HENDERSON, Nev. — The UC San Diego women’s basketball team cut down the net in the Lee’s Family Forum after winning the Big West tournament Saturday to claim an elusive NCAA berth in the university’s first year of full Division I membership.
Workers emerged from the back, climbed up a ladder and replaced the net.
Three hours later, the UCSD men’s team cut it down again.
Snip, snip, snip. It’s a beautiful sound.
The fever dream continues for the Tritons, beating UC Irvine 75-61 to win their 30th game of the season and now go national with what has heretofore been a regional phenomenon.
That makes it a record three San Diego men’s or women’s teams to qualify for the Division I Big Dance. A fourth, San Diego State’s men, will learn if it receives an at-large berth during the Selection Show on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., CBS).
There was some question whether top-seeded UCSD (30-4), with major metrics in the top 40, would receive an at-large berth should they lose in the Big West tournament and need one. We’ll never know because they overcame a nine-point deficit in the first half, then gradually pulled away from the second-seeded Anteaters behind a barrage of 3-pointers from senior guard Hayden Gray, one deeper than the last.
Gray finished with a Division I career-high 22 points on 8 of 10 shooting (6 of 7 from 3) on a night when UC Irvine bottled up UCSD’s top two scorers.
The other star was their defense, holding the Anteaters to 33.9% shooting and 7-foot-1 German center Bent Leuchten to 10 points after he had 23 in each of the two regular-season meetings.
The Tritons built their dream season on a five-out offense predicated on the 3-ball and a matchup zone defense that teams generally don’t see. But their real secret might be something else: turnover margin.
It’s simple mathematics. If you attempt more shots than your opponent, you have a better chance of winning. And if you turn it over, you’re not taking a shot.
They entered the game ranked fourth nationally with only 13.2% of possessions ending in a miscue, and second nationally with their opponents coughing it up 23.5%. In the semifinals Friday night against UC Santa Barbara, they had a season-low three.
A day later, they had three in the opening 12 minutes and seven by halftime, an inordinate number for them. The Anteaters converted them into seven points and built a 25-16 lead.
All things considered, though, trailing just 33-31 at intermission was a blessing of sorts, because it could have been far worse. Leading scorer Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones had six points but needed nine shots to get them. Tyler McGhie, their second leading scorer, had two points and two fouls.
Gray came to the rescue, scoring their next eight points after coach Eric Olen called timeout down nine. But Gray needs to produce the way the Anteaters defend the Tritons, putting Leuchten on Tait-Jones and parking him under the basket (given Tait-Jones’ hesitancy to shoot 3s) and face-guarding McGhie to limit his clean 3-point looks.
The unique defensive scheme worked in the first meeting, a 60-52 Anteaters win at LionTree Arena on Jan. 11. It didn’t work as well in the return game at UC Irvine, an 85-67 Tritons win on Feb. 8. McGhie had five points in each.
And it was more of the same Saturday night on a neutral floor.
The Tritons got their first lead since 12-9 on a lean-in baseline jumper by McGhie with 17:25 to go, and they never trailed again.
UC Irvine got within four with four minutes left, but Devin Tillis drove baseline and lost the ball into the basket standard. UCSD went to the other end, and Nordin Kapic splashed a 3 from the right corner.
Next Irvine possession: Another turnover.
Next UCSD possession: McGhie 3, his first of the game after being 0 of 5.
Next Irvine possession: turnover.
Next UCSD possession: A free throw by Tait-Jones (14 points) for an 11-point lead with 2:34 to go.
The Tritons — yes, the program that was Division II five years ago — are going dancing.
Snip, snip, snip.