The following is a transcript of a recorded interview that has been edited for length and clarity. To listen in full, check out “The Bulletin” on Spotify.
In a heated rivalry matchup on Feb. 21, UC San Diego men’s basketball beat UC Irvine 71-69. Following the game, The UCSD Guardian’s men’s basketball beat writers Senior Staff Writer Sam Propst and Sports Co-Editor Alan Zhang sat down with New University’s Associate Sports Editor Jaden Hunter and former Managing Editor Jacob Ramos to talk about their takeaways, Hudson Mayes, and fan culture.
Jacob Ramos: Thanks for having us back.
Jaden Hunter: It’s great to be back, but not that great.
Alan Zhang: The last time that we spoke, you guys talked about a “party in your city” after your guys’ victory. I assume [there was] no party last night?
JR: Unless the Invade Irvine folks had one — I wasn’t invited to it — I’m not aware of any party.
AZ: Let’s start with initial takeaways. Do you guys have anything that really stood out to you guys about last night?
JH: Alex Chaikin, when he’s hitting shots, man, he’s an incredible player. I’d like to cite that 4-point play he had. … That was a dagger to the heart. It’s cool to see your guys’ true freshmen stepping up more. Jaden Vance didn’t even play in our last game, and this game, he was just phenomenal on both ends. He’s like a guard, but he’s [also] a secondary rim protector. There were plays where he was just single-handedly stopping us in transition. He hit those — was it two threes in the first half?
JR: He went two, 3 for 3.
JH: Yeah, those are some big shots. [Dengdit], his two threes — those were killers. Obviously, Russ Turner wants to leave your guys’ poor shooters open, but this was the game where it came back to bite us in the a– a little bit and got us in that big first-half deficit. So, yeah, hats off to you guys. Your team is obviously not nearly the same type of team as last season, but there’s still that culture within the program. I think you guys are much better than your record shows, and you’ll definitely be scary out in the Big West Conference [Championship].
Sam Propst: Incredible game by Hudson Mayes, as per usual. Leo Beath is starting to come out of his cold streak, which is really nice to see. He was not shooting as much, but he was getting some steals in, which was really exciting. The last time we saw y’all, it was really exciting, but this [game], I think, was one of the best ones we’ve played this entire season. You really got to see how the team as a collective is really good. … I think everyone played their best basketball last night.
AZ: Yeah, I agree with that. When we last played, it was still a month removed from the heights of Leo Beath. But it was still that mentality where it did seem like if Leo was stopped, Alex was stopped, we just couldn’t get much going, and this was definitely a game where you definitely got to see more of that, where guys like Hudson really stepped up. I know he was coming off the bench the last time we played you guys, but now, this was his chance to really show what he can do in that moment. Last game against Irvine, he was on the bench up until the final nine seconds for that final play. … In this game, he was that guy down that stretch. He didn’t have a good first half, but late in the game there, it was really about Mayes. You could see the rest of the team being able to rely on him more, be able to trust him more in those moments, being able to reap the benefits of that trust.
JR: When you take Jaden Vance and you slot him into the minutes that Cade Pendleton was playing against us the first game in La Jolla, it just changes everything. Just an all-around kind of unique player — being a secondary rim protector as a guard and clearly a floor spacer. I don’t have shooting stats on the season, but his shot looked really clean.
Bol Dengdit was someone that I think had a hell of a game. They were obviously running the offense through him; he was the offensive hub [in] the first half and for portions of the second — he had a hell of a game. Alex just breathes fire sometimes, and there’s nothing you can really do about it. It’s kind of annoying. I think Hudson Mayes … I just can’t get over how NBA-ready his body can get if he’s already like this as a freshman, very physically advanced. The shot needs a little bit more fluidity if he is gonna try to make that jump to a P5 or goes to the league, but damn, he has a lot of intangibles. To have the ball in his hands that much and have no turnovers to force and shoot 16 times — very impressive. … His defense is incredible, so tough to play against.
JH: Last game against you guys, on the drive back, Jacob and I were talking about how much of a fan we were of Hudson’s game. From that point, we’ve kind of been following him throughout his ascension to becoming a starter for you guys, and even before the game, when Jacob and I were texting about it, it was like, “Obviously, I’m rooting for UCI, but we hope that Hudson Mayes performs well.” And he did that and more. He just kept making play after play. Every time that we would get a bucket, it seemed like he would have an answer. He’s just an awesome player.
JR: I didn’t realize that we ended up matching in rebounds. UCI was getting out-rebounded by nine at the half. Obviously, coming back in the game was in large part due to that rebounding disadvantage.
AZ: That was definitely why we built up such a big lead. One thing that was really surprising to me is the way that our team really fought for rebounds last night. Even in times where we were getting out-rebounded, there was a lot of fight, specifically from the two true freshmen. … It’s really, really impressive to see the way that, every single loose ball, every single rebound, they were just fighting for it. That’s one thing that the team has needed recently, that sort of like fire in them. That’s one thing that I’ve been really excited to see as Mayes and Vance have started to play more minutes. … The way that Mayes plays does kind of remind me of Tait-Jones, where he’s an undersized guy who’s just so physical. The layup that he had to retake the lead — it was just nasty.
JR: There were layups that he made over Kyle Evans yesterday; I’ve watched every single game this season, and I’ve never watched Kyle Evans struggle against anybody. He was getting good contests, but it just didn’t matter. And he wasn’t even fouling him; they were perfect contests. … Hudson Mayes is just that level of finisher — maybe the best in the Big West.
AZ: Kyle Evans, best interior defender in the Big West, hands down, and the way that Mayes was able to — I wouldn’t say embarrass him, because Kyle Evans was playing great defense last night — but the way that Mayes was able to attack him and get buckets off of him was really impressive to watch.
SP: He’s a very analytical player. He plays really strategically.
AZ: It’s probably a good time to start talking about the fans. This time, I think 100 students made the trip. It was very similar to last time in my eyes — a lot more Irvine fans, but the 100 students definitely made themselves known.
JR: They did their part; they helped. I think Cade Pendleton was the first one to get out there and celebrate with them after the game.
AZ: He set a good example there to immediately go over to the fans. It was cool to see a fan favorite and someone who’s been here for a while immediately go and say “Hi” to the fans.
SP: Mayes said it was his first time being at the arena itself and also just experiencing it. That was interesting; I hadn’t really considered how this must have been for some of the freshmen on the team. It’s a new tradition, but I think it’s a really important one.
AZ: Contrasting that, the Irvine fans in the building, they were sitting right behind me and Sam, [and] I remember thinking, the signs were mostly just …
SP: Generic.
AZ: Extremely generic. Some of them didn’t even have anything to do with either a Triton or an Anteater. One was just a rhyme that was like, “I’m not a liar, but UCI is on fire.” You could do that with literally any team.
JR: The Antourage tries, man.
JH: I was actually one of the students in the crowd. The San Diego crowd was standing pretty much the entire game. Despite there being only 100 students, it felt like there were like 200 of you guys. You guys were loud; you guys were chirping after every bucket. You’re matching our crowd’s volume. The [UCI] students were leaving before the game ended. … It’s just frustrating that our school can’t match that energy. We’re at the top of the Big West! There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have sold-out games every game and one of the loudest crowds in the Big West, but there’s just no school spirit when it comes to that.
After beating the Anteaters, the Tritons also bested Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly. UCSD’s next game is an away game on Thursday against Long Beach State.
