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).