January 25, 2026
Hunter Hernandez’s ascent has UC Irvine atop the Big West
The fifth-year guard is in the midst of a breakout season
Five years ago, Hunter Hernandez was a potential rising star in the Big West Conference. She was in her first season at UC Irvine, and after earning a key spot in the rotation, she was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team. In her sophomore year, she was built on that momentum, starting 14 of 25 games and upping her scoring average from 4.9 to 12.0, as per Sports Reference.
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But towards the end of the year, Hernandez suffered an ACL injury which caused her to miss the final seven games of the 2022-23 season. As she continued her recovery, she would miss the entirety of the 2023-24 season. It’s not easy to return from a major injury like that, but Hernandez bounced back, earning her second selection to the All-Big West First Team in 2025.
And this season, she’s been arguably the best player in the Big West. She is second in the conference in scoring with 19.3 points per game, and her 385 total points leads the conference. Hernandez has bounced back in a major way, and it’s helped to give her a bit of a different perspective on the game of basketball.
”Being on the side, you see it from a different perspective. You’re noticing more things than you would when you’re in the game, or even on the bench but still playing. That’s kind of helped me a lot to see how it’s working, and see places that I can improve on,” Hernandez told The IX Basketball. “In the broader picture of things, it makes you appreciate basketball a little more … everyday going to practice, you can kind of get caught up in feeling like, ‘I’m so tired, I don’t want to be here.’”
”But being injured, and also with me being closer to the end of my career, I feel like I’ve found a greater appreciation for every day,” Hernandez continued. “And more motivation to give it 100% in the time that I do have left.”
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Hernandez certainly has been giving 100% this season. She’s on pace to earn her third All-Big West First Team selection, and has been the engine that’s powered the Anteaters all year. In addition to her scoring, she’s averaging 6.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 40.4% from the field, 38.8% from the 3-point line and 84.2% from the free-throw line.
Although Hernandez was UC Irvine’s leading scorer last season, the Anteaters still had 2024 Big West Player of the Year in Deja Lee on the roster. They had other experienced players as well in Neveah Dean, Nikki Tom and Olivia Williams, all veterans of the 2024 NCAA Tournament team, playing key roles.
With each of those players since departing the program, Hernandez knew that she was going to have to step into a larger role this season.
”I knew that my role would be a little bigger, so I took my time in the offseason to kind of work on the things that have allowed me to find more success this year, as well as my teammates putting me in really good places to succeed,” Hernandez said. “I think kind of making that transition came from the work that I did over the offseason, as well as my teammates really supporting me very well this year.”
One particular aspect of Hernandez’s game that has improved is her 3-point shooting. Through 19 games, she’s taking a career-high 4.5 attempts from distance and converting on 38.8%, also a career-best.
As a guard, it’s critical to be able to knock down the 3-point shot at a consistent rate. This is the first season that Hernandez has shot over 32% from deep. For her, it’s a combination of the offseason work she put in, as well as simply finding a comfortable groove and rhythm again after her injury rehab.
”I‘ve worked on it a lot, in the offseason, in practice, I definitely worked on it. But I think the main thing that’s kind of allowed me to find the success this year is definitely my experience,” Hernandez said. “I feel so comfortable this year. Last year I was coming back from my injury so I was still trying to find my way around and get into my flow. But having so much experience behind me, I feel really confident on the court this year, and that’s why shots are starting to fall more than they have in the past for me.”
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Hernandez has taken on a bigger role on more than just the court. With a roster composed primarily of freshmen and sophomores, she’s one of a small group of upperclassmen on the team. She’s also the longest tenured player on the roster, having been at UC Irvine for five seasons now.
The year the Anteaters reached the NCAA Tournament in 2024 was the year Hernandez was sidelined. Although she was unable to play, it was then that UC Irvine head coach Tamara Inoue saw Hernandez’s leadership begin to take shape.
“She was a contributor on the bench, and then when she got to go to practice. But I think more importantly, that was something she had her eyes set on and wanted to physically contribute … I think for that part, the leadership piece of it was just making sure everyone’s doing their stuff,” Inoue told The IX Basketball. “It’s hard when you’re a freshman, you don’t really grasp the understanding of the work it takes. It’s a big shock to most freshmen, and the transfers that come in. This is a different culture, so you have to conform or you’ll fail.”
“And I think Hunter’s done a really good job of making people understand what we do,” Inoue said. ”She has the coaches backs, she trusts what we’re doing and she makes sure it happens on the floor for us.”
Eight of the 13 players on UC Irvine’s roster are either freshman or sophomores. Six of the 13 are brand new to the program having come from the transfer portal or this being their first season of college basketball.
Hernandez knew that she was going to have to take on more of a leadership role than she was previously accustomed to.
”This year we do have a lot of young, new people so it’s definitely been a bigger leadership role for me to step into and kind of show them the culture that we’ve been building,” Hernandez said. “My teammates that I came in with, they created a really good example for these new players to follow. And we’ve created a winning culture here, so kind of carrying that on and showing the new players so that they can continue to do that in the future has been really important.”
Part of that leadership role also entails listening to her mind and body, and knowing how hard she can push herself while still getting into a post-injury rhythm. That’s been one of the biggest things that Inoue has noticed in terms of Hernandez’s growth and maturity.
“Coming back off the injury was very mentally challenging, and that’s never easy. Just making sure she feels good, her body feels stronger and feels better. One thing I think that she’s really good at right now is understanding her body. There’s not much that I do, or my coaches do, she knows how to get herself right,” Inoue said. “She knows when to take a break, she knows when to push harder, that’s been something she’s matured off of.”
”She doesn’t just go, go, go because we want her to, she’s smart enough to listen to say, ‘okay I need to take a rep off or I need to do this for my knee,’” Inoue continued. “That’s also a big piece of her success. It’s just her really understanding how she feels.”
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With a little over one month of the regular season left to play, UC Irvine is at 17-3 overall, 8-1 in Big West play, and sitting atop of the conference standings. When the Anteaters reached the NCAA Tournament in 2024, it was the program’s first time in 28 years. Their last appearance was during the 1994-95 season.
This is also Inoue’s 10th season as head coach. In eight of those years, including this one, she’s led UC Irvine to a winning record. Since they joined the NCAA in 1982, Inoue holds the highest win percentage (59.9%) of any coach in program history.
For Hernandez, she and her teammates want to continue that winning tradition that’s been established, and help push the program to another March Madness appearance.
”Our goal is always to win. We want to win the [Big West] tournament, we want to play in March Madness … that’s kind of been the goal from the start. And I think the way we’ve come together and kind of started to play better and better each game has been really nice to see,” Hernandez said. “We’re on a really good streak right now and we just want to keep that going, keep supporting each other, being excited and being engaged as the season goes on.
“There’s going to be ups and downs, but I think riding this wave that we’re on and keeping it going is our biggest concern right now.”
Written by David Mendez-Yapkowitz
David has been with The IX Basketball team since the High Post Hoops days when he joined the staff in 2018. He is based in Los Angeles and covers the LA Sparks, Pac-12 Conference, Big West Conference and some high school as well.
