Sooner or later it’ll get better

Steve Virgen

With a little over nine minutes remaining in UC Irvine’s

regular-season opener, a giant awakened, a proud men’s basketball

program displayed what it’s all about, meanwhile a young squad grew

up. UCI’s men’s basketball team pulled to within, 58-51, after

trailing by 15 at the half, but No. 7 Oklahoma pulled away, living up

to the hype with a 17-1 run in a 4:16 span.

The Sooners (1-1) earned their first victory of the season with an

87-65 win over unranked UCI, in the Sooner Invitational before 10,685

at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Oklahoma, which has won 23 of the past 24 regular-season home

openers, amassed 24 points off UCI’s 23 turnovers. The Sooners, who

won their 23rd straight home game, committed nine turnovers.

Oklahoma was the highest-ranked opponent the Anteaters faced since

losing 114-86 to No. 1 UNLV Feb. 23, 1991.

“When they had to raise their intensity, they did,” UCI Coach Pat

Douglass said of the Sooners. “When they went on their run, they

moved it up a notch.

They had several transition baskets and they were quick.”

The Anteaters, down 43-28 at the half, were able to break away

from their mistakes and illustrated moments of brillance before the

midway point of the second half. Adam Parada, UCI’s 7-foot junior

center who did not start in the Anteaters final exhibition game last

week, started Friday night and scored a game-high 19 points.

He used various moves down low, choosing to go with his trademark

hook shot just once. He was 6 for 8 from the field and also hit seven

of his eight freethrows. UCI junior forward Stanislav Zuzak also

scored in double figures, adding 10 points, and senior guard Mike

Hood was 3 for 5 from behind the three-point line for nine points.

Parada went with a pump fake and drew a foul plus the basket with

9:27 left.

Oklahoma’s fab freshman Kevin Bookout, who scored 12 points,

picked up his fourth foul. Parada hit the freethrow to complete the

three-point play, and the Oklahoma faithful went silent as their

Sooners led, 58-51.

“I wasn’t trying to get a moral victory,” Douglass said of UCI’s

second-half rally. “We came to compete. They’re a fine ball club. We

couldn’t match their intensity.”

The Sooners answered the Anteaters with a 10-0 run, that included

a three-point play by Jabahri Brown (11 points), a three-pointer by

Ebi Ere (14) and a thunderous dunk by Brown after a turnover.

Oklahoma’s star guard Hollis Price, a first-team All-Big 12

selection last year, shot 1 for 8 from the field, but still managed

to score 13 points, as he was one of five Sooners in double figures,

including senior point guard Quannas White, who scored 13 points.

White, who struggled in OU’s season-opening loss to Alabama last

week, did not commit a turnover Friday night.

“Quannas is back to being Quannas,” said Oklahoma Coach Kelvin

Sampson, who described the Sooners’ victory as a quality win. “That

was a good team we beat. That reminded me of a first-round NCAA

Tournament game, because that’s the type of a team you play. They’re

smart. That Parada kid plays with Eduardo Najera (former Oklahoma

forward now with the Dallas Mavericks) with the Mexican National

team. Parada is good. If Mexico would qualify for the Olympics, he

would definitely be on that team.”

Parada rarely drew a double team, as the Sooners chose to match-up

man-to-man through most of the game. During its 17-1 run, Oklahoma

used a match-up zone and kept the crowd in the game with its fast

breaks, fancy passing and scoring in transition.

“We’re learning,” Douglass said. “Even though we have four

returning starters we just couldn’t match their intensity. Their

defensive pressure was just a little too much for us. We’re not at

the level of play of where we want to be yet. We learned a lot from

the game, and we’ll go back and assess what we did wrong and we’ll

come back against Western Michigan.”

ZOTS -- Mike Hood had the hot hand in the first half, as he hit

back-to-back three-pointers to pull the Anteaters to within, 24-19,

with 7:26 left in the first half ... UCI had 13 turnovers in the

first half compared to Oklahoma’s three ... Pat Douglass was

impressed with Adam Parada’s play, but thought there was room for

improvement. “I thought he had possessions where he looked like an

exceptional player and he had some possessions where he needed to

assert himself more and establish himself more,” Douglass said of

Parada. ... Quannas White recorded a career-high five steals and

said, “We felt we took their guards out of their offense. We just

kept the pressure on and I think they got tired.” ... Jordan Harris,

who continued to show improvement in health since partially tearing

his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments four and a half months

ago, scored six points in 30 minutes, the most minutes out of all

Anteaters. “At times we were playing real well,” Harris said. “We’re

a young team. We didn’t have any standout players coming in. We don’t

have a go-to guy right now, and we’re trying to gel as a team. We

learned a lot of things tonight that will help us do that.”

NONCONFERENCE

Oklahoma 97, UC Irvine 65

UC Irvine -- Zuzak 10, Harris 6, Parada 19, Hood 9, Baskauskas 2,

Gloger 0, Campbell 2, Schraeder 6, Efevberha 5, Codi 0, Okoro 0,

Ethington 6.

3-pt. goals -- Hood 3, Zuzak 2, Schraeder 2, Efevbrha 1.

Fouled out -- Okoro.

Technicals -- none.

Oklahoma -- Bookout 12, Brown 11, Ere 14, White 13, Price 13,

Johnston 8, Alexander 5, Gipson 2, Gilbert 5, Turner 4.

3-pt. goals -- Ere 2, White 2, Johnston 2, Price 1, Alexander 1.

Fouled out -- none.

Technicals -- none.

Halftime -- Oklahoma 43, UC Irvine 28.

Attendance -- 10,685.