Men’s college basketball: UCI invades rowdy Spanos Center at UOP
Richard Dunn
The thrill-a-minute ride for the UC Irvine men’s basketball team
gets another mighty jolt tonight at 7:05 as Coach Pat Douglass’ Anteaters
visit the University of the Pacific in what is expected to be a wild and
loud Spanos Center crowd in Stockton.
With Irvine (18-7, 11-3 in the Big West Conference) coming off another
nail-biting win Thursday, 82-80 over host Cal State Northridge, and the
Tigers (14-9, 6-7) coming off their first home loss in the Big West this
season, tonight’s conference game could get real personal.
In fact, it is already.
“It will be a tough game and there will be a great crowd,” UCI
standout guard Jerry Green said. “Pacific and UCI always have a great
rivalry.”
Asked about the rivalry, Green, the team’s only senior starter,
quipped: “Well, there will be two coaches with two big egos. They’re best
friends, actually. They’ve always had a rivalry. They won’t stop
fighting.”
That’s Douglass and Pacific’s Bob Thomason, whose team lost its third
straight game Thursday as visiting Long Beach State defeated the Tigers,
77-63, to end UOP’s eight-game home winning streak.
“(The Tigers) beat people at home by big margins,” Douglass said.
“They haven’t lost at home (before Thursday), so they’re very tough at
home.”
UCI, which shares the Big West lead with Utah State, expects the
roller coaster to continue tonight, because, as Green said, “it’s been a
weird season. We try not to do it like that, when we (rally late to
win).”
The ‘Eaters have played in seven games this season in which the
winning margin is three points or less, including four contests that
ended in a one-point difference.
“We’ve got Pacific (tonight), then Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Thursday
at home) and UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 23 at home), so we’ve got a real
tough schedule to finish out the (Big West) regular season,” said Green,
who sank the game-winning shot against Northridge, an 18-foot fadeaway with 0:16 left.
Green, who started the week averaging 20.4 points per game, is UCI’s
all-time leading scorer with 1,854 points -- the 10th most in Big West
history.
In addition to Green, UCI is led by 7-foot sophomore center Adam
Parada (12.8 ppg and 6.9 rebounds per contest), who is shooting 59% from
the field this season and 61% in the Big West.
Jordan Harris, Stanislav Zuzak and Mike Hood round out the starters
for UCI. Backup forward J.R. Christ played Thursday with a brace on his
face, after breaking his nose in practice Monday.
Pacific is led by Demetrius Jackson (13 ppg) and Maurice McLemore (10
ppg).
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