UCI makes it a losing weekend

Barry Faulkner

A team rebounding from the deepest depths of its season sent the UC

Irvine men’s basketball team into a similar abyss Saturday, as host

Idaho hung on for a 57-52 Big West Conference win over UC Irvine,

before 2,037 at the Cowan Spectrum.

UCI (9-9, 4-5 in the Big West) slipped below .500 in conference

for the first time since 2000 and extended its losing streak to

three, despite a powerful performance by 7-foot senior Adam Parada.

Parada had 14 of his season-high 26 points in the first half and

added a game-high 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Stanislav Zuzak, UCI’s 6-11 senior forward, added 13 points and

six rebounds, but the Anteaters got just 13 from the rest of the

starters and none from the reserves.

Halfway through conference play, UCI is tied for fourth place with

Long Beach State, two games behind third-place UCSB and beyond

sniffing range of Big West-leading Utah State (17-1, 9-0) and

second-place University of the Pacific (13-7, 8-1).

Until sophomore point guard Jeff Gloger sank a layup just more

than three minutes into the second half, no one other than Parada or

Zuzak had scored from the field for the visitors.

“We did a good job of getting the ball inside, but their guards

outplayed us,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “We had no guard play.”

Despite this fact, Parada pulled his team even with a layin with

14:47 left to conclude a 12-5 Anteater run after intermission. The

visitors remained within striking distance until the final 32

seconds, when five Idaho free throws all but cut the cable on the UCI

Big West title hopes.

“Winning league is a far stretch, but we’re going to keep

competing,” Parada said. “I think this is a team that can get better

down the road. We’ve just got to stick it out.”

Stick it out is exactly what the Vandals did for 48 hours, after

letting a late lead slip away in a demoralizing 64-60 loss to

visiting Long Beach State Thursday that ended the 49ers’ NCAA-worst

21-game road losing streak.

“I told the guys, I’m as proud of them as I’ve ever been and I

love them to death,” said Idaho Coach Leonard Perry, who was somewhat

less flattering following the Long Beach State debacle.

“I questioned their toughness, absolutely,” said Perry, who was

quoted in the local Statesman Review newspaper after Thursday’s loss

that “there were times he felt alone going to war.”

“Even now, all I can think about is Long Beach State, because I

know what we’re capable of doing on this floor,” Perry said. “But to

beat a team I’ve never beaten is a great feeling.”

Idaho had lost seven straight and 10 of 13 to the Anteaters and

entered Saturday in a three-way tie for last place in the Big West.

“I told our guys we had to be tougher and be more determined than

Irvine and that’s what they did,” Perry said.

“[Perry’s Thursday criticism] hit home with me and, I think,

everyone in our locker room,” Idaho senior standout Tyrone Hayes

said. “We all knew we had to come out tonight and be aggressive.”

Hayes hit the UCI defense hard all evening, connecting on 8 of 12

field-goal attempts and all four of his free throws to post a

team-high 20 points. Hayes was 5 for 6 from the field after halftime.

“We didn’t do a good job on defense against Hayes,” Douglass said.

“He dominated the game.” After Irvine’s early second-half surge

erased Idaho’s 26-19 intermission edge, the Vandals regained the

advantage, 45-39, with 8:09 left in the game.

Five Parada points in a 7-2 UCI run drew the ‘Eaters within 47-46

with 4:48 left, but a three-pointer by Idaho senior Dwayne Williams,

who was 1 for 13 from the field over the weekend to that point,

lifted the hosts to a four-point advantage with 3:58 left.

From there, Irvine, which held its last lead at 5-3, never got

closer than three.

“That [Williams three-pointer] was huge, a big shot,” noted Perry,

who told Williams to keep shooting after an 0-for-6 effort against

the 49ers.

Perry praised Parada and Zuzak, especially the 7-footer, who put

two Vandal post defenders in foul trouble and connected on 10 of 14

field-goal attempts.

“That’s the third time I’ve seen Parada come in here and look like

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” Perry said, in third season at the Idaho helm.

In order to combat a severe size advantage inside -- the Vandals

played only one player, 6-9 sophomore David Radlovic, taller than 6-8

-- Idaho implemented a zone defense in the second half.

“That’s the first time we’ve gone zone all year,” Perry said.

The zone made it more difficult to feed Parada and Zuzak in the

post, but UCI also struggled against the hosts’ man-to-man. UCI

committed 13 of its 16 turnovers in the first half.

By contrast, Idaho kept working for quality shots, most often

finding Hayes, who did most of his damage after receiving the ball at

the foul line. Idaho made just five turnovers to help overcome

shooting a modest 33.3% from the field (19 of 57).

UCI was 21 of 44 from the field (47.7%), but just 2 of 12 from

three-point range. The Anteaters missed their first eight attempts

from threedom, giving them 16 straight misfires from beyond the arc,

dating back to Thursday’s loss at Utah State.

The lack of bench production was also a factor on the road trip,

when UCI was outscored, 31-4, by nonstarters.

“I don’t know what to say,” Douglass said when asked about the

lack of production off the bench. “There are no trades in college

basketball, so we have to go with what we’ve got.”

UCI’s starting backcourt of Mike Efevberha and Gloger combined for

eight points, 15 below their combined average, and five turnovers.

ZOTS -- UC Irvine will learn Monday which team it will play in the

Feb. 21 Bracket Buster Saturday event featuring mid-major programs.

UCI will be on the road whomever it faces ... In addition to

producing a season-low 48 points in Thursday’s loss at Utah State --

it’s fewest in 58 games since a 50-47 loss at Cal Poly San Luis

Obispo in Jan. of 2002 -- UCI had just one double-digit scorer (Mike

Efevberha with 14 points) for the first time all season ... UCI was 0

for 8 from three-point range in the second half against Utah State,

with six different players contributing misses. UCI followed that up

by missing its five three-point tries in the first half Saturday and

its first eight against Idaho. The ‘Eaters have now had four halfs

this season without a three-pointer (including 0 for 14 at the

University of the Pacific and 0 for 5 at home against Cal Poly SLO,

both after halftime) ... With one three-pointer Saturday, UCI senior

Stanislav Zuzak needs just two three three-pointers to reach 100 for

his career. He needs 19 three balls to surpass Jerry Green and Mike

Hood (tied at 116) and move into the No. 6 spot in school annals ...

Senior Adam Parada completed Saturday’s game with 722 career

rebounds, No. 4 all-time at UCI ... Sophomore guard Jeff Gloger, did

not get a steal for the second straight game Saturday, but his 110

career steals in 47 games put him No. 5 in school career annals.

Gloger needs just 14 steals to move into the No. 2 spot ... Next up

for UCI are Big West Conference home games against UOP (Thursday at

7:05 p.m.) and Cal State Northridge (Saturday at 7:35 p.m.).

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Big West Conference

Idaho 57, UC Irvine 52

UC Irvine - Zuzak 13, Okoro 5, Parada 26, Efevberha 4, Gloger 4. 3-pt. goal - Efevberha 1, Zuzak 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. Idaho - Hayes 20, Powell 2, Radlovic 2, Shepard 6, Williams 9, Jones 7, Kahrimanovic 6, Lyons 5. 3-pt. goals -

Williams 2, Jones 1, Lyons 1. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None. Halftime - Idaho, 26-19.

*--*