UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Baker Makes His Case for the Defense

Rod Baker took one look at the way one of UC Irvine’s basketball players was guarding a teammate in a one-on-one drill during practice last week, and stopped everything.

“Come over here,” he said to one of his assistants, who seemed a bit unsure what Baker wanted. Standing near the two players, Baker took his assistant, snuggled him close, and stepped between the offensive and defensive players. “Two people can get through here!” he said.

Not good enough.

Under Bill Mulligan, Irvine built a reputation as a team that lived to run and didn’t emphasize defense. The second part of that, at least, is history.

Baker insists on tight defense, and a noses-to-their-sternums stance.

“All up in their faces,” said David Hollaway, a senior guard.

It’s a twist on tradition--Irvine allowed 92 points a game last season--but so far, the focus on the unglamorous work of defense seems to be something the Irvine players have taken to.

“It’s good, that’s what helps win games,” Hollaway said. “That’s the way it should be.”

Baker, a Seton Hall assistant the past three seasons and a former head coach at Tufts, has taken over a team that has only 16 victories in the past two seasons. As they prepare for their first season under Baker, Irvine’s players are calling his practices “structured” and “demanding.”

“It’s a lot tougher than in previous years,” said Jeff Von Lutzow, a junior forward. “There are a lot of defensive drills, a ton of defense, more than I’ve ever played in my life.”

Hollaway, who is among a strong group of guards challenging each other for playing time, called the practices “intense.”

“(Baker) is a lot more demanding. He wants you to do more and wants you to do it right,” Hollaway said.

Von Lutzow, who has endured records of 5-23 and 11-19 in his first seasons, says he is optimistic.

“Baker knows what he’s doing. He’s a good coach and so are the assistants,” Von Lutzow said. “This year we’re going to break .500.”

The toughest competition is at the guard spots, where Gerald McDonald is a returning starter and Keith Stewart, a transfer from Marquette and Purdue, has added considerable talent.

McDonald, Irvine’s point guard last year, might be used at off guard, but his speed and penetrating ability put him in the mix.

Stewart has speed and good outside shooting ability. However, Stewart won’t become eligible until the fifth game of the season, Dec. 16 at Loyola Marymount.

Craig Marshall, a junior who played guard and small forward last season, is also challenging, as are Hollaway and freshman Zuri Williams.

Adding to the competition in practice is Lloyd Mumford, a transfer from Villanova who will not be eligible until the 1992-93 season.

By contrast, senior Don May has only one person to compete with at center, Uzoma Obiekea, a transfer from U.S. International.

The Bren Center is not yet five years old, but there is a lot of reconstruction going on there these days--on both of Irvine’s basketball programs.

The women’s team, with only six victories over the past two seasons, also has a new coach, Colleen Matsuhara. Matsuhara, a former Cal State Long Beach assistant and former head coach at Nebraska, says much of her team’s work has been focused on “getting the fundamentals down.” Before practice began, Matsuhara said no player was assured a spot on the roster, scholarship or not. That proved true when a scholarship player, Denise Gandara, was cut from the team.

“It was hard for me to do,” Matsuhara said. “She really did work hard.”

Her place was taken by walk-on Felicia Dixon, a 5-foot-7 senior who had played with the Anteaters in past seasons but had left the program and did not play last year.

With seven returning players--led by forward Yvonne Catala, the team’s leading scorer--six newcomers and a new coaching staff, the team hopes it is starting over.

“Last year they won five games, the year before they won one,” Matsuhara said. “We’re talking about new beginnings.

“We’re trying to determine who will be our outside shooters, who our best defensive players are, and who will be our post player.”

Rayna Cervantes, an All-American in cross-country who had yet to be Irvine’s top runner in a meet this season, won the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Invitational Saturday despite 85-degree heat.

It was a welcome victory as she continues building toward the upcoming Big West Conference and NCAA championships.

“She’s been coming on since Stanford (Oct. 5),” Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “She’s accepting the fact that Buffy (Rabbitt) and Brigid (Stirling) are gone and she has to fulfill the leadership role.”

Meanwhile, Traci Goodrich, a sophomore, has been Irvine’s leading runner in three of four meets, and freshman Tiffany York has been Irvine’s third finisher in each meet she has run.

With Saturday’s victory, Irvine jumped from 18th to 12th in the national rankings.

The water polo team is tied for third in the rankings after losing to Pepperdine Saturday. But the Anteaters will have plenty of opportunity to solidify--or undermine--their standing this weekend in the 49er Invitational at Cal State Long Beach and Belmont Plaza Pool.

The top seven teams in the rankings, led by No. 1 California, will be there.