Tyler McGhie and the UC San Diego basketball team enjoyed a weekend off following Thursday night’s 74-63 win at Hawaii.

Given what awaits the Tritons, the break was ideal.

UC San Diego (18-8, 8-2 Big West) sits one game back of first-place UC Irvine (20-3, 10-1) and one game ahead of third-place UC Riverside (15-8, 8-3) with 10 games remaining in the regular season.

Riverside visits LionTree Arena on Thursday. And on Saturday, the Tritons travel to Irvine for a game that could have major ramifications heading into the conference tournament.

Last month, UCSD senior guard/forward Tyler McGhie talked about the big picture.

“Oh, I pay attention,” said McGhie, who scored a team-high 24 points on 8 of 17 shooting in the win at Hawaii. “I like to know what’s going on with other teams in our league. There’s a lot on the line every game, it feels like.”

UCSD lost to both Irvine and Riverside in their first meetings this season. The Anteaters beat the Tritons 60-52 on Jan. 11; the Highlanders did the same a week later, 85-81.

UCSD still has its sights set on winning the Big West regular-season title. If they can’t, it’s crucial that they finish with as high a seed as possible for the Big West tournament. The top two seeds receive a double bye into the semifinals, while the third and fourth seeds will get first-round byes into the quarters.

Paced by the consistently strong play of guard Barrington Hargress, Riverside has won five straight. While the Tritons held a practice on Saturday, Barrington led the Highlanders to an 80-62 home win over Cal Poly; he scored 20 points on 8 of 19 shooting and added eight assists.

The sophomore from Inglewood is pushing UCSD’s Anawaniwa Tait-Jones and UC Davis’ Ty Johnson for Big West Player of The Year honors.

The Tritons certainly know how good Barrington is. He cooked their Big West-leading defense for a season-high 40 points on 14 of 22 shooting and made 5 of 7 3-point attempts and 7 of 7 free throws while adding five rebounds in UCR’s win over UCSD.

Meanwhile, Irvine has won three straight since the loss to Riverside, including Saturday’s 73-66 home win over fifth-place UC Davis. The Anteaters play only one game this week, giving them plenty of time to prepare for UCSD’s visit.

First, the Tritons have to tangle with the Highlanders.

“They kind of punked us,” Tait-Jones said of the first matchup with Riverside. “That’s not something we want to have happen to us ever again.”

UC Riverside at UC San Diego

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Streaming: ESPN+