Anteaters on exhibit, again

BREN EVENTS CENTER -- Still smarting a little, despite the fact

last week’s exhibition loss to Cal State Bakersfield has nothing to

do with the record books or rankings, egos remain a source of

irritation.

With that in mind, the Anteaters will put up their dukes tonight

(7:05) before the hometown crowd with ambitions to, if not to impress

the C.I.A., then certainly to impress themselves.

A club team from Australia, Team Ezybonds, makes its sixth stop on

a western tour intent on using the Anteaters as another step in what

is UCI’s last of a two-game exhibition slate.

“Obviously, we want to improve on how we played last Saturday (a

63-56 exhibition loss at Cal State Bakersfield),” UCI Coach Pat

Douglass said. “We want to take what we learned on the court. We want

to show what we have been working on throughout the week.”

Ezybonds has already defeated San Jose State, 98-82, and Cal State

Stanislaus, 86-81, and has lost to the University of Pacific, 86-80.

The Australians were at UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday and at

Pepperdine Thursday, and boast a team keyed by the presence of Thalo

Green, a 6-foot-7 player out of the University of Washington, who has

averaged 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

Coach Douglass has other things on his mind, however, and they all

focus on the exploits of the Anteaters, who have already shown how

cold they can shoot when at Bakersfield, with a 3-for-22 effort from

three-point range and a 33.3 connection rate from the field for the

entire game.

While junior forward Stanislav Zuzak led UCI with 19 points and

seven rebounds in a 26-minute span, and senior forward Jordan Harris

and junior center accounted for 11 and 10 points, respectively, the

balance of the ‘Eaters managed just 5 of 30 from the floor.

UCI had a seven-point lead several times in the first half against

Bakersfield and was still in a so-called command situation with 8:05

left, leading, 45-44, before Bakersfield pulled away.

Douglass also said he will use this game with the intent of

finding a starting lineup.

“We’re still experimenting a bit,” Douglass said of the starting

lineup. “Nothing is definite. We’re going to use the preseason to

find out who will be the five guys to start for (Big West Conference

play).”

Tonight’s game is a final tuneup before the Anteaters start

playing for real, and reality doesn’t come much clearer than the

‘Eaters’ season-opening venture at the University of Oklahoma in

Norman on Friday, Nov. 22, where they’ll be pitted against the

Sooners in the first round of a fourth-team tournament which also

features Western Michigan and Princeton.

Oklahoma is ranked No. 3 in the nation and No. 1 by ESPN.com and

most assuredly has an itinerary which includes a 12:15 p.m. finals

game on Saturday against the winner of the Princeton-Western Michigan

semifinal on Friday.

So, with Oklahoma down the road, and Bakersfield a thing of the

past, tonight’s matchup has a little of that “emergency” sense.

Douglass, who has guided the Anteaters to 60 victories over the

past three years, would appear to have the necessary horses to deal

with the Australian globe trotters.

The 7-foot Parada averaged 12.4 points and 7.0 rebounds last

season en route to All-Big West second-team honors. The 6-5 Harris

also averaged 12.4 points and had 6.8 boards per game.

Zuzak returns and averaged 8.3 ppg as a sophomore, and Mike Hood,

with 8.2 ppg. numbers as a junior, gives Douglass four returning

starters in all.

Additionally, the ‘Eaters boast a squad which has 6-7 junior

jumping jack Matt Okoro and junior guard Aras Baskauskas in the fold,

as well as four redshirts in their first season, 6-4 guard Jeff

Gloger, 6-5 guard Ross Schraeder, 6-3 guard DeVaughn Peace and 7-1

center Ryan Codi.

Greg Ethington (6-8) returns after a two-year mission with the

Latter Day Saints Church, and there is 6-5 freshman guard Mike

Efevberha, 6-6 guard Nic Campbell and sophomore J.R. Stephens, a 5-11

sophomore guard.

*

ZOTS: UCI is 10th in a mid-major poll by

CollegeInsider.com ... Western Kentucky is No. 1 and Gonzaga is No. 2

... After the Oklahoma trip the Anteaters travel to Malibu Nov. 30 to

face Pepperdine in a 7:30 p.m. game to be carried on Fox Sports Net 2

... Pepperdine is No. 3 in the mid-major poll ... Two others from the

Big West Conference in that same poll are UC Santa Barbara and Utah

State, ranked 12 and 13 respectively.