The UC Irvine Anteaters are the athletic teams fielded by the University of California, Irvine. Its athletics programs participate in the NCAA's Division I, as members of the Big West Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. For earlier years of the school's existence, the teams participated at the Division II level with great success as explained below.
The UC Irvine Anteaters baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of the University of California, Irvine. The team's home venue is Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark located on campus in Irvine, California. UC Irvine baseball has been a member of the NCAA Division I Big West Conference since the start of the 2002 season which was the Anteaters' first season of play following the university's decision to revive its baseball program after the sport had been dropped following the 1992 season.
The 2009 UC Irvine Anteaters baseball team represented the University of California, Irvine in the NCAA Division I baseball season of 2009. The team played their home games at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, California. The team was coached by Mike Gillespie in his second season at Irvine.
Ben Orloff is an American baseball coach and former shortstop, who is the current head baseball coach of the UC Irvine Anteaters. He played college baseball at UC Irivine for head coach Mike Gillespie, where he won the Brooks Wallace Award, as the nation's best college shortstop. He has also played in the World Baseball Classic, for the Israeli national baseball team, before pursuing a professional baseball career for the Houston Astros organization from 2009 to 2013. He retired on June 12, 2013, and became an assistant coach for the UC Irvine.
The 1989–90 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1989-90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by tenth year head coach Bill Mulligan and played their home games at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 5–23 and 3–13 in Big West play. They advanced to the Big West Conference tournament where they lost to the Cal State Fullerton Titans.
The UC Irvine Anteaters women's basketball team is the basketball team that represents the University of California, Irvine. The team currently competes in the Big West Conference, NCAA Division I.
The 1993–94 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1993–94 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by third year head coach Rod Baker and played at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference. Despite finishing last in conference play, the Anteaters made a surprise run to the Big West tournament Final where they lost to New Mexico State.
The 1994–95 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1994–95 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by fourth year head coach Rod Baker and played at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference.
The 1995–96 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by fifth year head coach Rod Baker and played at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference. They finished with their best record and only winning season under Rod Baker. Baker would win the Conference coach of the year.
The 1998–99 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team is a team that represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1998–99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was led by 2nd-year head coach Pat Douglass, the Anteaters played at the Bren Events Center. At the time, the team was part of the Big West Conference.
The 1999–00 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1999–00 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 3rd year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference.
The 2001–02 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 5th year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference.
The 2005–06 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 9th year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference.
The 2006–07 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2006–07 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 10th year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference.
The 2007–08 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2007–08 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 11th year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference.
The 2008–09 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 12th year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference.
The 2019–20 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by tenth-year head coach Russell Turner competing in the Bren Events Center. UC Irvine is a member of the Big West Conference. The team won their second straight Big West Regular Season title before the 2020 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament and subsequently, the remainder of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season and postseason tournaments were canceled as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The team finished 21–11, and has won at least a share of 3 of the last 4 Big West Regular season titles. The program has won at least 20 games in 7 of the last 8 seasons. Turner became the winningest coach in program history on Jan 15 surpassing Pat Douglass total of 197 wins and won his 4th Big West Coach of the Year Award. Evan Leonard, Eyassu Worku, and Tommy Rutherford all recorded their 1000th point during the season, the first time the program has had 3 players score 1,000 career points in the same season. The team was 12th in the nation in FG % defense holding opponents to (38.8%) shooting, 11th in total rebounds (1,269), 3rd in rebounding margin (+9.4). Brad Greene pulled down a Bren Events Center record 21 rebounds on Jan. 11 vs. Hawai'i.
The 2020–21 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They played their home games at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California as a member of the Big West Conference. The Anteaters were led by 11th-year head coach Russell Turner. The team finished the season with an 18–9 (10–4) record finishing 2nd place in the standings and advanced to the 2021 Big West Conference men's basketball tournament where they were defeated by UC Santa Barbara 63–79. The Anteaters continued their success finishing 1st or 2nd for 7 straight seasons in the Big West Conference and 4 straight Big West tournament Championship games. The school set a new scoring record and the largest margin of victory (80) on November 28, 2020 over NAIA opponent Bethesda University by the score of 135–55. Also new school records broken in that game were assists (31) and FGs made (56). New Bren Events Center records broken were the most points scored in a first half (70) and game FG % (0.691).
The 2021–22 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They played their home games at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California as a member of the Big West Conference. The Anteaters were led by 12th-year head coach Russell Turner.
The 2021 Big West Conference women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Big West Conference held on November 4 and 7, 2021. The three-match tournament took place at Anteater Stadium in Irvine, California. The four-team single-elimination tournament consisted of two rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The defending champions were the Cal State Fullerton Titans. The Titans won the tournament in 2019 and are classified as the defending champions because there was no tournament held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cal State Fullerton was unable to defend its crown, falling to Cal Poly in the Semifinals. The UC Irvine Anteaters won the title by defeating Cal Poly 1–0 in the final. This was the second Big West tournament title for the UC Irvine program and the first for head coach Scott Juniper. As tournament champions, UC Irvine earned the Big West's automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament.
