UC Irvine Anteaters women's basketball

UC Irvine Anteaters
UC Irvine Anteaters
	2024–25 UC Irvine Anteaters women's basketball team
University	University of California, Irvine
Head coach	Tamara Inoue (9th season)
Conference	Big West
Location	Irvine, California
Arena	Bren Events Center ; (capacity: 4,984)
Nickname	Anteaters
Colors	Blue and gold;
Uniforms
NCAA tournament appearances
	1995, 2024
Conference tournament champions
	1995, 2024
Conference regular season champions
	2023

Last updated October 18, 2024

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.^[2]

History

Since beginning play in 1974, UC Irvine has (as of the end of the 2020-2021 season) an all-time record of 517–793. The Anteaters have won the conference tournament twice (in 1995 & 2024), with five losses in the tournament championship game (1984, 1985, 1997, 2021, 2022)^[3]^[4] UC Irvine hired Tamara Inoue as their new head coach for the 2016-2017 season. Inoue came to UC Irvine from New Mexico State where she was an integral member of the women's basketball staff from 2011-16. She spent her last two seasons as an associate head coach and also served as the interim Senior Woman Administrator in 2015-16. After taking over a team that won a total of 12 games at Irvine in the two seasons prior to her arrival, Inoue brought a renewed energy and mindset that paid off immediately. In 2017-18, just her second year as head coach and first with her own recruits, Inoue led the Anteaters to an 18-14 overall record and their first national postseason appearance since 1995. The 18 victories more than doubled their win total from each of the previous three campaigns. The ‘Eaters also saw a 12.5 game improvement from 2016–17, tying for the second-best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I. UCI, which was picked eighth in the Big West Preseason Poll, placed third in the regular-season standings at 10-6, marking its best conference finish since 2011-12. The Anteaters ended the year ranked first in the league and 13th in the nation with 11.1 steals per outing. They also established UC Irvine’s highest single-game scoring total in the NCAA Division I Championship era, and tied an overall school record, with 107 points vs. Cal Poly. Inoue’s group set the tone for the record-breaking campaign with a dramatic season-opening victory over Utah State. They erased a 13-point deficit over the final four minutes and capped the rally by sinking a half-court shot at the buzzer for an 87-84 win. The game-winning play was featured at No. 1 on SportsCenter's Top-10 that evening. Inoue saw two of her student-athletes earn All-Big West accolades, highlighted by Jordan Sanders, who became just the second player in UCI history to be named the Big West Freshman of the Year. In 2018-19, Inoue guided the Anteaters to the third 20-win campaign in program history and the first since 1984-85. They had their best start ever at 7-0 with the seven consecutive victories tying UC Irvine’s third-longest win streak. Their success did not go unnoticed as the ‘Eaters made their debut in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll and rose to as high as No. 15 in the nation. UCI went on to make its first appearance in the Big West Tournament semifinals in five years. As a team, the Anteaters finished among the top-25 in the nation in turnover margin (7th), turnovers forced (22nd), and steals (23rd). Individually, Andee Ritter broke the all-time school record in 3-pointers made and steals. She graduated as UC Irvine’s single-game (8), single-season (87), and career (202) leader in threes made. Jordan Sanders was named to the All-Big West First Team after ranking second in the conference and 23rd in the country with 20.3 points per game. In 2019-2020, the ‘Eaters tied for second in the Big West regular-season standings, which was their best conference finish in Inoue’s tenure. At 9-7, it was the third-straight year they were at or above .500 in league play. Lauren Saiki established a single-season school record with 215 assists and earned first-team All-Big West honors. Sophia Locandro also garnered honorable mention and All-Freshman Team recognition.^[5]

Year by Year Records

Season	Record	Conference record	Coach
2016–17	5-26	3-13	Tamara Inoue
2017–18	18-14	10-6	Tamara Inoue
2018–19	20-11	8-8	Tamara Inoue
2019–20	13-18	9-7	Tamara Inoue
2020–21	15-9	11-4	Tamara Inoue
2021–22	21-12	13-4	Tamara Inoue
2022–23	25-7	16-2	Tamara Inoue
2023–24	21-8	16-4	Tamara Inoue

Postseason

NCAA Division I Tournament appearances

UC Irvine has appeared in the NCAA Tournament once, having a record of 0–1.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1995	#15	First Round	#2 Stanford	L 55–88
2024	TBD	First Round	TBD	TBD

WNIT appearances

UC Irvine have appeared in two WNIT Tournaments. Their record is 1–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2022	First Round	UCLA	L 48–61
2023	First Round Second Round	San Diego State San Diego	W 55-45 L 48-58

WBI appearances

UC Irvine have appeared in one WBI Tournaments. Their record is 0–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2018	First round	Nevada	L 60–70

Related Research Articles

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Turner (basketball)</span> American college basketball coach (born 1970)

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 following the sport's discontinuation in 1992.

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 2014–15 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Anteaters were led by fifth-year head coach Russell Turner and played their home games at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California. They were members of the Big West Conference and finished the season 21–13, 11–5 in Big West play, to finish in a tie for second place. They defeated UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii to become champions of the Big West tournament. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first tournament bid in school history, where they lost in the second round to Louisville.

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 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 their 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 and played their home games at the Bren Events Center. UC Irvine was 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; 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 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 January 15 surpassing Pat Douglass's 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 1,000th point during the season, the first time the program has had three 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), and 3rd in rebounding margin (+9.4). Brad Greene pulled down a Bren Events Center-record 21 rebounds on January 11 vs. Hawaii.

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 men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine in the 2023–24 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 14th-year head coach Russell Turner.

The 2023–24 UC Irvine Anteaters women's basketball team represented 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, played their home games at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California as members of the Big West Conference.

References

↑ UCI Art Sheet (PDF). May 1, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
↑ "UC Irvine Athletics". www.ucirvinesports.com.
↑ "UC Irvine" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
↑ "UC Irvine" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
↑ "Tamara Inoue - Head Coach - Staff Directory".

External links

Official website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] UCI Art Sheet (PDF). May 1, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.

[2] "UC Irvine Athletics". www.ucirvinesports.com.

[3] "UC Irvine" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

[4] "UC Irvine" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-02-22.

[5] "Tamara Inoue - Head Coach - Staff Directory".

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v t e Big West Conference women's basketball
Teams	Cal Poly Mustangs Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners Cal State Fullerton Titans Cal State Northridge Matadors Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Long Beach State Beach UC Davis Aggies UC Irvine Anteaters UC Riverside Highlanders UC San Diego Tritons UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
Championships & awards	Big West Conference women's basketball tournament Player of the Year Coach of the Year
Seasons	1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24

v t e University of California, Irvine
Overview	Academics Athletics Campus People
Schools	Arts Biological Sciences Business Education Engineering Humanities Information and Computer Sciences Law Medicine Physical Sciences Social Ecology Social Sciences
Research	Beckman Laser Institute Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve Calit2 Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Institute of Transportation Studies Steele Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center Thesaurus Linguae Graecae UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling UC Humanities Research Institute
Student life	Activities and traditions KUCI Muslim Student Union
History	Timeline Irvine 11 controversy pro-Palestinian campus occupation
Athletics	Baseball Men's basketball Women's basketball Men's soccer Men's volleyball
Campus	Anteater Ballpark Anteater Recreation Center Anteater Stadium Arboretum Barclay Theatre Bren Events Center Crawford Hall UCI Medical Center Irvine–Newport under construction UCI Medical Center off campus New Swan Theater seasonal Student housing Middle Earth University Hills