Turner building Big West power
UC Irvine men’s basketball coach Russell Turner fielded the question with an admirable lack of surprise, when a reporter asked him after his team improved to 2-0 Saturday, whether the Big West Conference race was wide open.
Rather than state the obvious — that the Anteaters, following conference home wins over Long Beach State and Hawaii, the preseason Big West favorite and reigning conference co-champions, respectively, are the clear favorites to earn the program’s third conference regular-season crown in four seasons — Turner deferred to the judgment of others.
But despite benefitting from opening conference play with two home games, I am convinced that Turner has turned what figured to be a transition year — with the loss of three starters and two valued assistant coaches — into a transformative statement that the Anteaters are the class of the Big West. And for as long as Turner remains at the helm, it will be difficult to dismiss UCI regarding any discussion of Big West title contenders.
“I’ll leave that to others,” Turner said, diplomatically. “This championship will be decided over 10 weeks. We’ve gotten off to a 2-0 start because we’ve had two home games. We need to show we can go on the road and perform. We do have three road wins already [heading into Thursday’s game at UC Santa Barbara] and I think playing away from home so often has taught this team a few things. We were able to win on the road last year with defense and rebounding. Character travels.”
So too travels the increasing buzz about UCI underclassmen, who in the span of two months, which began with just four home games in their first 15 contests, have shown that Turner and his staff continue to upgrade in recruiting.
Sophomore starters Jonathan Galloway and Brandon Smith have shown realized potential that is still largely open-ended, while sophomore reserve Spencer Rivers is an increasingly confident and capable, spark off the bench.
Freshmen guards Max Hazzard, Evan Leonard and Eyassu Worku are quickly getting their speedy legs under them, while freshman post players Tommy Rutherford and Brad Greene continue to display emerging inside presence.
Add this development to the strong starts of senior guard Jaron Martin and 7-2 senior Ioannis Dimakopoulos, as well as the return of senior star Luke Nelson, who missed the first 15 games with a hamstring injury, and the 9-9 record heading to Santa Barbara may have deceived some anxious ‘Eaters supporters.
“Our nonconference schedule has been far [more difficult] than the average fan would know,” Turner said, “so we’ve seen a lot of things that are hard to play against and that has allowed us to improve and be ready when we face things in our conference.”
Turner also said that the deep roster should continue to foster rapid improvement, as the Anteaters face competition both in practice and from conference foes.
“We have a deep team with a lot of talented players and that’s what has allowed us to have an identity that we’re going to defend and play hard.” Turner said. “If you don’t do that, then we can put somebody else in there. I think one of the great things right now is that we are getting really good energy from our bench. Those guys coming off the bench are hungry and often can learn from what they’ve seen in the previous possessions. Then when we come back to the guys we start with, we are often bigger and more rested and that has an impact.”
Turner said his team’s 84-56 throttling of Hawaii was probably its best performance of the year considering both offense and defense.
“We played well tonight and we’re getting better,” Turner said, in what could also be an accurate summary of his now-seven-year tenure at the helm.
Ritter sparks UCI women
The UC Irvine women’s basketball team earned an impressive and much-needed win on Wednesday, trouncing visiting Cal State Northridge, 77-52.
Sophomore Andee Ritter, a member of the Big West All-Freshman team a year ago, was five for six from three-point range on her way to 25 points against the Matadors.
In Saturday’s loss to Hawaii, Ritter tied a school record with seven three-pointers and in two games has lifted her three-point percentage more than four points to 33.6%.
As a team, UCI has upped its three-point accuracy to 30%, elevating Coach Tamara Inoue’s team (3-14, 1-2 in conference) more than 100 spots in the last two weeks to No. 228 among 344 NCAA Division I schools.
Last season UCI ranked last in the nation in three-point shooting (22.4%).
Lamunu looming large
Vanguard University senior Claire Lamunu continues her astounding rise as an NAIA Player of the Year candidate in women’s basketball this season.
The 6-foot-1 forward, a native of Uganda in her second season at Vanguard, is averaging 23.8 points and 13.7 rebounds, both No. 2 in the nation, to help the No. 6-ranked Lions start 15-1.
The reigning Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Week has 13 double-doubles this season, including the last seven games, during which she is averaging 27.1 points and 16.6 rebounds. Lamunu has 19 double-doubles in her last 24 games, including six of her final eight last season. She had one double-double in her first 24 games at Vanguard.
Vanguard, 3-0 in conference, trails Westmont (14-1, 4-0 in conference) in the GSAC standings. The Lions visit Westmont on Feb. 7 and play host to the Warriors on Feb. 21.
Coach Russ Davis’ Lions are on a nine-game winning streak and, following Wednesday’s 110-29 pasting of Saint Katherine College, have won their last seven contests by an average of 39.3 points.
