A new era is underway in the Inland Empire. The UC Riverside Highlanders open the 2026–27 season under first-year head coach Gus Argenal, who took the reins after Mike Magpayo — the program's most successful coach and the first Asian-American head coach in Division I history — departed for Fordham in the spring of 2026. Argenal inherits a program that hit reset last winter: a 10–22 campaign, a 5–15 Big West mark, and a roster that must learn how to win again. But in Riverside, the goal has never changed, because the mountain has never been climbed — the Highlanders have never been to the NCAA Tournament, and every March the wait grows louder.
The 2025–26 season was the comedown. After years of Magpayo-era contention, the Highlanders went 10–22 overall and finished 5–15 in the Big West, bowing out with a 93–74 loss at Hawai'i on March 5. There were flashes of what the program could be: a 95–84 home win over Cal State Northridge in the finale, powered by a 38-point explosion from Marqui Worthy, and Andrew Henderson's 26-point effort in Honolulu. Worthy and Henderson gave the backcourt real scoring punch — Henderson dropped 22 on UC Davis in February — but the defense that once defined Magpayo's teams slipped, and close games kept slipping away.
Magpayo's exit was the end of the best era in program history. He served as interim coach in 2020–21, won the job permanently, and immediately delivered a program-best 14–8 season with a trip to the Big West semifinals — earning the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award. The following year, his 2021–22 squad won 16 games, beat Arizona State in Tempe on a buzzer-beating three on ESPNU, and produced the program's fourth All-Big West First Team selection in Arinze Chidom. Zyon Pullin parlayed his Highlander years into NBA draft workouts, and the program put wins over Power 5 programs on the board in three straight seasons.
The talent pipeline proved it was real last summer. Lachlan Olbrich, the skilled Australian big man who starred at UCR, was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in June 2025 — the highest NBA draft pick in program history. That milestone mattered beyond the press release: it told every recruit in the Inland Empire that the road from Riverside to the league exists. Olbrich's path, like Pullin's before him, is now part of the pitch Argenal makes in living rooms.
The Big West that UCR plays in looks different this season. Effective July 2026, Hawai'i and UC Davis departed for the Mountain West, while California Baptist and Utah Valley arrived from the WAC and Sacramento State joined from the Big Sky. It's also the final Big West campaign for UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara, both headed to the West Coast Conference in July 2027. For a rebuilding Highlander program, the league's flux is opportunity — new opponents, no entrenched pecking order, and a wide-open race behind perennial favorite UC Irvine.
Argenal's first roster blends holdovers with a heavy portal and recruiting imprint. Henderson and Worthy give the backcourt proven Big West scoring; Osiris Grady brings rebounding and defensive versatility after a 10-board game against UC Davis; De'Undrae Perteete, Ben Waller and Tyler Jones round out a rotation that knows the league. The non-conference slate starts soft by design — La Verne visits the SRC Arena on November 2, Denver follows on November 7, then San Jose State on November 12 — giving a new coach time to install his system before the Big West grind begins.
The SRC Arena remains the program's home-court weapon. At 3,168 seats with a low ceiling and a student section that treats every game like the tournament, the building gets loud when the Highlanders are rolling. Highlander basketball has always been a grassroots affair — the community knows the roster and the roster knows the community — and Argenal's first task is reconnecting that bond after a losing season tested it.
What defines UC Riverside is the one thing it hasn't done. In a one-bid league, one hot weekend in March is all it takes, and the Highlanders have played spoiler enough times to know how thin the margin is. Magpayo brought the program to the Big West semifinals; the next step — cutting down the nets — is the mission Argenal was hired to finish. The drought only makes the first Dance sweeter. In Riverside, the belief hasn't wavered.
The rivalry map keeps the winters interesting. UC Irvine is the measuring stick — the Anteaters' Big West dominance is the standard UCR chases — while Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UC Davis have all been annual wars. New league members California Baptist, Utah Valley and Sacramento State mean new blood feuds to build, and the SRC Arena's student section, the Highlander faithful, will be the loudest voice in every one of them.