Mulligan May Have to Re-Evaluate Anteaters After Loss

It was just two weeks ago that UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan was comparing his team to the one he had two years ago, which he considers his best in five seasons at Irvine.

But in the past six days, the Anteaters have given Mulligan cause to re-evaluate things. Consider his reaction to Monday night’s 69-63 loss to Oral Roberts:

“I’ve never been so frustrated with a team in my life. We just broke down. I’d cry, but I’m too old to cry.”

Oral Roberts came to Crawford Hall with a four-game winning streak and a habit of making the long trek to California only to return home with a loss. The Titans haven’t won in California since a 71-70 win over USC in 1976-77.

But UCI, for reasons apparently unclear to Mulligan and his players, served as a passive host, and first-year Oral Roberts Coach Ted Owens can return home for the holidays with a smile.

“This is a big win,” he said. “I happen to think Irvine is a very fine basketball team. Offensively, it’s the best we’ve played.”

Offensively and defensively, it was the worst Irvine has played. The Anteaters (3-4) were held below 70 points for the first time this season, and were outscored, 23-12, in the final 10 minutes.

Akin Akin-Otiko, a 6-foot 6-inch junior from Lagos, Nigeria, gave the Titans their first lead of the second half with a 14-foot jumper with 3:05 to play. Johnny Rogers gave UCI a 61-60 lead with 2:30 left on a jumper from the baseline, but Akin-Otiko put Oral Roberts ahead to stay at the 1:46 mark with a long-range jumper from the baseline with the 45-second clock running out.

Woody Jones led Oral Roberts with 21 points on 10 of 11 shooting. Akin-Otiko had 17 and Maurice Smith 15. Rogers led Irvine with 17 points, but was left to contemplate what has gone wrong with the Anteaters in their last two outings.

“Sometimes you wonder if everybody’s head is into basketball and if they really care,” he said. “With efforts like this one and the last one (a 122-100 loss to Loyola Marymount), you have to wonder.

“I know the guys on this team and I know they have pride, but that pride doesn’t show up. It has got to start showing. We can talk all we want, but after a while, it’s just lip service.”

Tod Murphy, who came into the game as the Anteaters’ leading scorer (25.5 points per game), played with bruised ribs and was in obvious pain afterward. UCI trainer Paul Gardikas was trying to make arrangements to have Murphy’s ribs X-rayed Monday night.

“He had what looked like bruised ribs, and he caught an elbow early in the game,” Gardikas said. “Now, he’s in a lot of pain. Either he has severely bruised ribs or they were cracked before. He did it against Loyola and he didn’t really didn’t tell me until yesterday.”

The loss was a painful one for Murphy and his teammates.

“It’s frustrating,” junior guard Scott Brooks said. “We have to get together. We’re a lot better team than our record shows.”

Said Murphy: “Every loss hurts. You’ve got to try to build from your losses, though, and so far, we haven’t done a very good job at that.”

Unless there is an abrupt turnaround, the Anteaters may get more chances.

UCI opens the Nevada Reno Tournament Friday night against Loyola Marymount.

Against the Titans, UCI was fortunate to leave the court at halftime with a 33-29 lead. The Anteaters got out to a 13-4 lead in the first five minutes before turnovers and cold shooting allowed Oral Roberts to get back in the game.

Rogers gave UCI an 18-11 lead on a baseline jumper at the 12:45 mark, but the Titans responded by scoring the next 10 points to take a 21-18 lead.

Engelstad’s three-point play with 1:05 left in the half enabled the Anteaters to regain the lead, 31-29, and Rogers came off the bench to hit another jumper from the baseline with five seconds left to put UCI up by four.

Jones led Oral Roberts with 14 points in the first half, most of which came on uncontested jumpers from the free throw line. The Titans shot 65% from the field in the first half, with Jones hitting 7 of 8 shots. UCI was 14 of 25 (56%) from the field at halftime.