UC Irvine Adds to Utah St. Woes, 89-79

Utah State Coach Rod Tueller shook his head and told reporters how misleading Greg Grant’s statistics were in UC Irvine’s 89-79 win over the Aggies Thursday night at The Spectrum.

Grant, Utah State’s senior forward, had 22 points and 9 rebounds in 33 minutes. But Tueller said the numbers didn’t tell the real story. Grant, he said, played worse than the statistics sheet indicated.

It has come to that here, where Aggie Agony is reaching new lows with each game. Not even Grant, who will likely leave Utah State as the school’s all-time scoring leader, is immune.

Grant, who came into the game as the nation’s fifth-leading scorer, made 9 of 21 shots, including only 3 of 11 in the first half.

Tueller’s review: “It’s not what you’d consider a good game for Greg Grant. The 22 points weren’t indicative of his very poor performance. He was uncharacteristically gunshy tonight.”

Grant’s off night, combined with some generally poor shooting by his teammates, prevented Utah State from taking advantage of 21 UC Irvine turnovers as the Anteaters played well enough to beat a team that has been enduring more than its share of criticism lately.

“It was a good win because it came on the road,” UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said, “but I don’t think it was very artistic.”

UC Irvine is 6-3 in Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. play and 10-8 overall. Utah State is 2-6 and 6-11, and seemingly falling right out of the PCAA tournament.

Thursday’s edition of The Salt Lake Tribune carried a column in which the Aggies were referred to as “passive PCAA pretenders”--and that was in the headline. The article went on to suggest that Utah’s taxpayers, who contribute indirectly to athletic scholarships, are being shortchanged by the Aggies and that timid play is the reason for the team’s troubles. The Aggies, the article said, are “getting knocked around the PCAA like second-class citizens.”

Tueller’s reaction: “Guilty as charged. I’d like more consistency. Consistency and intensity.”

The Anteaters obviously picked a good time to come here and try to improve on a modest 2-6 road record. They did it by shooting 56% and generally having their way inside. Forwards Tod Murphy (22 points, 11 rebounds) and Johnny Rogers (18 points, 9 rebounds) led the way, while Troy Carmon had a season-high 14.