IRVINE — UC Irvine men’s basketball coach Russell Turner took extra pride in watching his team celebrate their latest Big West Conference regular-season title.
UCI (22-10 overall, 15-5 Big West) had just returned to the floor after knocking off visiting Cal State Bakersfield 52-44 on Saturday night to clinch a share of the conference championship, its sixth title in 13 seasons under Turner.
The UCI women’s team, which also clinched a conference championship on Saturday, joined them in celebrating.
“This is really special,” Turner said. “Never had it like this here, championships with both programs, something that’s really hard to do. A lot of people get a lot of credit for that.”
Both teams head into the Big West Conference Tournament this week at Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada, as the top seeds in their respective brackets.
The UCI men’s team is scheduled to play Thursday at noon against the winner of Tuesday’s matchup between No. 8-seed Cal State Bakersfield and No. 9 Cal State Northridge.
The Irvine women’s team is scheduled to play Wednesday at noon against the winner of Tuesday’s game between No. 8 Northridge and No. 9 Bakersfield.
The Anteaters shared the regular-season conference men’s title with UC Santa Barbara (24-7, 15-5).
Irvine split its two meetings against the Gauchos, but the Anteaters earned the top seed based on a better record against third-place UC Riverside. Irvine won both meetings against UCR this season, while UCSB lost both matchups.
Irvine hasn’t had nearly as much success in the conference tournament under Turner as it has in the regular season.
The Anteaters have won the tournament just twice since Turner was hired 13 years ago, most recently in 2019.
Cal State Fullerton (18-12, 12-6) is the defending tournament champion and the Titans arrive in Henderson as the hottest team in the conference, winning their past six games to finish fourth in the standings.
Fullerton will also be well rested,…
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