1977–78 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 1977–78 UC Irvine Anteaters Basketball Pacific Coast Athletic Association PCAA 8–17 2–12 Tim Tift 9th Crawford Hall The 1977–78 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team represented the University of California, Irvine during the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the program's first season in Division I after spending the previous 12 season in Division II. The Anteaters were led by ninth year head coach Tim Tift and played their home games at Crawford Hall as members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. They finished their inaugural season 8–17 and were 2–12 in PCAA play to finish 8th place. The anteaters did not receive an invitation to the 1978 PCAA tournament. Previous season The 1976–77 UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team finished their final season in NCAA Division II as an Independent with a record of 10–17. In July 1977, the anteaters were formally accepted into the Pacific Coast Athletic Association and reclassified as an NCAA Division I program beginning with the 1977–78 season.GUSTKEY, E. (1976, Jul 15). "PCAA WILL ADMIT UC IRVINE IN '77". Los Angeles Times Off-season Incoming transfer Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Steve McGuire F 6'5" N/A Jr. N/A Junior college transfer from Rio Hondo CollegeGUSTKEY, E. (1977, Jan 14). "UCI cagers have youthful outlook." Los Angeles Times 1977 Recruiting Class no yes 1977 Quentin Brown F N/A Theodore Roosevelt High School (Fresno) (CA) 6 6 Willie Alexander G N/A Theodore Roosevelt High School (Fresno) (CA) 6 1 Bret Bell C N/A Sanger Union High School (CA) 6 8 Rick Jurk G N/A Mira Costa High School (CA) 6 4 Source(1977, Apr 28). UCI signs three basketball stars. Los Angeles Times Roster 1977 UC Irvine Anteaters men's y Bret Bell C 6 8 FR Phil Bolden C 6 6 JR Quentin Brown F 6 6 FR Ben Carson G 6 0 SO Kirk Christ C 6 6 SR Rick Jurk G 6 4 FR Dave Knudsen C 6 7 SO Steve McGuire F 6 5 JR Steve Rodgers F 6 8 SO Jack Sapp G 6 0 SO Wayne Smith F 6 5 SR y Louis Stephens G 6 4 SR https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/california-irvine/1978.html July 10, 2017 Tim Tift (Pepperdine) Schedule and results yes 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings 1977 yes yes |- !colspan=12 style="background:#002244; color:#FFDE6C;"| Regular season November 27, 1977 l yes yes 1977–78 Portland Pilots Portland Howard Hall Portland, OR 945 61–77 0–1 November 29, 1977 w yes yes 1977–78 Chico State Wildcats Chico State – Chico, CA 352 62–56 1–1 December 3, 1977 l yes yes 1977–78 UC San Diego Tritons UC San Diego – San Diego, CA 250 64–76 1–2 December 10, 1977 w yes 1977–78 Wisconsin–Parkside Rangers Wisconsin–Parkside Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 450 59–51 2–2 December 16, 1977 w yes Boise State Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 525 66–64 3–2 December 17, 1977 w yes Aurora College Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 450 70–48 4–2 December 20, 1977 l yes 1977–78 Portland Pilots Portland Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 703 68–73 4–3 December 22, 1977 l yes yes 1977–78 Oregon Ducks Oregon McArthur Court Eugene, OR 10,500 62–77 4–4 December 30, 1977 l yes yes 1977–78 California Golden Bears California Harmon Gym Berkeley, CA 2,500 50–83 4–5 January 7, 1978 w yes yes 1977–78 Northern Colorado Bears Northern Colorado Butler–Hancock Hall Greeley, CO 650 60–58 5–5 January 12, 1978 l 1977–78 Fresno State Bulldogs Fresno State Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 1,025 40–45 5–6 0–1 January 14, 1978 l Cal State Fullerton Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 1,382 59–88 5–7 0–2 January 19, 1978 l yes 1977–78 San Diego State Aztecs San Diego State Peterson Gym San Diego, CA 2,881 65–90 5–8 0–3 January 21, 1978 l yes 1977–78 Long Beach State 49ers Long Beach State Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA 3,036 79–92 5–9 0–4 January 24, 1978 w yes yes 1977–78 Loyola Marymount Lions Loyola Marymount Loyola Memorial Gymnasium Los Angeles, CA 800 72–69 6–9 January 26, 1978 l 1977–78 Pacific Tigers Pacific Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 575 58–70 6–10 0–5 January 28, 1978 w 1977–78 San Jose State Spartans San Jose State Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 682 73–58 7–10 1–5 February 2, 1978 l yes 1977–78 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos UC Santa Barbara Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA 1,482 76–78 7–11 1–6 February 4, 1978 w UC Santa Barbara Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 956 68–65 8–11 2–6 February 9, 1978 l yes San Jose State Independence High School San Jose, CA 1,440 67–70 8–12 2–7 February 11, 1978 l yes Pacific Pacific Pavilion Stockton, CA 2,350 73–58 8–13 2–8 February 16, 1978 l Long Beach State Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 1,328 64–73 8–14 2–9 February 18, 1978 l San Diego State Crawford Hall Irvine, CA 1,101 42–48 8–15 2–10 February 23, 1978 l yes Cal State Fullerton Titan Gym Fullerton, CA 1,432 75–83 8–16 2–11 February 25, 1978 l yes Fresno State Selland Arena Fresno, CA 6,493 73–58 8–17 2–12 AP Poll Pacific Time Sourcehttps://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ucirvine.sidearmsports.com/documents/2017/6/6/All_TImeUCIrvineRecords.pdf UC Irvine Men's Basketball Record Book UC Irvine Athletics NCAA July 10, 2017 January 22, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230122075118/https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ucirvine.sidearmsports.com/documents/2017/6/6/All_TImeUCIrvineRecords.pdf dead http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBB1/B/Men's%20Basketball_Men's_Division%20I_1978_109_University%20of%20California,%20Irvine.pdf Final 1978 Cumulative Basketball Statistics Report NCAA July 20, 2017 Awards and honors Wayne Smith Second Team All-PCAAhttp://www.bigwest.org/sports/mbball/info/records12.pdf Big West Conference men's basketball record book Big West Conference bigwest.org July 10, 2017 October 7, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20131007030909/http://www.bigwest.org/sports/mbball/info/records12.pdf dead Team players drafted into the NBA Round Pick Player NBA club422Wayne SmithPhoenix Suns Sourcehttps://basketball.realgm.com/player/Wayne-Smith/Summary/65351 Wayne Smith Real GM realgm.com July 10, 2017 References UC Irvine Category:UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball seasons Category:1970s in Orange County, California UC Irvine Anteaters UC Irvine Anteaters