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WHEN: Thursday, April 3, 2025
WHAT: NIT Championship Game
WHO: Chattanooga (28-9) vs. No. 1 UC Irvine (32-5)
WHERE: Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,100)/Indianapolis, IN
WHERE TO WATCH AND TIME: ESPN, 9 p.m. EST
SERIES: First Meeting
KenPom Ranking: Chattanooga (97)/UC Irvine (67)
PREVIEW:
Win or lose, both Chattanooga and UC Irvine will both be playing their final game of the 2024/25 basketball season, and for both it’s been a historic one. For SoCon member Chattanooga, a win in the championship game over UC Irvine will tie the 2015-16 team with a school-record 29 wins, while Big West member UC Irvine has already won a school-record 32 games entering the championship tilt against the Mocs. In many ways, the 2025 title game matchup between the Mocs and Anteaters is a game between a pair of conferences that have been on the rise in college basketball for the past few seasons, with the Big West ranking 12th out of 31 conferences this season according to KenPom, while the SoCon comes in ranked as the No. 13 conference in college basketball this season, according to the same metric.
It’s rare that you get the opportunity for things to come full circle, however, for Chattanooga, a season that began on the left coast with games against Southern California (L, 51-77) and St. Mary’s (L, 74-86) will see its ultimate end in a game with a team that another one of the Golden State’s top programs, in UC Irvine. UC Irvine has played a team from the Volunteer State once this season, having gone on the road to take down a good Belmont program, 92-84, at the Curb Events Center back on Dec. 19.
Incredibly, UC Irvine is the second Big West team to have reached 30 wins this season, with UC San Diego having 30 or more wins this season, with the Big West being one of only two conferences to hold such a distinction. Only the SEC, which has 32-win Auburn and 34-win Florida, with both having a chance to increase those totals in the NCAA’s Final Four this weekend, as the only other conference in NCAA Division I Basketball to have two teams with 30 or more wins.
While Chattanooga becomes the first SoCon team to play in an NCAA-sanctioned championship game since West Virginia in 1959, which met California in that season’s NCAA Title game at Freedom Hall in Louisville, dropping what was a 71-70 contest, UC Irvine is the first Big West team to play in the NIT Championship game since 1983 when Fresno State claimed the NIT title with a 69-60 win over DePaul.
IT’S CHAMP DAY! @gomocsmbb looks to conclude it’s incredible season with an @NITMBB title tonight in Indy 🏀 | #itsallhere pic.twitter.com/HrW4Y5Db6W
— The Southern Conference (@SoConSports) April 3, 2025
Thursday night’s championship battle sees Chattanooga’s extremely efficient offense (48.3 FG%), as the Mocs rank 24th in the country in team field goal percentage, while also taking very good care of the basketball, ranking seventh in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (1.70). The only team to rank better than the Mocs in the NIT is the team that it will be facing in Thursday night’s title game, as UC Irvine comes into the contest ranking fourth in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (1.80). Chattanooga also ranks 14th nationally in effective field goal percentage (0.565) and are 41st nationally in scoring offense (79.6 PPG). While the Mocs are extremely efficient on the offensive end of the floor, they face a UC Irvine team that has been good defensively this season, as the Anteaters come in ranking 10th nationally in field goal percentage defense (39.4%).
Players to Watch UC Irvine:
UC Irvine comes into its final game of the season with four of its five starters averaging in double figures, and the leader of the team is 7-1 center Bent Leuchten (15.4 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.6 APG, 54.6 FG%), and he comes into the championship game against the Mocs having posted a total of 19 double-doubles this season and his 343 rebounds this season ranks him second in school history. Typically, this season, teams with a tremendous amount of size, particularly at center around the basket, have been the ones that have given the Mocs some issues this season. Having said that, the Mocs looked good last time out against Loyola Chicago, which by all accounts was the most physical teams the Mocs had faced this season, as well as one of the best defensive teams UTC has seen this season.
— No Context College Basketball (@ContextFreeCBB) April 2, 2025
Redshirt senior Devin Tills (13.5 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.4 APG) comes into the matchup as a savvy veteran, and at 6-7, 225-lbs, is a bit of a load underneath. The efficiency of players like Leucten and Tillis in the paint this season has shown up over the long haul as well, with the Anteaters having outscored their opposition 1,258-1,008 in the points in the paint category through 38 games this season. Tillis was a second-team All-Big West selection this past season, and he is a player that can step out and effectively shoot the three, shooting 38.3% on 46-of-120 from deep so far this season.
The Anteaters employ a three-guard backcourt, with grad transfer Justin Hohn (12.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 74 threes), redshirt freshman and Big West Freshman of the Year Jurian Dixon (8.7 PPG, 1.7 APG) and the familiar name of Myles Che (12.1 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 42.3% 3PT FG%) rounding out the starting five for UC Irvine. Hohn is the Anteaters top perimeter threat this season in terms of threes made, having knocked down a team-best 74 triples this season.
Che, a transfer to UC Irvine from Chattanooga, is someone the Mocs and head coach Dan Earl will be quite familiar with. He has proven to be the Anteaters top perimeter threat in terms of percentage of made triples this season, having knocked down an impressive 43.2% (54-of-125) this season. Che is a bit of a “fancy-free” point guard and isn’t afraid to use the element of surprise or spring the unconventional with his passing and ball-handling skills. At times, that worked to his detriment in Dan Earl’s offensive system but has worked out nicely as a part of Russell Turner’s offensive scheme, with Che being at the point. He was an All-Big West Honorable Mention selection this season, and wears the No. 77 to honor Jeremy Lin, who wore No. 7.
Dixon was the Big West Conference’s top freshman in 2024-25 and found his way into double figures in 16 games this season and he posted a season-high 23 points in a win over UC Santa Barbara in the final game of the regular-season. Dixon isn’t a noted three-point threat, connecting on just 32.2% (28-of-87) from downtown this season.
As far as players to keep an eye on coming off the bench for the Anteaters, Colorado State transfer and 6-10 forward Kyle Evans (4.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 47 blks) and freshman guard Torian Lee (4.2 PPG, 1.1 RPG) represent the two most productive. Lee is a solid threat from three off the bench, having connected on right at 39% of his attempts this season and is a player the Mocs will have to be aware of when he is in, as he has connected on 35-of-90 attempts from long range this season.
As far as Evans is concerned, the 6-10 forward is an explosive athlete and he is UC Irvine’s energy guy off the bench and is especially key on the defensive end of the floor, where he leads the team with 47 blocks this season.
Players to Watch Chattanooga:
Obviously for Dan Earl’s Chattanooga everything begins and ends with Trey Bonham (14.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.8 APG) and Honor Huff (15.2 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 2.3 APG, 128 threes), but sometimes, as this tournament has proven, taking away one of those guys isn’t enough. That’s because Bonham, who has been nearly unstoppable in this tournament, has sometimes seen teammate Honor Huff, who has in some games had lower point totals, hit the big shot, as he did against Middle Tennessee State in a triple-overtime win in the opening round, finishing with only six points, as well as hitting the big shot the last time out against Loyola-Chicago last time out, which put him in double figures inside the final 40 seconds and most importantly gave the Mocs a four-point lead, extending a meager 74-73 lead to 77-73 with just 35 seconds left.
That allowed the Mocs to close out the win in style and make it to arguably the biggest game since the 1997 NCAA Tournament, when the Mocs faced off against God Shamgod, Austin Croshere and the Providence Friars in a Sweet Sixteen matchup in Birmingham, AL. Huff will finish the season as college basketball’s three-point king across all divisions (I, II, III and NAIA), having knocked down 128 threes this season. He currently ranks second in school history with 128 triples.
A third tier to Chattanooga’s offensive efficiency is often the one that is forgotten to some degree due to just how electric both Huff and Bonham have been in the postseason, however, without Bash Wieland (14.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG), the Mocs wouldn’t be where they are at this point in the season. In fact, it was Wieland’s career-best 31 points that allowed the Mocs to slip past Middle Tennessee State in the opening round of the NIT. Wieland is one of two Division I transfers on the roster on one that returned little beyond leading scorers Honor Huff and Trey Bonham coming into the season. Wieland, who came to UTC from Bellarmine prior to the season as a grad transfer, must be that third scorer for UTC for the Mocs to have a chance in Thursday night’s championship game.
Rounding out the starting five for UTC are big men Garrison Keeslar (6.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.1 APG) and Collin Mulholland (5.6 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 26 threes). Keeslar is underrated in his importance, and since the Mocs lost their best big man prior to the SoCon Tournament, in second-team All-SoCon selection Frank Champion just prior to the SoCon Tournament, Keeslar has been huge, and his adept passing out of the high-post and his efficiency has been key to keeping Dan Earl’s offense, which is essentially a sped-up version of a Princeton-style offense, has been especially key in helping offense operate at an optimum level. Keeslar leads the nation in assist-turnover ratio (5.38).
Mulholland, Makai Richards (3.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG), Latif Diouf (3.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG) and Sean Cusano (4.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG) have kind of been a committee that have equally shouldered the scoring load underneath in the absence of Champion. Mulholland and Richards have stepped up as much as anyone and with Big Maple’s ability to step out and shoot the three, it makes this group even more versatile.
Prediction: Chattanooga 82, UC Irvine 80
–Expect both teams to put on a show for two conferences that deserve more respect nationally, but in the end, it’s Chattanooga’s underrated depth that ends up being the difference in a tight game throughout.
7:28 PM
