LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego (17-4, 7-2 Big West) closed out its week with a dominant 79-54 victory over CSUN (13-7, 5-4 Big West) on Saturday night at LionTree Arena.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones continued his hot streak, putting up 32 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Tyler McGhie hit five threes in his 19-point campaign, while also racking up a career high six steals.
Chris Howell put on a defensive masterclass with three steals, two blocks and five rebounds.
CSUN was held to a season-low 54 points as the Matadors dropped to 13-7 overall and 5-4 in The Big West with the setback.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons got off to a rapid start, recording consecutive steal-and-scores to go up 6-0 within two minutes. Howell was efficient early on, coming away with three steals in these first two minutes and dropping a three-pointer to cushion an 11-7 lead. However, the Matadors remained physical on defense, forcing the Tritons to run the shot clock down on several occasions amid three minute scoring droughts for both squads.
McGhie caught fire soon after, hitting a fadeaway two-pointer and step-back three to go up 21-12 by the midpoint. McGhie also snatched five rebounds and two steals by halftime, playing a large part in CSUN's 1-for-16 shooting stretch.
The hosts proceeded to go on an 18-1 run over five minutes, headlined by a trio of tough Tait-Jones layups — the latter two being and-one conversions. Tait-Jones went 7-for-8 from the line on his way to 23 first-half points, accounting for more than half of the Tritons 41-22 lead.
CSUN entered the second period hot, putting up two layups and a block to prompt a UC San Diego timeout. The Tritons flipped the script when play resumed, stringing together a pair of layups and another McGhie three to draw a Matador timeout at 48-27.
Scoring slowed for both teams following the break as the Tritons went 1-for-7 over four minutes. The Matadors found their footing at the tail end of the Triton's struggles, going 4-for-5 to claw back 55-42 with 10 minutes left. Justin Rochelin broke the drought with a three-pointer, with McGhie, Hayden Gray and Nordin Kapic following suit to wedge a 67-46 distance with 5 minutes remaining.
Another Tait-Jones and-one layup, which put him over the 30-point mark, and Gray three-pointer put the cherry on top as the Tritons took the 79-54 win.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones became the second Triton player to record multiple 30 point games in UC San Diego's Division I era (32 points against UC Riverside on Jan. 18). Tait-Jones has scored 32 points in two of the Tritons' last three games.
- UC San Diego is now 7-2 all-time against CSUN and the Tritons have won all seven Division I meetings.
- The Tritons' six blocks on Saturday is a season-high.
- Head coach Eric Olen has fielded the same starting five (Nordin Kapic, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, Hayden Gray, Chris Howell, Tyler McGhie) for the entire 2024-25 season.
QUOTABLE
UP NEXT
UC San Diego travels west to O'ahu next week to face Hawai'i on Thursday night. The Big West contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. HT tip-off (9 p.m. in San Diego) from SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The game can be seen on Spectrum Sports Hawai'i and ESPN+, with live stats 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 84 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
