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LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego men’s basketball hits the road for the first time in the Clint Allard era as the Tritons travel north to take on Fresno State Wednesday night. UC San Diego is off to a 2-0 start after home wins over La Verne and Houston Christian. The Bulldogs (2-1) fell to USC Upstate sandwiched between wins over Fresno Pacific and Long Beach State – all in Fresno.
Wednesday marks just the second-ever meeting between these programs, and the first since 1981 when the Tritons competed in NCAA Division III. Tip time is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Save Mart Center, with a live broadcast on The Mountain West Network and a link to live stats on UCSDTritons.com.
DETAILS
ABOUT THE TRITONS
Roster | Schedule | Stats
Overall: 2-0
Big West: 0-0
Home: 2-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 0-0
vs. Ranked Opponents: 0-0
Streak: W2
TRITONS, STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Roster | Schedule | Stats
Overall: 2-1
Mountain West: 0-0
Home: 2-1
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 0-0
vs. Ranked Opponents: 0-0
Streak: W1
WHAT’S NEXT
UC San Diego returns to LionTree Arena to host unbeaten Idaho for a Saturday matinee. It’s youth day in La Jolla, featuring postgame autographs. Tip is set for 1 p.m. and tickets can be purchased through the Triton Box Office. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and KSDT radio, with a link to live stats on UCSDTritons.com.
LAST TIME OUT: TRITONS 78, HOUSTON CHRISTIAN 60 Stats
UC San Diego closed the first half on a 21-4 run and never looked back in a 78-60 win over visiting HCU Saturday night inside LionTree Arena. Tom Beattie led all scorers with 18 points in the win. Beattie also paced the Tritons on the glass, with six boards and he was tops on the team with four assists in the win. Alex Chaikin chipped in ten points for the Tritons, who improved to 2-0.
CAREER-BEST EFFORT
First year Triton Tom Beattie scored a career high 18 points in a Homecoming win over HCU (Nov. 3). Beattie was 7-for-12 from the floor, knocking down a pair of three-pointers in the win.
GOING STREAKING
Dating back to January, UC San Diego has won 13 consecutive regular season games.
TRIPLE DIGITS
UC San Diego scored 105 points in its season-opening win over La Verne (Nov. 3). The Tritons reached the century mark three times last season.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
UC San Diego has turned LionTree Arena into a true home court advantage, boasting a 29-4 record in La Jolla over the past two-plus seasons.
GOT THE FIRST ONE
When the Tritons beat La Verne in the season opener (Nov. 3), that marked the first victory in the head coaching career of Clint Allard ’08.
2024-25 REWIND
UC San Diego is coming off an historic season in which the Tritons won 30 games, a Big West regular season and tournament title, and took 14th-ranked Michigan to the wire in the NCAA Tournament – all in the program’s first season with Division I postseason eligibility. In fact, UC San Diego became the first program in NCAA history to send its men’s and women’s teams to March Madness in its first season eligible to do so.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Tritons were second nationally in wins away from home (road + neutral) last season. UC San Diego was 17-3 in games outside of LionTree Arena: 12-2 on the road and 5-1 at neutral sites.
MARGIN OF VICTORY
UC San Diego led NCAA Division I with a turnover margin of +7.2. The Tritons won the turnover battle in 33 of their 35 games.
MARGIN OF VICTORY II
The Tritons were tops in The Big West with a scoring margin of 18.1. Nationally, UC San Diego’s margin of victory sat second behind Duke.
STINGY ON D
UC San Diego led The Big West in scoring defense, allowing just 61.6 points per game. Nationally, that mark was sixth best.
NEW-LOOK TRITONS
Head coach Clint Allard has added ten newcomers who have join the Tritons’ roster for the 2025-26 season: eight transfers and two first-year scholar-athletes. Leo Beath (Lynn), Tom Beattie (Hawai’i), Alex Chaikin (Lafayette), Bol Dengdit (Portland), Tyson Dunn (Buffalo), Trap Johnson (Montana State), Emanuel Prospere II (Missouri-St. Louis), and Dimitrije Vukicevic (Washington State) transferred to UC San Diego. Hudson Mayes (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Jaden Vance (Phoenix, Ariz.) joined the roster as freshmen.
CHALLENGING SLATE AWAITS
The Tritons will face a challenging slate away from home in 2025, taking part in the Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational just prior to Thanksgiving at Walt Disney World (Nov. 24-26). UC San Diego will also compete in the Jack Jones Classic in Henderson, Nev., squaring off with Tulane on Dec. 13. UC San Diego’s non-conference road games include matchups with Fresno State (Nov. 12) and Nevada (Dec. 2) from the Mountain West, and LMU from the West Coast Conference (Dec. 16).
TRITONS IN THE PROS
Three Tritons from last year’s Big West Championship team are playing professionally this year. Tyler McGhie is playing for Gipuzkoa Basket in Spain, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is competing with Valmiera Glass in Latvia, and Hayden Gray is playing in the NBA G League for the Maine Celtics (Boston).
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world’s preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.