The Tritons had five full days off in between its final regular season game and Saturday’s semifinal matchup against UC Santa Barbara in the Big West conference tournament. Rust was a factor in the first half, but a dominant second half from the offense led to a blowout 69-51 victory to advance to the championship final.
Free throw troubles early and a 11-0 run from the Gauchos put some doubt into the fans who made the trip from San Diego to Henderson, as Santa Barbara had a 24-19 lead with under three minutes in the first half.
However, as he has all season long, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones righted the ship. The Big West Player of the Year scored the final seven points for the Tritons to pull within one point at halftime.
The second half saw the two teams trade buckets for the first few minutes, until a desperation heave on a three late in the shot clock from Tyler McGhie bounced multiple times off the rim and dropped to put the Tritons up 34-32.
The scoring did not stop there. The unlikely three from McGhie sparked a 15-0 run for the Tritons to put UCSD up 46-32.
The Gauchos got it to within single digits with just under seven minutes to play, but a quick 6-0 from the Tritons stretched the lead back to double-digits.
Worried about the wrong guy! 😜https://t.co/SGwfp3d1UY#GoTritons pic.twitter.com/kytQJns4FU
— UC San Diego Men’s Hoops (@UCSDmbb) March 15, 2025
UCSD would capitalize on multiple missed opportunities late from Santa Barbara and pile on to its lead and win comfortably.
UC San Diego is still far from a lock to enter into March Madness. However, the Tritons control its own destiny. With a win in the championship game Saturday, UC San Diego will advance into the dance.
Tritons coach Eric Olen thought the team played great defensively, and he is excited for the opportunity his team has in the championship game Saturday.
“(We) played a pretty complete game defensively that sort of bought us the time to kind of make our run,” Olen said in a postgame press conference via UC San Diego Athletics. “We feel good about the season we’ve had to this point. We expect to have success, we expect to play well.”
The Tritons are championship game bound in its first year of eligibility following its transition into Division I. Its opponent will be the winner of UC Irvine/Cal Poly Saturday in the Big West Championship, which tips off at 6:40 PST.
– This article was updated at 10:25 p.m. PST on March 14, 2025