UC Irvine's defense-first mentality could make Anteaters March Madness instigators

New York Times

12-03-2025

IRVINE, Calif. — Russell Turner's gravelly voice rings out across the cavernous Bren Events Center, and no one is about to question the 15-year UC Irvine coach's threat.
'You don't do this right,' Turner warns, 'and I'm gonna put you in a pussycat.'
This drill is a defensive one, the part of the game the Anteaters most pride themselves on. And a pussycat, as it turns out, is a torturous motivator: Players are banished to the sideline where they get in the mountain climber position and push a heavy wood plank wrapped in fabric across all 94 feet of the court.
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Turner, a no-nonsense coaching veteran who previously worked at the No. 1 program in the country (Stanford, in 2001 and 2004) and with the NBA's best shooter (Steph Curry, as a Warriors assistant) plays no favorites, sending anyone who isn't in a stance, who doesn't talk or whose feet cross on their slide, to their exhausting fate. The Anteaters' best guard, sixth-year senior Justin Hohn, takes a turn. After he's done, hands on his hips and sucking in air, Hohn lifts his arm to be subbed back in, anxious to prove he can do it right.
Nearly everything UC Irvine does revolves around defense. That makes sense for the team ranked No. 16 in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency, which tracks points allowed per 100 possessions.
𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑𝐒 😤
The 2024-25 Anteaters set yet another school record, winning 14 true road games, the nation's best mark this season!#StillHungry | #TogetherWeZot pic.twitter.com/k8yjGSsjaT
— UCI Men's Basketball (@UCImbb) March 9, 2025
The Big West conference tournament tips Wednesday in Henderson, Nev., with second-seeded Irvine receiving a bye to Friday's semifinals, along with top-seeded UC San Diego (the Anteaters and Tritons split their regular-season meetings). Should the Anteaters win, it will be because of defense, as always.
If Irvine locks up the automatic bid, it will be Turner's third time guiding the mid-major to the NCAA Tournament. In 2015, 13th-seeded Irvine took Louisville to the wire before losing 57-55. In 2019, again seeded 13, the Anteaters upset fourth-seeded Kansas State to record the program's first NCAA Tournament victory.
Irvine, located 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles and with an enrollment of nearly 37,000, was a middling Big West program before Turner took over in 2010. From 1997 to 2010, the Anteaters finished third or higher six times but hadn't claimed a top-two finish since 2006. Since Turner's arrival, Irvine has finished in the top two 10 times, including seven regular-season titles.
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And it's because of its defense.
When the Anteaters scrimmage, they aren't keeping track of score, but defensive stops. They end practice with good, old-fashioned defensive slides, which Turner makes them re-do, because someone got lazy and didn't touch the line.
'I came here to get better at defense and I was expecting it to be hard, but not exactly like this,' said Bent Leuchten with a laugh. The 7-foot-1 German native and the Anteaters' best player averages 15.4 points and 9.1 rebounds.
'I think (the defensive slides) are great for me though. It's the part of my game I've improved the most.'
The Anteaters boast two sixth-year seniors, two fifth-year seniors and one traditional fourth-year senior. In the age of the transfer portal and instant eligibility — not to mention lucrative NIL deals that lure mid-major players from the programs that developed them — Irvine has already accomplished the hardest feat outside of the power conferences. The Anteaters got old, and stayed old.
That veteran leadership, which understands the value of defense, could translate to late March success.
'Before this, I'd never played for a team before where defense was the main identity, but man, when we do impose our will, it takes the life out of (the other team),' said Hohn, who averages a team-best 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals to go along with 11.6 points per game. 'It's happened to me inversely, and it sucks.'
He means in games against Irvine's opponents but also, at practice against his teammates.
Hohn knows the way Irvine plays won't appeal to every recruit. But it works for this group, he said, because 'when you can play defense, it makes you feel like you can do anything, beat anyone.'
Turner has had good defensive teams before at Irvine, but never one quite like this. Before this season, the highest Irvine had ever finished in KenPom.com's adjusted defensive efficiency was No. 31, in 2014 (it was No. 38 in 2021). Though they've dropped through the season — they were top five in December — the Anteaters' numbers are still on pace to shatter mid-major records. The best Big West defense in the history of KenPom was Utah State in 2000-01 (No. 29), according to Stats by Will.
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To be clear, the Anteaters' defense isn't flashy. They don't full-court press much, average only 6.8 steals per game (170th in the country) and don't run gimmicky zones. Instead, they make opponents take tough, uncomfortable shots. And it works.
Yet Turner, 54, doesn't necessarily identify as a defensive-first coach.
'I've learned that that's the best fit here,' he said. 'I think the secret to winning in college is figuring out how to best fit wherever you are. You have to figure out how to get players who are a little bit better than other people think. It's harder to do when you're focusing on offense, because most people see offense and value offense; it's what gets the most attention. And in high school, often the kids who are great at offense can't be great defenders because they can't foul. A lot of the guys we recruit are ones we think can blossom defensively.'
If Irvine gets the Big West's automatic bid — and it's a one-bid league this season — the Anteaters could very well make noise in the NCAA Tournament.
Fans watching their first college basketball games of the season during March Madness might not know of Irvine's status. But it's hardly a secret across the coaching community, a truth Turner has gathered given how hard it's become to schedule in nonconference games. Playing a mid-major team that's going to scout you within an inch of your playbook isn't something many power conference schools will do. And UC Irvine hasn't faced a power conference team this season.
Given the looming reality of schools directly paying players, there's been handwringing that programs like Irvine, and their Cinderella potential, could disappear in the coming years.
Turner isn't interested in worrying about that. While the Golden State Warriors and Irvine Anteaters don't exactly operate in the same basketball universe, Turner learned a lot from six seasons in the NBA that he applies now.
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'With NIL, we've been aggressively efficient,' he said. 'That strategy was part of the process in the NBA because, working with a salary cap, you have to be. Here we're always going to be a program that, by necessity, has to do more with less. But that's something I embrace. Maybe we don't have the components of a Power 4, but we do have weather, campus ambiance, a good academic reputation, family atmosphere, community buy-in and sustained success. … In the NBA, there are lots of guys who sacrifice to play for a winning organization and where they know they're gonna be treated well.'
Why can't Irvine be the college version of that?
Turner knows his old-school style isn't for everyone. He can come across as gruff on the court, snapping at players for every mistake, hollering at guys for being soft. But his NBA background helps here, too. Dynamics in the pros are different. Coaches there have to work 'in partnership with players,' something that's become more of a necessity in college, too, as players get paid.
'Authenticity is my thing,' Turner said. 'I'd be more afraid to not be authentic now in the age of NIL and the transfer portal. In my experience, the guys who have the most at stake, in college and in the NBA, want to be told the truth.'
Even if that truth is that sometimes, they have to get their butt down in a defensive stance.
(Photo of UC Irvine coach Russell Turner: Chris Gardner / Getty Images)