Anteaters take the act on the road

Steve Virgen

It’s been 11 days since the UC Irvine men’s basketball team last

played. Meanwhile Stanford, the 17th-ranked team in the nation and

the Anteaters’ next opponent, will be playing its fourth game in six

days when the Cardinal host UCI tonight at 7. The game can be heard

on radio, KUCI/88.9 FM.

The contrast of the two teams is not only in scheduling, but also

in regard to momentum. The Anteaters have won their last three, yet

the Cardinal have lost three of its last four, including two home

losses to Montana and Richmond in the Stanford Invitational this

week.

But that doesn’t mean UCI will have an easy win in Palo Alto.

“If anything it’s going to have Stanford come out with more of a

sense of urgency,” Douglass said. “There is no one left on our

schedule in which we will have more confidence because of what that

team is going through. (Stanford’s Mike) Montgomery is an exceptional

coach. They are going through some changes. They are becoming aware

of the type of team they are going to have.”

Stanford’s 83-69 loss to Richmond Tuesday night marked the first

time the Cardinal dropped consecutive nonconference home games since

1981. Stanford also suffered another loss in the form of a broken

foot injury to sophomore Chris Hernandez, who was projected to be the

team’s starting point guard but is out for the season. The injury to

Hernandez seemed to be yet another crushing blow to a program that

has appeared to be playing catch up ever since this year’s NBA Draft.

That’s when Casey Jacobsen (Phoenix Suns) and Curtis Borchardt (Utah

Jazz), two would-be seniors this season, were drafted in the first

round.

Then, just before the basketball season, Teyo Johnson, a 6-foot-7

240-pound receiver, announced he would be declaring for the NFL Draft

and would not play for Montgomery’s squad.

“We’re struggling,” said Coach Montgomery, who is in his 17th

season at Stanford and has compiled 499 collegiate wins. “We lost our

point guard for the rest of the season and that kind of sucked the

wind out of us. But I hope these last two losses are a wake-up call.

There’s just things that we have to do now to get better. We just

have to play a little harder.”

Stanford is led by 6-8 Josh Childress and 6-1 guard Julius Barnes,

who scored 16 and 13 points, respectively, in Tuesday’s loss to the

Spiders.

“UC Irvine is a very good team,” Montgomery said. “I know Pat and

he has done a great job of building what he has over there. He does a

good job of coaching and he has good skill players. I like his two

big inside guys (Adam Parada and Stanislav Zuzak). They cause a lot

of problems and allow for perimeter shooting.”

UCI will counter Stanford with 7-foot junior center Adam Parada,

who leads the Anteaters with a 13.8 points per game average, and 6-4

guard Mike Hood, who is second on the team in scoring with 10 points

per game. Junior forward Stanislav Zuzak, who has scored 22 points in

the ‘Eaters last two games, and senior Jordan Harris, who has

continued to improve since partially tearing his posterior and

anterior cruciate ligaments in June, round out the front court. Jeff

Gloger, a 6-4 redshirt freshman, guides the offense as the starting

point guard.

The Anteaters have one injured player, Nic Campbell, a 6-6

freshman, who is out indefinitely with a back injury (bulging disk).

“I’m just excited to improve my team because we haven’t played in

two weeks,” Douglass said. “This is a different challenge for us

because Stanford will have big post players. But at the same time we

feel we have an opportunity to do the things we do well, which is

that inside-outside game. We haven’t been playing many games lately.

As long as we’re not rusty coming out, I think we should be OK.”