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.
Russell Devlin Turner is an American college basketball coach who is the head men's coach at UC Irvine, a position he has held since 2010.
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 2016–17 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by seventh year head coach Russell Turner and played their home games at the Bren Events Center as members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 21–15, 12–4 in Big West play to win the regular season conference championship. As the No. 1 seed in the Big West tournament, they defeated UC Riverside and Long Beach State before losing to UC Davis in the championship game. As a No. 1 seed in their conference tournament who failed to win their conference tournament title, UC Irvine received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. As a No. 8 seed, they were defeated by No. 1 seed Illinois State in the first round. The team won their third Big West Regular Season title in the past four years and their 5th straight season with at least 20 wins.
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 1978–79 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the program's second season in Division I and 14th season overall. The Anteaters were led by tenth year head coach Tim Taft and played their home games at Crawford Hall as members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished the season 9–17 and were 3–11 in PCAA play to finish 8th place. The anteaters were invited to the 1979 PCAA tournament as the eighth seed where they lost to the Pacific Tigers in the first round.
The 1980–81 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by first 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 17–10 and 9–5 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 2010–11 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters, led by first year head coach Russell Turner, played their home games at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 13–19, 6–10 in Big West play to finish tied for seventh place.
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 1996–97 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by sixth year head coach Rod Baker and played at the Bren Events Center and were members of the Big West Conference. They finished with the worst record in school history and Rod Baker was dismissed as head coach at the end of the season.
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 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 2019–20 Cal State Fullerton Titans men's basketball team represented California State University, Fullerton in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Titans, led by seventh-year head coach Dedrique Taylor, played their home games at the Titan Gym in Fullerton, California as members of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 11–20, 6–10 in Big West play to finish in a tie for seventh place. They were set to be the No. 7 seed in the Big West tournament. However, the Big West tournament was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2023–24 UC Irvine Anteaters women's basketball team represents the University of California, Irvine during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Anteaters, led by eighth-year head coach Tamara Inoue, play their home games at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California as members of the Big West Conference.
