UC Irvine Draws Nevada; Fullerton Gets Boise State

The pairings for the Big West men’s basketball tournament were set Sunday after Nevada’s 82-72 victory over New Mexico State.

Cal State Fullerton (11-15, 6-10), the No. 2-seeded team from the Western Division, will play Boise State in the tournament, which opens Friday in Reno. Boise State, the third-seeded team from the Eastern Division, will play the Titans in the second game of Friday afternoon’s session.

Boise State, which defeated Fullerton by two points at Titan Gym during the regular season, is 17-12, 9-7 in the conference.

UC Irvine (9-17, 6-10), third-seeded in the Western Division, will play host Nevada (15-11, 11-5) in the second game of Friday’s evening session. Nevada is seeded second in the Eastern Division.

Utah State (22-7, 13-3) is top-seeded in the Eastern Division and will meet the Western Division’s fourth seed, Long Beach State (10-18, 5-11), in the opening game of the afternoon session at noon Friday. Pacific (21-8, 14-2) is the top-seeded team in the Western Division and will play Idaho (15-11, 9-7), the fourth-seeded team in the Eastern Division at 6 p.m. Friday.

The men’s semifinals begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, with the final at noon Sunday.

The women’s tournament begins Wednesday, with semifinals Thursday and final at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Irvine (16-10, 11-4) plays Idaho (14-14, 9-5) in the second game of the afternoon session. Boise State (17-9, 11-3) plays Pacific (9-17, 5-10) in the opener at 12:30 p.m.

The evening session matches UC Santa Barbara (23-5, 14-1) against North Texas (10-16, 4-10) at 6 p.m., followed by Nevada (18-8, 10-4) against Cal State Fullerton (10-16, 7-8).

Irvine is seeded second in the Western Division and Fullerton is third.