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 UC Irvine Anteaters men'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 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 1977–78 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the program's first season in Division I after spending the previous 12 season in Division II. The Anteaters were led by ninth year head coach Tim Taft and played their home games at Crawford Hall as members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished their inaugural season 8–17 and were 2–12 in PCAA play to finish 8th place. The anteaters did not receive an invitation to the 1978 PCAA tournament.
The 1984–85 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1984–85 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by fifth year head coach Bill Mulligan and played their home games at the Crawford Hall. They were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished the season 13–17 and 8–10 in PCAA play.
The 1986–87 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1986–87 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by sixth year head coach Bill Mulligan. UCI played their first three home games at Crawford Hall until the new Bren Events Center was opened on January 8. They were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished the season 14–14 and 9–9 in PCAA play.
The 1987–88 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by eighth year head coach Bill Mulligan and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished the season 14–14, 9–9 in PCAA play and reached the PCAA Tournament finals for the first time.
The 1988–89 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by ninth year head coach Bill Mulligan and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished the season 12–17, 8–10 in PCAA play.
The 1991–92 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1991–92 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by first year head coach Rod Baker and played at the Bren Events Center. They were members of the Big West Conference.
The 1992–93 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1992–93 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by second year head coach Rod Baker and played at the Bren Events Center. They 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 1997–98 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by 1st year head coach Pat Douglass and played at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference.
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 2017–18 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by eighth-year head coach Russell Turner and played heir home games at the Bren Events Center as members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 18–17, 11–5 in Big West play to finish in a tie for second place. As the No. 3 seed in the Big West tournament, they defeated Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara before losing to Cal State Fullerton in the championship game.
The 2018–19 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by ninth-year head coach Russell Turner competing in the Bren Events Center. UC Irvine is a member of the Big West Conference, and participated in their 41st consecutive season in that league. The team finished the season with many new records that included a new school record of 31-6, longest game winning streak (17), and first ever NCAA Tournament win over Kansas State in the South Region 1st Round before falling to Oregon in the 2nd Round. Jonathan Galloway became the new program record holder of rebounds (969), career games won (95), career games played (146). Max Hazzard broke the Bren Events Center record for most three pointers made in a game on December 15 against Denver (10) and the team broke the school record for most threes made in a game that night with 18. Evan Leonard set a school record of 44 consecutive free throws made that ended in the NCAA Tournament 2nd Round vs Oregon. The team finished 2nd in the 2018 Asia-Pacific University Basketball Challenge prior to the season and the 2019 Gulf Coast Showcase during the regular season. The team won its 4th regular season title in 6 seasons on March 2, 2019 in a win over UC Riverside. The team won its second Big West tournament title with wins over UC Riverside, Long Beach State, and Cal State Fullerton.
The 2018 Big West men's soccer tournament was the 11th edition of the tournament. The tournament decided the Big West Conference champion and representative into the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The tournament began on October 31 and concluded on November 10.
The 2018 Big West Conference women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Big West Conference held on November 1 and 5, 2018. 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, but they failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament. The Long Beach State won the title by beating the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 1–0 in the final. This was the fourth Big West tournament title for the Long Beach State program and the fourth for head coach Mauricio Ingrassia.
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.
