IRVINE — The UC Irvine men’s basketball team was too big, too deep and took too many trips to the free-throw line for Long Beach State to have a chance in their Big West Conference matchup on Thursday night.
The Anteaters used a rotation of big men to overwhelm Long Beach at the rim, Jurian Dixon proved to be the best player in the backcourt for either team, and UCI made more than twice as many free throws in a 74-64 victory at the Bren Events Center.
“We obviously have a lot of talent on this team, different guys who can contribute in different ways,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “I’m excited to continue to work on building on that. We know we’ve got to be at our best in March. That’s what this is all about for us. Can we keep getting better and be at our best in March?”
Dixon had 23 points and three steals and Kyle Evans added 15 points and six rebounds for UCI (12-5 overall, 5-0 Big West), which has won five in a row.
Derin Saran scored just four points for the Anteaters, but contributed seven assists and four steals.
Jovan Jester Jr. and Andre Henry each scored eight points off the bench to help UCI’s reserves outscore LBSU’s 20-14.
UCI will fly to Honolulu on Friday morning in preparation for its next matchup against second-place Hawaii (11-3, 3-1) on Saturday night.
“We accepted the challenge and performed,” Turner said of the win against Long Beach. “Now, we get to go play as underdogs. I’m excited for that.”
Long Beach freshman guard Gavin Sykes, who came in third in the Big West in scoring (17.8 ppg), had 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and Petar Majstorovic finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals for Long Beach (5-11, 1-3), which was coming off a 74-66 win against Cal Poly last Saturday.
“I’m excited to win against a Long Beach team that was feeling good after a dominating performance against Cal Poly,” Turner said.
UCI came into the week as the only unbeaten team in the Big West, but struggled with its shooting at the outset. The Anteaters eventually took a 34-30 lead into halftime after shooting 40.6% from the floor and holding LBSU to 38.7%.
Evans, a 6-foot-10 forward who came in leading the nation at 3.1 blocked shots per game, scored with a high bank shot with his left hand to extend the lead to 40-34, and he then scored on a fast-break off a feed from Saran to extend the lead to 42-34.
Dixon stole a pass in the backcourt and finished with a spin move on the other end to give the Anteaters a 47-37 lead, matching their biggest of the first half.
Tama Isaac’s three-point play gave UCI its biggest lead at 50-37 with 14:37 left in the game, and LBSU couldn’t get back within single digits until the final minute.
The Anteaters shot just 42.9% from the floor for the night, but they made 22 of 28 free throws.
Long Beach shot 41.7% from the field and was 10 for 13 from the line.
“Really pleased tonight, the way we made our free throws the way that we did,” Turner said. “I think our shooting, with this group, is going to continue to improve with experience. We’ve seen some of that with the 3s. Hopefully, we can continue to see that with the free throws.”
The Anteaters missed 10 of their first 13 field-goal attempts to start the game, allowing Long Beach to grab an early 10-6 lead.
“We were frustratingly inattentive at times with the defensive game plan around their two best players, who are really good,” Turner said of Sykes and Majstorovic. “Those guys did a lot of what they wanted.”
UCI took advantage of its height with 7-footer Elijah Chol and Evans in the starting lineup, and then subbed them out for 6-9 Akiva McBirney-Griffin and 6-10 Nes Emeneke.
Jester sank a 3-pointer following an offensive rebound by Emeneke to give UCI its first lead at 11-10.
The Anteaters led by as many as 10 in the first half before Long Beach came back with a 7-0 run to make it a one-possession game again with 1:48 left in the half.
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