Loyola Marymount Routs UC Irvine : Lions’ Running Game Leaves Anteaters Winded, 122-100

Bob Thate joined Bill Mulligan’s coaching staff at UC Irvine this year, bringing with him a reputation of being a whiz when it comes to recruiting; a shrewd judge of talent with the ability to convince good athletes to sign on the dotted line of an NCAA letter of intent.

It turns out that’s something more than resume rhetoric. While Thate was an assistant at Loyola Marymount, one publication rated his recruiting efforts among the best in the country.

Wednesday night, Thate found out that it doesn’t always pay to be good at your job.

Keith Smith and Forrest McKenzie, two of Thate’s prize recruits, combined to lead Loyola Marymount to a 122-100 non-conference win in front of 1,293 spectators in Gersten Pavilion.

Thate remembers watching Smith play at West Covina High School five years ago. “He was good, but it wasn’t obvious to everyone,” Thate said.

“It is now.”

Some NBA scouts are projecting Smith as a first-round draft choice next year. His performance against UCI made it easy to see what the scouts like about him.

Smith made 15 of 21 shots from the field (71.4 %) and had a game-high 34 points and 7 assists. He came within two points of matching his career high, which he set against Irvine last season at Crawford Hall.

This was a night to leaf through the record books. Loyola set a school record for points in a game, breaking the mark of 111 set in 1983 against something called Concordia College in Nebraska. It was the most points UCI has allowed since a 124-95 loss to Nevada Las Vegas in 1980-81.

It could have been worse, had Loyola Coach Paul Westhead not called Smith to the bench with 4:26 to play. By then, UCI had seen enough.

Said Irvine guard Mike Hess, who spent one semester at Loyola after leaving the University of Texas: “I know Keith pretty well. I wish I could say he was playing over his head, but he wasn’t.”

When Smith wasn’t scoring, McKenzie was. The 6-foot 8-inch senior forward had 28 points, and teamed with Smith to virtually put the game out of reach by halftime.

Smith and McKenzie combined to make 19 of 24 shots from the field (75 %) in the first half, and scored 38 points to lead the Lions to a 62-46 halftime lead. Loyola shot 72.5 % in the first half.

There was little UCI could do to turn things around in the second half.

Loyola (6-2) is off to its best start in 24 seasons and meets UCLA Friday at Pauley Pavilion. UCI (3-3) has until a Dec. 23 game against Oral Roberts to recover.

Mulligan accused himself of overcoaching afterwards. “I made a lot of changes for those two guys instead of just playing them straight up,” he said.

“I tried to do too many things to compensate. It’s my fault for trying to be the big strategist.”

Lost in all of this was the fact that Anteater forward Johnny Rogers had his best offensive game in more than two weeks, hitting 9 of 13 field-goal attempts and finishing with 24 points.

Tod Murphy led the Anteaters with 30 points. Wayne Engelstad scored a season-high 13 points coming off the bench.

But this was the Smith and McKenzie show, and Thate--the guy who did the casting--could only sit and watch.

When it was over, Thate had to face a little playful ribbing from some of his new colleagues.

“It was his team that beat us tonight,” fellow assistant coach Mike Bokosky said.

“You did a good job,” UCI Athletic Director John Caine said, smiling. “Thanks.”

Said Thate: “I’m happy they turned into such good players, but . . . “