After a Jan. 9 drubbing of Cal Poly, the Tritons were riding high. They had rattled off 12 straight wins and were gearing up to play conference-leading UC Irvine at home in their first-ever nationally televised game. However, on Jan. 11, the Tritons wilted under the bright lights and lost to the Anteaters. The Tritons fell again on Jan. 16 — this time on the road against No. 3-seeded UC Riverside. That was last month; fast forward to this week, with UC San Diego set to face UCR and UCI yet again. Possessing a three-game winning streak and a precarious half-game hold on the Big West’s crucial No. 2 seed, UCSD men’s basketball (19-4, 9-2 Big West) needed to start the week in the win column.
The team did so successfully, kicking off its two-stop revenge tour with a 91-71 victory over Riverside (15-9, 8-4 Big West) at LionTree Arena on Feb. 6. Thursday night’s rematch against the Highlanders was an opportunity for the Tritons to seek vengeance over their conference foes and strengthen their position in the conference standings. Ending the regular season as a top-two seed would give the Tritons a free pass to the Big West championship semifinals in March — a crucial advantage in what will be a difficult tournament.
In a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian, senior guard Tyler McGhie explained the stakes heading into the game. “I heard Niwa [Tait-Jones] doesn’t look at the standings and all that, but I do. I think it’s really important — playing for that double bye, it’s going to help us,” he said.
Though he may have been unaware of the gravity of Thursday’s game, senior forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones’ sublime play fueled UCSD to a 46-44 halftime advantage. The New Zealand native exploded for 19 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, shooting 60% from the field and 6 of 7 from the charity stripe. Tait-Jones reached deep into his bag of dribble and post moves to get to the hoop whenever he wanted. The Highlanders had no answers and resorted to fouls. Sometimes, even that plan failed, handing Tait-Jones the opportunity to convert three and-ones in the first frame.
Tait-Jones credited his teammates and coaches for his first-half offensive outburst. “They tell me before the game to just be aggressive, play hard, and get downhill — and the results showed,” he said.
Nevertheless, the Highlanders shot an efficient 7-17 from deep in the half, allowing them to keep pace with Tait-Jones and the Tritons. Though UCSD buzzed around the court in its matchup zone defense, UCR found open looks from beyond the arc through dribble drives and perimeter ball movement. With four minutes left in the half, a Highlander connected on a turnaround mid-range jumper to cap a 6-0 drive, making the score 38-31 in favor of UCR.
The Tritons responded quickly, turning on the jets to create a slight edge heading into halftime. Junior forward Nordin Kapic was key to UCSD’s late surge, scoring 8 points in the half’s final minutes — including back-to-back 3-pointers. With 1:43 remaining, he banked in a triple from the top of the key to bring the Tritons within 1 point and hit another from downtown on the next possession to give UCSD the lead.
On UCR’s final possession of the half, UCSD held a slim 2-point lead. A Highlander player drove from the middle of the floor to the right side of the hoop and attempted a floater when Kapic rotated over to high point the ball and swat it out of bounds. The Tritons defended the following inbound play well and went into halftime with the lead.
After the teams exchanged jabs in the first half, the Tritons came out of the break throwing haymakers. UCSD outscored UCR 21-6 in the first eight minutes of the second half to knock the Highlanders to the mat and ignite the home crowd.
The Triton barrage started with a healthy dose of McGhie. The crafty marksman took advantage of a mismatch, posting up a smaller UCR guard and backing him all the way to the rim for two easy points. Next, Tait-Jones intercepted a sloppy Highlander baseline inbound pass, ran the court, and dished it to Howell, who found McGhie in the left corner. He then deposited a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer through the netting to extend the Triton lead. Though McGhie missed his next 3-point shot, Tait-Jones was there to clean up the mess and make the putback layup. On the Tritons’ next possession, McGhie drove along the baseline from the left corner to drop in a runner from just outside the paint, putting UCSD up 55-48.
The Tritons’ active defense then manifested into points on the other end, and their lead continued to grow. Senior guard Hayden Gray deflected a foolhardy UCR pass, and the Black’s Beach bandit passed the ball to Kapic on the fast break, whose 3-pointer found nothing but net. Kapic’s shot made it 60-50, bringing the Tritons to a double-digit lead.
Even after a timeout, the Highlanders had not learned their lesson on Tait-Jones. The defense sagged off the New Zealander, who drained a 3-point shot. The show continued, following a UCR miss; Tait-Jones poked the long rebound ahead of the pack and brought the crowd to its feet with a two-handed jam at the other end.
On the ensuing Highlander possession, Gray’s stifling defense fueled Triton scoring once again. He rejected a UCR perimeter shot, springing another UCSD fast break; Gray found junior guard Justin Rochelin streaking down the right side of the court, who then converted the layup to cap the explosive run and make it 67-50.
The Highlanders were forced to call another timeout as the home crowd reached a crescendo. Tait-Jones waved his arms as he ran along the sideline, goading on the raucous Triton faithful.
Head coach Eric Olen attributed his team’s electric second-half start to the Tritons’ defense. “We only forced four turnovers in the first half, which for us is pretty low. We got eight in the second, which is pretty good against a team that does a good job taking care of the ball,” Olen said. “Across the board, we were doing more of the things we were trying to do in the second half and just executed better defensively.”
UCSD’s strong defensive start to the half gave the Tritons a lead they never relinquished. When Rochelin slammed home a Tait-Jones alley-oop pass, he made the score 85-68 with 3:42 remaining. From there, the Tritons put the Highlanders to bed, running down the shot clock on every possession. With 1:30 left, Tait-Jones and Rochelin almost connected on another identical lob pass, but Rochelin missed the finish. Nevertheless, UCSD coasted to a 91-71 victory.
The Tritons have done well to put some distance between themselves and the Highlanders in the Big West standings, but their work is far from over. This Saturday, Feb. 8, they will have another opportunity to play Irvine in front of a national audience — but, this time, away from the comforts of LionTree Arena.
With Thursday’s win, UCSD now holds a game and a half lead over UCR for the No. 2 seed and has tied the season series, which has potential implications for postseason seeding. A win on Saturday would bring the Tritons even with UCI, as both schools would boast 10-2 conference records. A loss would all but eliminate the possibility of UCSD catching up to the Anteaters and give the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed to UCR, who defeated UCI on Jan. 23. The most important game of UCSD’s season so far — and perhaps the biggest in program history — awaits.
