RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC San Diego junior
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones scored 20 points and grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds as the Tritons downed host UC Riverside, 77-65, Thursday night in SRC Arena. The double-double was the third of the season for Tait-Jones.
The win gave the Tritons (18-9 overall, 12-3 Big West) a season sweep over the Highlanders for the first time. The loss snapped a four-game win streak for UC Riverside (12-16, 7-9).
Hayden Gray notched his first double-double as a Triton, with 16 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and six assists. Senior
J'Raan Brooks scored 13 and matched his career-high with three three-pointers, and
Francis Nwaokorie finished with 16 in the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Riverside's Nate Pickens got the scoring started with a three-pointer. But UC San Diego responded with an 11-0 run, punctuated by a top of the key three-pointer and a driving layup, both from Brooks. The Tritons were up, 11-3, eight minutes in.
Despite the early lead, UC San Diego hit just one of its first eight three-point tries. UC Riverside battled back to draw within one, but the Tritons stretched the lead back to six at 20-14 on a three-pointer from
Justin DeGraaf.
The Tritons took an eight-point lead, 32-24, into the locker room at halftime. Tait-Jones, Brooks, and
Francis Nwaokorie each scored a game-high seven. The Tritons controlled play inside, scoring 16 points in the paint. Tait-Jones and
Hayden Gray pulled down six rebounds apiece.
UC San Diego buried its first three three-point tries of the second half to take a 41-26 lead and force a Highlanders timeout.
The Tritons shot the ball well, hitting on 7-of-8 field goal attempts to build a 19-point advantage, 49-30, with 14:20 left thanks to a driving layup from Gray.
The Highlanders battled back, cutting the deficit to seven, 57-50, before a Tait-Jones layup with six minutes to play.
UC San Diego held strong on the glass and hit free throws down the stretch to secure the road win.
TRITON TIDBITS
- UC San Diego held a 44-35 advantage on the glass.
- The Tritons are 6-3 on the road in Big West action.
- UC San Diego has led or been tied at halftime in 14 of 15 Big West games this season.
- The Tritons are 15-5 when leading at the half.
- With Thursday's win, UC San Diego has now won in 10 of 11 Big West venues (now winless only at Hawai'i).
- The Tritons improved to 1-3 at SRC Arena as members of The Big West.
- UC San Diego has used the same starting lineup in all 27 games so far this season: Hayden Gray, Bryce Pope, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Francis Nwaokorie, and J'Raan Brooks. The Tritons are one of two Division I teams (along with Wisconsin) to use the same starting lineup in every game.
QUOTABLE
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns to LionTree Arena Saturday to host first place UC Irvine at 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through
Triton Box Office, and the game will be televised on Spectrum SportsNet and KSDT Radio, with live stats available on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
