Irvine Turns It Over to New Mexico State

UC Irvine basketball Coach Bill Mulligan was searching for a compliment to pay his team after Monday night’s 91-89 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. loss to New Mexico State.

“I will say this, we came back after we were down and played hard . . . but we played dumb, too,” was the best he could do.

Irvine had a chance to tie with 11 seconds left, but center Johnny Rogers had the ball knocked from his grasp and out of bounds with three seconds remaining. The Aggies’ Gerald Wright then stole Irvine’s third attempt at an inbounds pass and held until the final horn sounded.

Mulligan, however, was quick to point out that this one was not decided in the final seconds.

“We lost this game in the first half when we made 13 turnovers and they made only five,” he said. “We didn’t defend anyone, our passing was really bad and we must have had 30 turnovers. And that’s being charitable.”

Actually, the Anteaters had 22 turnovers, but the majority were bad passes that ended up being jammed through the hoop at the other end by the Aggies.

Rogers and forward Tod Murphy did everything possible to keep Irvine--and the 1,096 in Crawford Hall--in the game, but they couldn’t overcome the continued poor play of the team’s backcourt. As a result, the Anteaters dropped to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in conference. New Mexico State is 6-7 and 2-2.

Rogers poured in 36 points, including 13 free throws, and Murphy had 23 points and 12 rebounds. The two combined to shoot 22 of 33 from the floor, but it wasn’t enough to offset the 13-turnover performance of the four Irvine guards (Troy Carmon, Rodney Scott, Jerome Lee and Bryan Williams). The Anteater guards are shooting a combined 32% in conference action.

Murphy, asked if the team’s backcourt play was discouraging, said softly: “If doesn’t matter if you lose and have a decent performance. The other guys are going as hard as they can. I’d rather win and sit on the bench.”

Irvine shot 56% from the field, outrebounded the Aggies by five (35-30) and made four more free throws. But they also threw the ball away with such regularity that the volatility that Mulligan showed before he suffered a stroke last year almost surfaced on the sideline again.

Usually, New Mexico State also looks to two players to shoulder most of the offensive burden. But the Aggies had five players in double figures Monday night. Leading the way, as usual, was former Banning High standout Gilbert Wilburn with 28 points, including a pair of three-pointers.