SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – UC San Diego's three seniors all scored in double figures as UC San Diego earned an 81-67 win at Cal Poly inside Mott Athletics Center on Thursday night. The victory – the Tritons' eighth straight – improved UC San Diego to 23-4 on the season (13-2 Big West). Combined with UC Irvine's 84-72 home loss to CSUN, the Tritons now maintain sole possession of first place in The Big West with five games to play.
Hayden Gray stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, five rebounds, four steals and four assists – with just one turnover.
Tyler McGhie drained five three-pointers, scoring 17 with six rebounds and four assists.
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones added 19 with 10 rebounds and four assists. The Tait-Jones double-double was his first of the season.
UC San Diego committed just five turnovers in the win, while scoring 22 points off Cal Poly miscues.
The Mustangs hit 13 three-pointers but dropped to 10-17 overall and 4-11 in The Big West.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Cal Poly won the opening tip and Mac Riniker knocked down a three-pointer to get the game started. UC San Diego answered with a 12-0 run over the next three minutes, keyed by a pair of three-pointers from
Tyler McGhie – The Big West's top three-point shooter.
The Mustangs battled back to eventually tie the score, but UC San Diego surged ahead. Tait-Jones drove to the basket and got back to the free throw line, where the nation's leader in free throws connected on seven in the first half. UC San Diego went back up six, 24-18.
Cal Poly continued to shoot well from distance, tying the score at 24 apiece. The Mustangs led by three, 31-28, before Tait-Jones fed
Justin Rochelin underneath. His jam drew UC San Diego back to within one with 3:30 left in the half. On the other side of the media timeout, a
Hayden Gray layup and a three from Gray put the Tritons back on top for good.
UC San Diego closed the first half on a 10-0 run and led 42-34 at the break. The Tritons scored 20 points in the paint over the first half and held a 22-16 lead on the glass through 20 minutes. McGhie led all scorers with 12, with Tait-Jones adding 11 points and eight rebounds.
UC San Diego opened the second half right where it left off at the break, scoring the period's first eight points and building a 16-point lead. The Mustangs drained a couple more three-pointers and drew to within ten, 61-51, before McGhie buried his fifth three of the game.
UC San Diego out-rebounded Cal Poly, 36-34.
Chris Howell added four points, four assists, and three steals – also without committing a turnover. Rochelin scored 14 over 23 minutes in the win.
QUOTABLE
"We knew going in that creating turnovers would be important because of how dangerous they are offensively" said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "We took care of the ball and created some margin there [in turnover discrepancy], which was helpful."
On
Chris Howell: "Chris is such a connective player; he makes all of his teammates better. You look at the box score and it's not the points but it's everything else. And even then, he usually hits timely shots and makes big plays."
TRITON TIDBITS
- UC San Diego is now 13-2 in road/neutral games this season. The 13 wins away from home are tied for most in NCAA Division I (Auburn, UC Irvine).
- Thursday's game was a battle between the top three-point shooting teams in The Big West. The Mustangs entered the night with 279 threes and the Tritons were at 277.
- McGhie hit five three-pointers Thursday – his tenth game of the season with five or more made threes.
- The Tritons improved to 19-0 when leading at halftime.
- The Tritons forced 17 turnovers while committing just five. UC San Diego has won the turnover battle in 26 of its 27 games this season.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns to LionTree Arena to host Hawai'i at 7 p.m. Saturday night. The first 500 students and 1,000 alumni in attendance will receive a King Triton bobblehead. Tickets can be purchased through
Triton Box Office. The game will also air on ESPN+ and KSDT radio, 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 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.
