Nevada Reno Tournament : Irvine Beats Loyola Marymount, 99-75

UC Irvine arrived here by bus from Sacramento, sometime around 3 Friday morning. Fog closed the airport, bringing the Anteaters in some 14 hours behind schedule.

The Anteaters brought with them a center with badly bruised ribs, a team with a badly bruised ego, and a coach who had become painfully frustrated with his team’s play. And, for Coach Bill Mulligan, the pain would only get worse.

A kidney stone ailment struck Mulligan shortly after a team meeting Friday morning sending him to the hospital for treatment and medication.

He got out in time to see his team take the court in Lawlor Events Center against Loyola Marymount in the first round of the Nevada Reno Tournament. Nine days earlier, Loyola beat Irvine, 122-100.

All things considered, it seemed Irvine would have been better staying home.

And what happens? The Anteaters played their best game in nearly a month and beat Loyola, 99-75.

Said Mulligan, “Yeah. . . . how do you figure it?”

Tod Murphy, he of the tender ribs, was a doubtful starter, but he started. He finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Johnny Rogers had 11 rebounds and a season-high 26 points. And Loyola, which shot 61.7% from the field against the Anteaters on Dec. 18, misplaced its shooting touch. The Lions (6-4) made only 31 of 85 shot attempts (36.5%) in the rematch. Guard Keith Smith, who had a game-high 34 points in the first game, was held to 14. His only point in the second half came on the free throw he shot following a technical foul against Murphy.

Loyola outscored Irvine, 16-8, in the final three minutes of the first half and left the court trailing, 50-46. But Irvine, relying mostly on a zone defense and a fast-paced offense, outscored the Lions, 42-29, in the second half.

The zone is uncharacteristic of a Mulligan team, but this was a time for desperate measures. “I hate to play zone,” he said, “but I like winning.”

“It was a game of transition, and theirs was stronger than ours,” Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said. “We just didn’t sustain, and they did. If anything, they just got stronger.”

It all added up to an unlikely, 46 point turnaround that served to ease Mulligan’s pain, and make for a much happier group of Irvine players.

“Look at this,” Murphy said, as he surveyed the Anteaters’ locker room, “winning games makes us happy. And we’re all about 18 to 22 years old. This is too damn good a time in our lives to be unhappy.”

Murphy was not expected to play. Mulligan said he was willing to keep him out until the Anteaters’ Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. opener against San Jose State next Thursday, but he would leave the final decision up to his captain and leading scorer.

Said Murphy: “I made it three days ago. There was no way I was going to sit this one out. Not after what these guys did to us last time, and not after the way we’ve been playing lately.”

Irvine (4-4) will play Nevada Reno in the championship game tonight at 9. Loyola faces Portland in the consolation game at 7 p.m.