Showdown in the Big West with the winner taking over first place and the field of 68 in Friday's Bracketology updates. Rematch here of Hawaii's narrow 67-66 win in Honolulu on January 10, when the Rainbow Warriors won it at the buzzer on a short pull-up shot by Hunter Erickson. The lead was never greater than 3 points across the last 11 minutes of that nailbiter. On the mainland, however, Hawaii has lost two of its last three, bowing at UCSD and UCSB, while the Anteaters have some momentum after back-to-back wins, including at UCSD last Saturday. Soph G Jurian Dixon (15.6 ppg) has emerged as a go-to scorer while Russell Turner has another top 30 scoring defense (only 66.8 ppg). Play UC Irvine

Hawaii won the first meeting 67-66 on Jan. 10 when Hunter Erickson swished a fadeaway foul-line jumper as time expried. This should be another tight battle between the Big West's top two teams. I'll back the Anteaters, who are 3-0 at home in Big West play and have won six straight home meetings with Hawaii. This is UC Irvine's first home game in three weeks, and it will be nationally televised. Both teams are excellent defensively; UC Irvine leads the nation in 2-point field goal defense, with 6-10 senior Kyle Evans leading the nation in blocks (3.2 per game). The Rainbow Warriors have faced two other Top-4 teams in the Big West on the road, losing by 15 at UCSB nd by 10 at UCSD.