The UC San Diego men’s basketball team fell to UC Irvine in the Big West Tournament quarterfinals on April 19, 2018. UCSD lost in three sets: 25–18, 25–18, 25–16. This loss to the Anteaters means the Tritons’ season is now over. It finishes with an overall record of 9–19.

The first set began with the Tritons and Anteaters trading points back and forth. At 13–13, UCI pulled ahead with a kill and followed with a service ace, prompting a timeout from UCSD. Unfortunately, the timeout did little to stop the Anteaters momentum. They aggressively attacked the Tritons and never dropped the lead secured at 15–13 in the set. An attack error by freshman outside hitter Wyatt Harrison gave UCI the set, 25–18.

The Anteater momentum seemed to slow down at the start of the second set. Much like in the first set, the teams jockeyed back and forth, trading points up until 9–9. At that point, two consecutive kills ended the stalemate and broke the game open. UCSD was unable to score more than one point in a row, leading to an easy set win for UCI, 25–18.

UCI burst into the third set and immediately began to pressure UCSD. The Anteaters quickly jumped to a 10–3 lead following six consecutive points. The Tritons were unable to recover from this early slump and dropped the final set, 25–16.

UCSD now heads into the offseason, looking to retool and prepare for the upcoming season.