UCI schooled by Stanford

Barry Faulkner

It was as if the UC Irvine men’s basketball team stepped from the

tipoff circle into an alternate dimension in Tuesday’s 72-59

nonconference loss to visiting Stanford, before a capacity crowd of

5,000 at the Bren Events Center.

While Stanford (2-0) scored the first 11 points, including two

dunks and a three-pointer, and the calm Cardinal players flexed their

obvious muscles in full pump-up mode, the hosts (2-2), like the rims

they fired wildly at for most of the first half, appeared to shrivel

into submission.

The Anteaters had clearly entered the blowout zone from whence,

despite a meaningless final scoring surge, they would not escape.

It was 13-1, before UCI netted its first field goal, just more

than four minutes in, and two Chris Hernandez three-pointers gave the

No. 20-ranked Cardinal a 24-5 bulge, on the way to a 48-25 halftime

advantage.

UCI made just two of its first 14 field-goal attempts and finished

9 of 28 for the half (32.1%), which ended on an 8-0 Stanford run

fueled by two more Hernandez three balls.

“They’re a well-coached, seasoned team and we just are not at that

level of development,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said after becoming the

Cardinal’s 23rd straight Big West Conference victim. “It wasn’t like

we weren’t trying, but we just had no flow, no purpose ... We didn’t

have the structure and discipline to play a team at that level.”

The list of UCI shortcomings was magnified in the presence of the

confident Cardinal, which expounded early upon its 84-57 conquest of

UCI last year at Maples Pavilion.

“I don’t know if [the hot start] took something out of UCI as much

as it encouraged us,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “We were

playing our first game on the road, without Josh [Childress, a

preseason All-American who sat out with a foot injury]. Maybe it was

a little hangover from last year, when we thumped them pretty good.”

Whatever the psychology, UCI shot five first-half air balls, with

only a 7-0 run that began with 9:47 left before halftime to stem the

bleeding.

A Ross Schraeder three-pointer with 6:27 left in the half gave a

somewhat disillusioned crowd the chance to roar. Then, Adam Parada’s

16-foot turnaround fadeaway pulled the ‘Eaters within 27-19 with 5:56

left before the break.

But Stanford, which sank 9 of 16 three-pointers, including 6 of 7

by Hernandez, a sophomore point guard who missed all of last season

due to injury, hit three bombs to finish the half. It also cashed in

6 of 8 foul shots, most earned by some bruising big men.

Hernandez finished with a game-high 22 points, while Parada (12),

as well as Stanislav Zuzak, Matt Okoro and Mike Efevberha (10 apiece)

managed double figures for UCI.

Parada (5 of 9 from the field) was the only Anteater to shoot

better than break-even and he added a game- and season-high nine

rebounds. He said his team should learn from Stanford’s sense of

urgency.

“They came out stronger than us,” Parada said. “We had some guys

who were a little nervous and we tried to rush our shots, too much.

[The Cardinal] had only about four or five possessions that were not

up to par. They had a couple little lulls, but they brought the

intensity back up and we couldn’t match it. This is a great game for

us to learn how hard we have to go.”

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Nonconference

Stanford 72, UC Irvine 59

Stanford -Davis 5, Robinson 5, Little 6, Hernandez 22, Lottich 11, Washington 9, Kirchofer 6, Grunfeld 4, Haryasz 3. 3-pt. goals - Hernandez 6, Lottich 1, Robinson 1, Washington 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. UC Irvine - Zudak 10, Okoro 10,

Parada 12, Gloger 8, Schraeder 3, Efevberha 10, Campbell 4, Ethington 2. 3-pt. goals - Zuzak 2, Efevberha 2, Schrader 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. Halftime - 48-25, Stanford.

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