6 days Ago
IRVINE — UC Irvine basketball coach Russell Turner has been singing Devin Tillis’ praises for a few years, crediting the redshirt senior for his unselfishness and effort, for the smart plays he makes and the careless errors he avoids. Tillis spent a couple of hours flashing all of those traits on Saturday night, scoring a career-high 25 points and grabbing 11 rebounds as UCI pulled away to beat Pepperdine, 80-62, at the Bren Events Center. Tillis shot 10 for 12 from the field, going 3 for 3 from 3-point range.
“After missing that first layup, my teammates told me to keep going so I stayed the course,” Tillis said. “Coach Turner kept telling me to play hard on defense and it will come to me on offense, and that is exactly what happened. Honestly, I felt some magic coming into tonight.
Also, I was just following the game plan. Coach Turner puts me in a position to succeed and as long as I stay on whatever he gives me to do then I’m going to do it, and it works.” Tillis’ big night was a product of the 6-foot-7 forward contributing the things he typically does at both ends of the court.
“I looked at the stat sheet and saw that Devin had 25 points and I couldn’t believe it, because all I kept seeing was Devin doing what Devin always does,” Turner said. “He made three out of three from (3-point range), and I thought he was really good against Pepperdine’s post doubles when they came. I am really proud of Devin, because I don’t think he has gotten this type of attention for the role that he plays.
” UCI found itself down by double digits several times in the first half, Pepperdine (1-2) scoring 16 straight points to open a 20-9 lead and still leading by that margin (27-16) with 8:35 left. Six consecutive points from Tillis started a 13-2 UCI run and the Anteaters tied the score on a Jurian Dixon 3-pointer with 4:57 left. UCI trailed 35-33 at halftime, but took control with another 13-2 run that included 3-pointers from Andre Henry, Tillis and Torian Lee for a 55-44 lead with 12:32 left.
Pepperdine cut the lead to single digits a few times after that, but a Justin Hohn 3-pointer gave the Anteaters a 62-50 lead with 8:40 left and they led by double digits the rest of the night. UCI’s five-man substitutions kept the hosts fresh against an injury-plagued Waves bench. “I feel good about winning the way that we did, wearing the team down with our depth and athleticism and I think that is what happened,” Turner said.
“I thought their two best guys controlled the game in the first half, but we wore them down and they struggled in the second half, both offensively and defensively. I don’t know if we were as locked in on what we wanted to accomplish to begin the game and sometimes that is what it takes.” UCI center Bent Leuchten had eight points and a career-high 15 rebounds on a night when the Anteaters (4-0) outrebounded the Waves 48-29.
Hohn added 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals on a rough shooting night (4 for 15 overall, 1 for 6 from behind the arc). Myles Che also had 11 points, going 8 for 8 from the free-throw line to lead the Anteaters’ perfect night at the stripe (14 for 14). Henry added seven points, three rebounds and two assists.
Stefan Todorovic had 17 points to pace Pepperdine, while Boubacar Coulibaly had 14 points, six rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots. Moe Odum had 12 points and eight assists. UCI shot just 40.
6% from the field but was 10 for 25 (40%) from 3-point range and held the Waves to 38.3% overall and 5 for 20 from behind the arc. “We gave Pepperdine some confidence (in the first half) because we didn’t finish shots around the basket and missed some open shots that we typically make, but I want to credit our second unit,” Turner said.
“Those guys were ready. I thought Jurian was terrific and I thought Torian was terrific in his minutes. We have gotten some contributions from a lot of guys.
” The Anteaters begin a stretch of four consecutive road games with a trip to Ogden, Utah for a game against Weber State on Friday at 6 p.m. PT.
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