UH at UCI (1/29/26)
Despite a valiant and spirited effort, the University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team still came up short to the UC Irvine Anteaters, 87-76, in overtime at the Bren Events Center on Thursday! The loss put UH in a tie for second place with UC Santa Barbara, who pummeled UC San Diego, 62-48, earlier this week. Both UCSB and UH are at 7-3 apiece in the Big West.
Isaac Johnson scored all of his 17 points in the second half to lead UH! Harry Rouhliadeff was next in line with 15 points. Gytis Nemeikša was next with 13 points; both Rouhliadeff and Nemeikša were 3-of-6 and 3-of-7 from 3-point range, respectively, and each chipped in six rebounds. Isaiah Kerr came off the bench for 10 points and a rebound, and Isaac Finlinson chipped in a game-high 11 rebounds with six points, all from 3-point range.
Kyle Evans and Jurian Dixon each chipped in double-doubles with 19 points for both, 11 rebounds for Evans, and 10 rebounds for Dixon; Evans also accounted for all seven of Irvine's blocks! Andre Henry chipped in 17 and came up big in the overtime period with as much as seven points scored. Tama Isaac chipped in 15, and Harrison Carrington added 10.
Irvine drew first blood with the first four points of the game, but UH went on a 6-0 run via two Rouhliadeff triples to take a brief lead.
UH's 3-point shooting kept them close by. Nemeikša and Dre Bullock hit a triple each to keep the game nip and tuck.
Irvine got hot and ended the first half on a 14-7 run to take a 37-28 halftime lead. That was capped by a Henry triple at the buzzer.
UH began the second half with some fire! A Finlinson triple and a Johnson dunk resulted in an early 5-0 UH run, but UH's momentum got quashed right away off of back-to-back Irvine field goals.
UH did not quit and executed a 12-2 run to get into Irvine's neighborhood! They finally took the lead, 50-49 off a Rouhliadeff layup with 12:59 remaining!
Irvine's Henry responded on the next possession and gave Irvine the lead back off a floater.
UH had an answer to that and went on another 10-2 run with Kerr scoring the first five points of that run. It still went down to the wire.
With 5:40 remaining and UH leading 62-60, Irvine went on a 10-0 run, and it looked like curtains for UH, but UH did not think so!
With 1:45 to go, Rouhliadeff buried a clutch triple to put UH down, 69-67. Although UCI's Isaac got the good jumper on the next possession, Johnson then buried a triple of his own to put UH down, 71-70!
Irvine's Evans went 1-of-2 at the free throw line off a Nemeikša foul with 15 seconds left. Then, Isaac committed a foul on UH's Johnson for two free throws with just four seconds left.
Johnson sank both free throws and tied the score again at 72.
Irvine hoped to give UH some extra payback after Hunter Erickson stung them with his buzzer beater in Honolulu on Jan. 10, but Carrington's jumper bounced out, and overtime was needed to settle things!
Irvine shut UH down immediately in overtime and scored the first seven points to lock up the win. They would ultimately win the overtime period, 15-4, and send UH home the losers.
UH drops to 15-5 in the 2025-26 season. UH will conclude its road trip on Saturday, Jan. 31 against Long Beach State. Tipoff at the Walter Pyramid is scheduled for 11 a.m. HST, and you can watch the game on Spectrum SportsNet or listen on the radio at ESPN Honolulu.
