KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After UC San Diego captured its first Division I conference men's basketball title, a pair of Tritons were honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) on Tuesday morning. Senior guard/forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named to the Pacific District First Team, and Triton head coach Eric Olen is District's Coach of the Year. The All-District honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I.
 
The NABC introduced a new model for its Division I district alignment this season, with schools arranged by state rather than by conference. The modernized NABC Division I district alignment features 10 geographic regions that each encompass multiple states. Every Division I school in each given state belongs to that state's corresponding district.
 
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named to the NABC Pacific District First Team. Last week, he was named Big West Championships' Most Valuable Player after leading the Tritons to the conference title. Tait-Jones captured Big West Player of the Year honors – the first Triton to win this award – in his second season at UC San Diego. Tait-Jones ranked third in the conference in scoring at 21.0 points per game against Big West foes. The New Zealand native was remarkably efficient, connecting on 57% of his shot attempts over 20 Big West games. He leads the nation in free throws (222) and free throw attempts (293), and his 663 points this season are a Division I record for the program. Tait-Jones was also named to the All-Big West First Team and was last year's conference Newcomer of the Year.
 
Tait-Jones is the second Triton recognized as NABC All-District in Division I. Bryce Pope captured First Team honors a season ago.
 
The Pacific District Coach of the Year honor is the second for Olen, and first in Division I. Under his leadership, the Tritons have won 20 or more games seven times. His 240 victories are more than any other coach in program history. Last week, Olen was recognized as Big West Coach of the Year for the second straight season. It was the fourth such award for the Tritons' head man, who was also twice conference Coach of the Year in the CCAA (Division II).
 
Last week, UC San Diego won The Big West Championship with a 75-61 victory over second seed UC Irvine. Owners of a 15-game win streak – the nation's longest active – the Tritons (30-4) earned their first NCAA Division I tournament berth. Playing as a 12 seed, the Tritons will take on Big Ten champion Michigan, a fifth seed in the South Region. The game is scheduled for 8 p.m. MDT from Ball Arena in Denver. Live coverage of the game will air on TBS, Westwood One, and KSDT radio.
 
2024-25 NABC Division I All-District Teams
Pacific District
First Team
Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA
Miles Byrd, San Diego State
Graham Ike, Gonzaga
Bent Leuchten, UC Irvine
Augustas Marciulionis, Saint Mary's
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga
Great Osobor, Washington
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, UC San Diego
Malik Thomas, San Francisco
 
Second Team
Nate Bittle, Oregon
Desmond Claude, USC
Dominique Daniels Jr., Cal Baptist
Barrington Hargress, UC Riverside
Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, Seattle
Paulius Murauskas, Saint Mary's
Michael Rataj, Oregon State
Jackson Shelstad, Oregon
Andrej Stojakovic, Cal
Devin Tillis, UC Irvine
 
Coach of the Year: Eric Olen, UC San Diego

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 has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 garnered 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 NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.