Faulkner: UCI in lock-down mode
The 1941 Western “They Died with Their Boots On” is a fictionalized cinematic account of the life of General George Custer.
UC Irvine men’s basketball coach Russell Turner emerged victorious with his boots on Saturday, when his Anteaters, as is becoming their custom, made an impressive second-half defensive stand to claim a 61-52 Big West Conference triumph at UC Santa Barbara.
UCI held the Gauchos scoreless the final 10:49 and scored the game’s last 17 points to win its fifth straight, its eighth in the last nine. At 15-5, 4-0 in conference, the ‘Eaters are tied for first with Hawaii (15-2, 4-0) and off to the program’s best start since the 2000-01 team opened at 17-3 on its way to a school-record 25-5 mark.
Turner, who for the second time this season donned black cowboy boots at UCSB, is now 2-0 in the kicks he purchased in Texas and debuted in UCI’s win over Norfolk State in the Dec. 22 title game of the Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational at UTEP.
The ‘Eaters, ranked No. 14 in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll, one spot behind Hawaii, continue to earn their spurs as a dogged defensive unit with extreme resiliency and determination.
Turner said the come-from-behind triumph on Saturday was reminiscent of wins over UCSB in last year’s Big West Tournament, at Pacific this season, as well as at Long Beach State on Thursday.
In last year’s conference tournament semifinal, UCI trailed by six with 3:09 left, before reeling off 13 straight points, and a 19-4 run to close the game, for a 72-63 overtime win.
At UOP on Dec. 4, UCI trailed by 14 with 12:56 left, but used a 32-15 surge to prevail, 70-67.
At Long Beach State on Thursday, the UCI defense held the 49ers to one field goal in one stretch of 10:21. The 49ers had two field goals in a span of 16:57 to allow UCI to overcome a 13-point first-half deficit and fashion a 58-54 win.
In a 76-55 thumping of visiting UC Davis on Jan. 7, UCI held the Aggies to two field goals in a stretch of 10:32 during the second half.
“It’s always the same,” Turner said of the aforementioned comebacks. “We don’t have offensive explosions to bring us back. We have defense that leads to offense. That’s not typically the way 18- to 22-year-old guys think. They think about their offense. But if our team can continue to believe that if we defend and rebound that we’ll have a chance to win every game we play, then I think they’ll see that that bears out.”
—
•Turner was emphatic when asked if he’d ever been part of a team that held an opponent scoreless for 10-plus minutes to close a game.
“Hell yeah,” Turner said Saturday. “I coached at Wake Forest [as an assistant] with Tim Duncan and we could lock people down.”
—
•UCI plays host to Cal State Fullerton (8-8, 1-2) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and a win would mean a 5-0 conference start for the first time since the 2005-06 ‘Eaters opened conference play 8-0.
“We make the first quarter turn at 4-0,” said Turner, whose team won the Big West regular-season title two seasons ago and captured the program’s first conference tournament crown last year to collect the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since moving to Division I. “We have to continue to stay hungry and get better and I guarantee we’ll get after it.”
Since opening last season 7-8, the ‘Eaters are 29-10. And having shown enough mental toughness to overcome formidable obstacles, that trend figures to continue.
—
•At this point, UCI and Hawaii appear to clearly be the class of the conference. The Rainbow Warriors are off to the program’s best start in 14 seasons.
UCI visits Hawaii on Feb. 3 and plays host to first-year coach Eran Ganot’s squad on Feb. 20.
In all games this season, Hawaii leads the Big West in scoring (80.6 per game), scoring margin (plus-13.2), field-goal percentage (.468), rebounding average (38.3 per game) and fewest rebounds allowed (31.6 per contest).
UCI leads the conference in scoring defense (63.2).
In conference games only, UCI tops the league in scoring margin (12.5), scoring defense (57.2 per game) and field-goal-percentage defense (.316, well below the next best — UCSB at .392).
—
•Meanwhile in the Orange Empire Conference, the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team (12-8. 3-1) is tied for first with Cypress and Riverside, one-half game ahead of Santa Ana (2-1 in conference). Coach Mike Thornton’s Pirates face a critical four-game stretch beginning Wednesday, when they visit Riverside at 7:30 p.m.
After a home game against Saddleback on Jan. 27, OCC is at Cypress (Jan., 29) and home against Santa Ana (Feb. 3).
—
•The OCC men (8-10, 2-2) are fourth, smack-dab in the middle of the seven-team conference basketball standings.
—
•The No. 12-ranked Vanguard women’s basketball team (11-3, 3-1 heading into Tuesday’s clash at Biola) was third in the Golden State Athletic Conference, behind No. 16-ranked The Master’s (15-2, 6-0) and No. 1-ranked Westmont (15-2, 4-0).
Vanguard, which opened conference play with a loss at Westmont, is home against Westmont on Jan. 26 and also plays host to The Master’s on Jan. 30. Both of those games tip off at 5:30 p.m.
—
•Mattias Johansson, whose 19-season tenure as the men’s and women’s tennis coach at Vanguard University ended last spring when the school disbanded both programs, is now the men’s coach at UC Riverside. The Highlanders opened their 2016 season over the weekend with losses to Nevada and San Diego State.
