UC San Diego Tritons Continue Historic Season
UC San Diego wrapped up their history making regular season in spectacular fashion last Saturday. The Tritons put on an incredible defensive display in their crushing defeat of UC Davis 68-57 in front of an emphatic UC Davis crowd. UC San Diego’s tandem of Tyler McGhie and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones added to their impressive season stats with McGhie draining five-threes, and Tait-Jones adding in 15 points to go along with 8 rebounds.
Hayden Gray, a senior guard for the Tritons, held the Big West’s leading scorer T.Y. Johnson (22 points per game) to only 5 points. Head coach Eric Olen was very impressed by Gray’s effort and gave him huge praise postgame.
“Hayden Gray is a special defensive player… He (Johnson) had a three at the very end just to get to the 5, I think he had one basket on the night and that was just Hayden Gray just doing a great job of containing the ball, contesting shots, and forcing misses… Obviously T.Y.’s a super talented player, but what Hayden did was super impressive.”
With the win, the UC San Diego Tritons are guaranteed a spot in the Big West tournament semi-finals this coming Friday as a No. 1 seed. The Tritons are currently on a 13-game win streak heading into this weekend which is the longest in the program’s Division 1 era and will celebrate their first ever Big West regular season title. They will finish the regular season 28-4 overall, with a conference record of 18-2. Both are the best in the program’s Division 1 history.
With their best season in school history at the Division 1 level under their belt, many accolades were gained by their players and head coach. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones won the Big West Player of the Year and became the first Triton to win that particular award. Head coach Eric Olen was also named as Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. Many other awards were given to the Tritons, such as Hayden Gray winning Best Defensive Player, Chris Howell winning the Best Hustle Player award, and Justin Rochelin winning Best Sixth Player. This became the second year in a row that multiple UC San Diego players earned recognition and awards.
UC San Diego – By the Numbers
When just looking at their conference success, it seemed inevitable that the Tritons would dominate this year just like they did last year. But the ceiling was raised for the Tritons this year, when they finally became eligible to compete in the postseason. The Tritons were only elevated to Division 1 status a few years ago and have taken every opportunity given to them to show they are a force to be reckoned with.
Head coach Eric Olen stated earlier this year that he’s very satisfied with the team’s progression throughout their Division 1 experience. “It’s quite the progression from where we started as a non-scholarship division two school to now competing for the top of the Big West and playing high-level Division I games.”
UC San Diego has run the table all season when looking at the Big West stats leaders, but it’s how they’re doing it that’s the most important. For instance, two of their players (Hayden Gray and Chris Howell) lead the Big West in assist to turnover ratio with 2.9 and 2.5 respectively. Tyler McGhie leads the Big West in 3-PT field goals with 111, which is tied for most in program history. But perhaps what’s most impressive and what crystallizes UC San Diego’s dominance is their stats as they pertain to the rest of the NCAA.
In the Big West, UC San Diego holds the top spot in many statistical categories. They lead the conference in scoring defense (62 PPG), scoring margin (18.3), steals per game (10.22) and turnover margin (7.53). But for some perspective, they rank in the top 10 nationally in many other categories.
Steals Per Game: 10.22 (3rd in nation)
Turnover/Assist Ratio: 1.81 (4th in nation)
Forced Turnovers per game: 16.28 (5th in nation)
Scoring Margin: 18 (2nd in nation)
Scoring Defense: 62 (8th in nation)
3-PT Per Game: 29.7 (10th in nation)
Winning Percentage: 87.5% (3rd in nation)
How Much Noise Can US San Diego Make During March Madness?
While it doesn’t seem like anyone in the Big West is capable of slowing down the UC San Diego Tritons train, they’ll be put to the true test when they step on to the national scene. As it stands, the newest bracketology has them facing the No. 23 ranked Oregon Ducks in the first round.
The Oregon Ducks have had a great season overall and are on a 7-game winning streak heading into a Big 10 matchup vs. Indiana tomorrow. They’re 23-8 overall with a 12-8 conference record heading into Thursday and will be facing a Hoosiers team that has looked pretty shaky as of late. But the Tritons have held opponents to 62 points per game this season with their pesky defense. As it stands, UC San Diego might be more of a threat to Oregon than the Ducks are to them.
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