On Thursday night, the University of California, Riverside (UCR) men’s basketball team shocked Big West frontrunner UC Irvine (UCI) in overtime, pulling off an 84-80 victory. It was their fifth victory in conference play this season, and it demonstrated that UCR can compete with anybody in the conference.
Barrington Hargress led the way for the Highlanders, scoring 20 points and hitting the game-sealing shot in overtime with 15 seconds remaining. “It’s just a shot I work on … I knew that I was gonna get to that shot and I had all the confidence in the world that they weren’t gonna stop me making that shot,” Hargress said when describing the play postgame.
When asked what the win over the Anteaters meant for the program, Hargress commented, “This means everything. [UCI] is a great group that constantly wins championships and that’s where we wanna be. It’s a great test in the middle of the season to see where we are at and every time we go against them it’s always war, and that’s what we love…[we’ll] be ready to die on the court.”
Head coach Mike Magpayo was really happy with the performance of the Highlanders, and when asked if it was the biggest win at the Student Recreation Center (SRC) Arena in his career, he responded, “It’s right up there … This is the best Irvine team that we’ve played [because they’re] a top 50 team on a roll, undefeated in league, with an elite defense.
“When you get a win like this, it certifies what we’re capable of. As a program, we’re continuing to build [and] we can do some amazing things.”
It was a balanced offensive attack for the Highlanders against UCI, as five players scored in double-digits. Kaleb Smith was the second-leading scorer with 13 points on 6/11 shooting. Joel Armotrading played solid defense when guarding Bent Leuchten, who is a candidate for conference Player of the Year. 7’ 1” Leuchten finished with 17 points on 4/11 shooting, while drawing multiple fouls which led Armotrading to foul out of the game in overtime.
Sophomore Myles Che, was UCI’s leading scorer with 20 points. Che played at University of Tennessee, at Chattanooga last season, then transferred to UCI, where he has blossomed into a solid scoring option for the Eaters.
It’s worth mentioning that the crowd was hyped for the game, and attendance was tallied at 1,479 according to ESPN. Some fans rushed the court following the Highlander victory, and the crowd noise was perhaps the loudest it’s been all year.
The fanfare of the squad has grown a lot this year, and a big reason has to do with the growing expectations of what the team can accomplish. UCR men’s basketball is still looking for its first Big West Championship, but its victory over UCI has sparked more belief into the team.
UCR picked up another victory on the road against California State University, Bakersfield on Saturday night to extend their winning streak to three games. They currently have the third best record in the conference, and host UC Davis on Thursday night.
