2023–24 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team

2023–24 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball
2023–24 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball
Conference	Big West Conference
Head coach	Russell Turner (14th season);
Assistant coaches	Ryan Badrtalei (15th season); Michael Wilder (8th season); Alex Young (4th season);
Home arena	Bren Events Center; (Capacity: 5,000)
	Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represents the University of California, Irvine in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They play their home games at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California as a member of the Big West Conference. The Anteaters are led by 14th-year head coach Russell Turner.

Previous season

Despite being picked to finish fourth in the Big West Pre-Season Poll, The Anteaters finished the 2022–23 season 23–12, 15–5 to finish in a tie for 1st in Big West play, holding the tie-breaker over UC Santa Barbara. During the regular season, the Anteaters defeated then #21 Oregon 69–56 in Eugene on November 22, 2022, for the program's first victory over a ranked opponent during the regular season since 2005 when they defeated #15 Stanford. The Anteaters would lose to then ranked #24 San Diego State 69–72 in San Diego holding the lead into the final minutes of the game. After defeating Cal State Bakersfield in the quarterfinals, they lost to Cal State Fullerton in the semifinals of the Big West tournament. The team also won the 2022 Las Vegas Holiday Classic Invite. The team won the Big West auto-bid for the 2023 NIT where the matched with Oregon again and were defeated 58–84. Russell Turner won his 250th game on December 31, 2022, vs Cal State Bakersfield. In that game, the Anteaters broke the school record for attempted free-throws making 30-51 attempts. The team recorded its 13th 20 win season, 8th under Turner.^[1]

Roster

2022–23 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Dylan Thoerner	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)		Tufts University	Irvine, California
G	1	Derin Saran	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	177 lb (80 kg)	Fr	Asheville School	Istanbul, Turkey
G	2	Justin Hohn	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	RS Sr	Tea High School	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
G	3	Pierre Crockrell II	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Pacific	Tacoma, Washington
G	4	Andre Henry	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Saint Francis High School	La Cañada Flintridge, California
F	5	Ben Egbo	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Perry High School	Chandler, Arizona
G	10	Ofure Ujadughele (W)	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	RS Sr	Chino Hills High School	Chino Hills, California
F	11	Devin Tillis	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	RS Jr	UNLV	Los Angeles, California
F	13	Hayden Welling	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Corner Canyon High School	Draper, Utah
C	15	Bent Leuchten	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	258 lb (117 kg)	Jr	Josef-Effner Gymnasium	Karlsfeld, Bavaria, Germany
G	21	Langston Redfield (W)	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	RS So	Capistrano Valley High School	Mission Viejo, California
F	22	Carter Welling	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	Fr	Corner Canyon High School	Draper, Utah
G/F	23	Emilis Butkus	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	So	International Basketball Academy Munich	Vilnius, Lithuania
G	24	Jurian Dixon	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	Fr	St. Augustine High School	San Diego, California
F	31	Dean Keeler (W)	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Sr	Marina High School	Westminster, California
F/C	33	Eli Chol	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	Forsyth Central High School	Cumming, Georgia
F	43	Akiva McBirney-Griffin	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	RS So	St John's College, Hamilton	Hamilton, New Zealand

Head coach

Russell Turner (Hampden–Sydney)

Assistant coach(es)

Ryan Badrtalei (UCLA)
Michael Wilder (UC Irvine)
Alex Young (UC Irvine)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: August 3, 2023

Source^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
2023 William Jones Cup
August 12, 2023* 12:00 am, Twitch	vs. Qatar	W 105-38	1-0	19 – Henry	6 – Tied	11 – Crockrell II	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 13, 2023* 12:00 am, Twitch	vs. UAE	W 109-49	2-0	22 – Saran	9 – Chol	6 – Crockrell	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 14, 2023* 12:00 am, Twitch	vs. Japan U20	W 108-47	3-0	16 – Saran	10 – Saran	6 – Redfield	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 14, 2023* 10:00 pm, Twitch	vs. South Korea (Anyang KGC)	W 87-82	4-0	14 – Crockrell II	13 – Keeler	10 – Crockrell II	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 16, 2023* 4:00 am, YouTube	at Chinese Taipei (B/White)	W 117-59	5-0	18 – Hohn	12 – Leuchten	14 – Crockrell	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 18, 2023* 2:00 am, YouTube	vs. Iran B	W 80-48	6-0	16 – Henry	9 – Saran	4 – Ujadughele	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 19, 2023* 4:00 am, Twitch	at Chinese Taipei (A/Blue)	W 95-80	7-0	19 – Thoerner	9 – Ujadughele	9 – Ujadughele	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
August 20, 2023* 12:00 am, Twitch	vs. Philippines (Rain or Shine Elasto Painters)	W 115-61	8-0	23 – Saran	19 – Saran	6 – Hohn	Taipei Heping Gymnasium Taipei, Taiwan
Exhibition
TBD* TBD	TBD			Bren Events Center Irvine, CA
Non-conference regular season
November 21, 2023* 5:45 pm	Pepperdine Ball Dawgs Classic			Dollar Loan Center Henderson, NV
November 22, 2023* 8:45 pm	Toledo Ball Dawgs Classic			Dollar Loan Center Henderson, NV
November 24, 2023* 1:15 pm	Rice Ball Dawgs Classic			Dollar Loan Center Henderson, NV
Big West regular season




















Big West tournament
March 13, 2024 ESPN+	vs. TBD Quarterfinals			Dollar Loan Center Henderson, NV
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source^[3]

References

^ "MEN'S BASKETBALL 2023 SEASON REVIEW". University of California, Irvine. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
^ "2023–24 Men's Basketball Roster". University of California, Irvine. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
^ "2023–24 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of California, Irvine. Retrieved August 3, 2023.

[1] "MEN'S BASKETBALL 2023 SEASON REVIEW". University of California, Irvine. Retrieved August 3, 2023.

[2] "2023–24 Men's Basketball Roster". University of California, Irvine. Retrieved August 3, 2023.

[3] "2023–24 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of California, Irvine. Retrieved August 3, 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball
Venues	Crawford Hall (1965–1987) Bren Events Center (1987–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 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 2024–25