Mulligan’s Observation Could Become a Reality

When Cal State Fullerton was struggling through midseason without injured guards Kevin Henderson and Richard Morton, UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan had this observation: “You watch, they’ll stagger into the (Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.) tournament with a low seed, but Henderson and Morton will be back at full strength and they could do some real damage.”

The Titans did some damage to UCI’s ego Saturday night, beating the Anteaters, 78-68, for their fifth straight win over Irvine.

And guess who gets to play Fullerton in the first round of the PCAA Tournament?

Irvine, of course.

The scramble for spots in the eight-team tournament came down to the last day of play. Utah State slipped in on Jeff Anderson’s 35-foot desperation toss at the buzzer that beat New Mexico State. UC Santa Barbara came up short, losing to the University of the Pacific. The Gauchos join Cal State Long Beach as nonparticipants in the conference’s annual postseason get-together.

San Jose State, the No. 4 seed, meets Pacific (No. 5) at 2 p.m., No. 3 New Mexico State plays No. 6 Utah State at 4, top-seeded Nevada Las Vegas faces No. 8 Fresno State at 7 and the Anteaters (No. 2) meet the Titans (No. 7) at 9 in the first round of the tournament Thursday at the Forum.

The Titans didn’t have to worry about all the complicated tie-breakers that had confused everyone over the last few days. Their fate was simple: Win and they make the tournament, lose and stay home for the first time in the 11-year history of the tournament.

“We’re just happy to be there,” Titan Coach George McQuarn said. “We were worried about the seedings last week, but we put ourselves in this position and tonight we just wanted to get in.”

The Titans, who would have met ninth-ranked Las Vegas if UCSB had won, are no doubt glad to be playing UCI instead of the Rebels, who have beaten them twice handily this season. But no one in blue and orange was ready to say they own the Anteaters.

“The season was in jeopardy,” said Henderson, a senior who is expected to go in the first or second round of the NBA draft. “We have a natural rivalry with Irvine and we seem to play really well against them. We were ready and it all added up to a win.”

Is he predicting a similar outcome Thursday night?

“Hey, we’re just happy to be there,” he said, obviously not wanting to end up on Irvine’s locker room wall.

Mulligan and the Irvine players refused to say that they would have prefered another first-round opponent, but it’s clear that the Anteaters have trouble matching up with the Titans. Fullerton is quicker at every position and the Titans seem to be able to take UCI out of its offense.

The 6-foot 4-inch Henderson, who scored 21 Saturday, took 5-11 guard Scott Brooks into the lane and shot 10-foot jumpers over him all night.

Still, Mulligan says he doesn’t plan to alter the man-to-man defense that has failed UCI twice this season.

“We have a size problem at guard, but we’ve had that problem with a lot of teams and still managed to win,” said Mulligan, whose team has beaten UNLV (which has a pretty good backcourt) twice this year.

“And it would really help if they had two true post guys like most teams,” Mulligan admitted, refering to the problems 6-10 Johnny Rogers and 6-9 Tod Murphy have guarding the Titans’ 6-6 1/2 center Herman Webster and 6-7 forward Henry Turner.

Rogers and Murphy got their points, combining for 40, but the Titans’ starting front line of Webster, Turner and Kerry Boagni combined for 43, a total way above their average. Starting forward Wayne Englestad scored six for Irvine.

“I don’t think we’ll change anything, though,” Mulligan said. “I don’t think we should try and shoot 40% (from the floor) again. I just want to know why their whole team plays so much better against us than they do anyone else.”

McQuarn, who agreed that the Titans played “very, very well” in both games against Irvine, isn’t sure he has the answers. But he has got some clues.

“We’ve had a lot of problems this year and we’ve certainly had our ups and downs,” he said, “but we have developed a feeling about the rivalry with Irvine over the years and we try to instill that attitude in all our players. We just seem to get fired up.

And McQuarn isn’t especially concerned about the old basketball adage that says it’s very difficult to beat the same team three times in one season.

“Well, this one makes five now,” he said. “Obviously, it will have to end sometime. Right now, I’d just like to enjoy this win.