Gloger key figure

Steve Virgen

Back in high school, before Jeff Gloger transferred to Capistrano

Valley and before he became the starting point guard for the UC

Irvine men’s basketball team, he had a nickname. People called him,

“Flea.”

Six years later, the 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman still lives up to

the name he received in his one year at Santa Margarita.

“I was just annoying and pestering people on defense,” Gloger

said. “I guess you could still say that now.”

Gloger, a.k.a. Flea, who set UCI’s single-season record in steals

with 70, could very well be the difference-maker when the Anteaters

face Cal State Northridge in a quarterfinal game of the Big West

Conference Tournament tonight at 6 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The ‘Eaters also feature senior forward Jordan Harris, a

first-team All-Big West honoree who leads UCI in scoring, and junior

center Adam Parada, who earned second-team laurels.

Ian Boylan, who leads Northridge in scoring (15.9 points per game)

and steals (2.2 per game), broke his nose in the Matadors’ season

finale Saturday. He should be a game-time decision tonight and is

expected to wear a mask if he plays. He did not practice Monday or

Tuesday.

UCI, the No. 2 seed, split with the seventh-seeded Matadors this

season. Gloger did not score and he had three turnovers in the 69-63

loss at Northridge, Jan. 25. He scored 12 points and dished out six

assists when the Anteaters defeated the Matadors, 64-57, Feb. 20.

However, Gloger also had five turnovers.

The Matadors, who are led by 6-foot-7 guard Curtis Slaughter (14.0

ppg), will most likely use full-court pressure defense to take

advantage of their athleticism while trying to attack UCI’s youth at

the ball-handling position in Gloger. However, the ever-confident

Gloger said he would rise to the challenge and UCI Coach Pat Douglass

supported those comments.

“He’s an unusual talent,” Douglass said of Gloger, who broke

through with a brilliant performance in UCI’s first victory of the

season at Pepperdine Nov. 30, and established himself as the team’s

point guard. “He has been the glue to our team. He’s competitive. He

comes to play all the time. Sometimes freshmen drop off during the

season, but that didn’t happen with him. Also, most of the (UCI) fans

have enjoyed his play more than any other player.”

Perhaps a reason Gloger has become a fan favorite is because he

epitomizes the Anteaters in regard to UCI’s placement in the college

basketball scene. Earlier this week, a local television station

tabbed UCI as the best-kept secret in Southern California college

basketball. The same could be said for Gloger, who is hardly a

scoring option, yet sometimes finds his points in transition after

steals. He has also shown a knack for scoring after offensive

rebounds, a testament to his relentless hustle.

“Even though I’m younger, in terms of a physical standpoint, I

don’t see anybody who is much bigger and stronger than me at my

position,” said Gloger, who dribbles and runs the UCI offense with a

bit of a swagger. “I really attribute that (confidence) to my two

older brothers. Playing against them and in their summer leagues all

the time, I was always playing against older players.”

Gloger’s elder brothers, Brad, 24, who played at Columbia, and

Spencer, 22, who just finished his season at Princeton, used to pick

on the younger Gloger. But that only made him stronger.

“They would just play rough with me and push me,” Gloger said.

“When I played against them, I knew I wasn’t going to play anyone

considerably better than any one of my brothers. That gave me a sense

of security.”

Gloger’s defense has been his greatest strength, thus far, and

that can also be attributed to his redshirt season, when he had to

guard Jerry Green most of the time during practice. Gloger said that

forced him to build a competitive spirit last year, which was

fortified this season.

Now, he said, he wants to be a part of making history. UCI has

never reached the NCAA Tournament and the Anteaters know the only way

to do so is to win the Big West tourney. The first step in that

process comes tonight against Northridge.

“Make no mistake about it, we are going in with the intent of

winning it all,” said Gloger, who made the Big West All-Freshman team

this season. “I really do think this is our year. We’re going to go

in there and try to not let what has happened the past two years

happen again.”

UCI won the Big West regular-season title in 2001, but lost in the

conference tournament.

Then, the Anteaters won a share of the conference’s 2002

regular-season championship, but again lost in the tourney. The

‘Eaters have not reached the Big West Tournament final in Douglass’

five seasons.

“In recent years, we went through a (bad) stretch at the end of

the year,” Douglass said. “I think we’re fresher than we have been .

We’re going to be relaxed because we’re not the No. 1 seed.

“We’ll just go out there with every intention of winning the

tournament, but, at the same time, realizing that any team can win it

and you have to play three ballgames.”