UC San Diego’s historic men’s basketball season continued on Tuesday, with Tritons players and coach Eric Olen winning the Big West’s major awards ahead of the conference tournament.
Senior guard/forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones was named the Big West Player of the Year. Olen was named Big West Coach of the Year, while senior point guard Hayden Gray was named best defensive player, junior guard Chris Howell earned the hustle award and Justin Rochelin was named best sixth man.
UCSD won five of the seven awards handed out by the league. UC Irvine’s Jurian Dixon, a St. Augustine High School graduate, was named the Big West Freshman of the Year and Cal State Bakersfield’s Jemel Jones, a transfer from South Suburban College, was named Newcomer of the Year.
“It’s really cool because this team is probably the most unselfish group I’ve ever been around,” Olen said. “For that to turn into probably the most individual recognition we’ve seen, it’s pretty cool.”
For the second season in a row, UCSD was the league’s only program to win more than one major award. The Tritons (28-4) are the No. 1 seed in the Big West Conference Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Las Vegas; they won’t play until Friday’s semifinals, a perk of finishing in the top two in their league during the regular season.
A New Zealand native who transferred to UCSD from Hawaii-Hilo, Tait-Jones — his first name, Aniwaniwa, means rainbow in Maori — is the first Tritons player in the Division I era to win a player of the year award. He averaged 21 points per game in conference play, hitting 57% of his shots. No player in America has attempted more free throws than Tait-Jones (274) this season. He was also named to the Big West’s first team.
“It’s a special award,” Tait-Jones said. “I’m very grateful and happy that I can win this award, but I wouldn’t be out here without my coaches and without my teammates. All credit to them.”
Olen is the Big West Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, though this is the first time the Tritons are eligible to play in both the conference and NCAA tournaments. He was won 238 games with the Tritons in Division I and Division II play, the most in program history.
A San Diego native and Santa Fe Christian School graduate, Gray is the first Triton to be named Big West Defensive Player of the Year. His 104 steals and 3.25 steals per game are both tops in the country. Gray was also named to the All-Big West Second Team.
Howell, the hustle award winner, led the Big West in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2) during conference play. Rochelin, the Sixth Man of the Year, averaged 7.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in league play. Tyler McGhie, a current UCSD standout, won the award a year ago.
McGhie was named to the All-Big West First Team on Tuesday. He averaged 14.4 points per game in conference play. He has made 111 3-pointers this season, tying a program record and ranking fifth in the country.
“It’s really rewarding to see those guys get recognized for their performance,” Olen said. “They’ve been great all year.”
