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UC San Diego improves to 30-4 and claims the Big West Conference automatic bid

12 automatic bids were claimed throughout Saturday’s action, and perhaps one of the most anticipated games came in the Big West title game, where UC San Diego and UC Irvine met in Henderson, Nevada. Both the Tritons of UC San Diego and the Anteaters of UC Irvine had “bubbly” resumes headed into Champ Week, but it’s almost a guarantee that the winner would be dancing, and the loser would be sent home packing.

The winners last night were the Tritons, knocking off UC Irvine 75-61 to reach their first-ever NCAA Tournament in their first year eligible due to the Division I transition process. When the teams met twice in the regular season, the road team won both times, but on a neutral site with so much on the line, we saw just why UC San Diego has been ranked inside the KenPom top 50 over the past month. UC San Diego has four players who average double figures in the scoring column on the season, and all four scored at least ten points in last night’s championship game.

The nation’s leader in steals per game, Hayden Gray, grabbed three more steals to add to his season tally last night, but the biggest impact Gray had was from beyond the arc. Gray finished with 22 points, knocking down six of his seven three-point attempts to lead the Tritons in scoring. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, the 2024-25 Big West Player of the Year, flirted with a triple double in the win, scoring 14 points while tallying eight rebounds and eight assists. Tyler McGhie added 11 points and Nordin Kapic added ten of his own to round out a very solid night from the Triton’s core four.

With the team’s record now at 30-4, it will be interesting to see where the Selection Committee places this UC San Diego team on Sunday night’s Selection Show. With predictive and resume metrics all inside the top 50, UCSD is likely trending towards the better side of the 11 seed line, but with the way mid-major teams have been handled in the past, anywhere on the 10-12 seed lines seems reasonable for the Big West champions.

Eric Olen has done a fantastic job in building this program up at the Division I level and its truly remarkable how well the program has timed its peak. The Tritons weren’t eligible to reach the NCAA Tournament in any of their first five seasons, but now in their sixth year at Division I, the team looks poised to win a game in March with a veteran core made up mostly of former Division II talent that continues to fly under the radar.

Other Things to Note:

• Five conference championship games close out Champ Week on Sunday afternoon on a range of networks
• The 2025 Selection Show begins at 6:00 ET on CBS on Sunday evening