 PM by Coach Andy Mac

[UNTFan23]

1 hour ago, Coach Andy Mac said:

Post Game Press Conference (UNT opponent discussion starts at 11:08)

 

Holy No Audio Batman!

[MeanGreenTexan]

28 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Holy No Audio Batman!

I heard just fine.
He thinks we still play in C-USA.

[Matt from A700]

I'm glad we're not playing UAB again. I'm tired of Andy Kennedy's face.

Edited Thursday at 04:12 PM by Matt from A700

[ForneyGreen]

15 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I heard just fine.
He thinks we still play in C-USA.

I caught that also ... obviously he knows little to nothing about UNT  🙂

I'm glad we have a good amount of time between our last game (Ok St) and this semi-final.  We'll need to be well rested and very energetic with our suffocating D to win.