After seven straight wins to open the 2025-26 campaign, the Tritons suffered their first loss of the season against Nevada on Dec. 2. Their next contest four days later also proved underwhelming; the Tritons only managed a 6-point victory against a Long Beach State team that had gone 2-26 against Division-I competition in 2025.
However, in its return to the Silver State, UC San Diego men’s basketball (9-1, 1-0 Big West) regained its early season form. The Tritons dismantled Tulane (7-4, 0-0 American) 93-67, buoyed by a career performance from graduate student forward Emanuel Prospere II, who scored a season-high 20 points.
“I feel like, after our loss, we came together as players to try to get back on the same page,” Prospere said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “We hate losing, so we just had to figure each other out and get back on the floor.”
The Tritons played against the Green Wave as part of the Jack Jones Classic, which featured four games at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada — the site where UCSD won its first-ever Big West Championship last season.
A dominant start saw the Tritons take a commanding lead by halftime. Prospere led the way, scoring 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting in the half. Prospere also displayed his might on the defensive side, adding three steals.
“I thought he did a really good job of finding the soft spots of that matchup zone,” head coach Clint Allard said to The Guardian. “He’s really tough if he’s got the ball at the free-throw line area because he’s such a good passer and playmaker. If you leave him with an advantage or a one-on-one, he’s able to score.”
Redshirt junior forward Leo Beath was also a frequent patron of the scoreboard. Averaging 18.9 points per game — second best in the Big West — Beath added 21 to the Tritons’ tally against the Green Wave. As the first half ended, he calmly floated up a deep triple to beat the buzzer and give the Tritons a 53-31 lead.
The Tritons made their presence known on the glass, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds to the Green Wave’s eight — the first time UCSD has won the rebounding battle since its victory over Houston Christian on Nov. 8. Junior guard Aidan Burke finished with a career-high 10 rebounds, including a dynamic tip-in from the left side after a missed three late in the second half.
While UCSD outscored Tulane handily in the first half, the Tritons were only marginally better than the Green Wave in the second, bogged down by a slew of careless turnovers and sluggish interior defense.
“I think we got complacent, and we got comfortable with the lead,” Prospere said. “But we know if we want to be back here in March, we can’t get comfortable at all at no time during the game.”
A late 10-0 Triton run put any hope of a Green Wave comeback to rest. The Tritons exited Henderson with a 93-67 victory, continuing a hot start for a team that has wasted little time resuming the winning ways of last year’s team. UCSD is now ranked 52nd in the latest NET rankings and has gone 24-2 since a road loss to UC Riverside in January.
The win is the fifth of a 34-day road gauntlet for UCSD. The Tritons’ last game at home was a win against Idaho on Nov. 15.
“I don’t know why I scheduled so many games in a row away from home, but the guys have handled it really well,” Allard said. “Traveling this much can wear on guys a little bit. I’ve been really pleased with our approach and the mindset of being at our best no matter where the game is.”
UCSD will continue its month-long road trip against Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
