Men’s basketball: UCI takes first step

Amara Aguilar

BREN EVENTS CENTER - High expectations and the heavy burden of

coming off the school’s most successful season ever, didn’t seem to weigh

down the UC Irvine men’s basketball team Friday night as the Anteaters

defeated Korabel from the Ukraine, 105-71, in an exhibition game in front

of 1,126.

Jerry Green, last year’s Big West Conference Player of the Year, led

the Anteaters with 34 points, including all 16 free throws.

Mike Hood and Jordan Harris chipped in with 17 points each.

The Anteaters went on a 15-5 run to start the game and never looked

back. Midway through the half, Hood scored eight straight points,

including a pair of three-pointers to put UCI up, 29-14. With five

minutes left in the first half, Green took over at the free-throw line,

making four straight to give UCI a 49-25 lead. The Anteaters took a 59-33

lead at halftime.

UCI did not let up in the second half. The Anteaters went on a 6-0 run

to start the half, but Korabel did not remain silent. Olexiy Onufriyev

made a three-pointer with 12 minutes left in the game to cut UC Irvine’s

lead to 81-48.

But again, Green was sent to the free-throw line four straight times

to increase UCI’s lead to 85-48. Korabel went on a 12-4 run, but it was

too late. UCI’s Adam Parada finalized the victory with a field goal with

seven seconds left.

“Quickness was a factor in the game,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “We

penetrated offensively.”

The Anteaters shot 76% from the field in the first half (19 of 25),

but slipped to 59.4% in the second. The same pattern held true for

three-pointers. The Anteaters made 3 of 5 in first half, but just 1 of 4

in the second.

It was free throws where the Anteaters really impacted the score,

especially in the first half. The team made 81.8 % in the first half and

87.5% in the second.

Korabel made 1 of 2 attempts in the first half, while the Anteaters

made 18 of 22.

“I wasn’t displeased for our first game,” Douglass said. “I thought we

did what we could do at this stage.”

The season is young and so are the Anteaters. The team has only three

seniors, one of whom is a starter.

“I feel we have a lot to prove, a long way to grow,” Douglass said.

Despite the success of last season, when the Anteaters claimed the Big

West Conference Title and went 25-5 to set a school single-season victory

record, Douglass said he does not feel pressure after coming off the best

season in school history.

“We are trying to instill confidence and aggressiveness,” Douglass

said. “There’s a level of play we aspire to be at. We have a long way to

get to where we need to be. (Tonight) we demonstrated what we know we can

do now ... For this part of the year we played well.”

The Anteaters saw a different style of play Friday than they will face

probably all year. Korabel plays a European style of play in which the

players penetrate more than teams the Anteaters are used to seeing.

Korabel was led by Oleksandr Chausov, who scored 16 points, and Yevgen

Podorvannyy, who had 14.

The Anteaters host Cal State Bakersfield Nov. 10 in what is being

billed as an exhibition game.

Douglass spent 10 seasons with the Roadrunners before coming to UCI.

He guided Bakersfield to NCAA Division II championships in 1993, ’94 and

‘97.