Season Is Over for UCI After Loss to BYU

This time, there will be no 11th-hour reprieve, no call from a postseason tournament rep offering a chance at redemption. UC Irvine’s roller coaster ride through the 1985-86 basketball season is over.

The West Coast’s last remaining representative in postseason play ran out of Big Wins Tuesday night, losing to Brigham Young University, 93-80, in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament in front of 11,436 spectators in BYU’s Marriott Center.

UCI finishes with a 17-13 record, including two victories over nationally ranked Nevada Las Vegas--which were the reasons the Anteaters were still playing this far into March--and last week’s treasured win over UCLA in the first round of the NIT.

But the ending wasn’t what Tod Murphy, Irvine’s career scoring leader, had in mind.

“It’s nice to make the NIT, and it’s nice to do as well as we did,” he said. “But I’d like to think we could have done better.

“It’s just a shame it has to end like this.”

Actually, the ending may have come midway through the first half, after a swift and stirring BYU rally in which the Cougars outscored UCI, 16-0.

Irvine had a 10-7 lead four minutes into the game. BYU then scored 16 unanswered points to take a 23-10 lead. Irvine was shocked, and played like it for most of the remainder of the game.

Sophomore forward Jeff Chatman had a game-high 20 points and junior center Tom Gneiting had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Cougars (18-13) into the NIT quarterfinals. BYU will play Ohio State Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.

Said BYU Coach Ladell Andersen: “Although there were times when we looked awkward, for about 30 minutes, we played just about as well as this club can play. Now, we’re going to get ourselves prepared for the next battle.”

Irvine’s next battle won’t be this season. UCI made modest runs at the end of the first half and in the game’s closing minutes, but could never fully recover from the Cougars’ early scoring outburst. BYU’s matchup zone defense effectively contained Murphy and Johnny Rogers, and led to a number of easy Cougar baskets.

Rogers concluded his collegiate career by scoring 18 points on 6 of 13 shooting. But what he’ll remember most about his last college game is the disgust and disappointment he felt at loose balls that bounced away from him, of fouls called against him.

“Johnny got a little frustrated early in the game and I think that hurt him,” UCI Coach Bill Mulligan said.

A little frustrated?

“I’ve never been that frustrated for that long in a game,” Rogers said. “It seemed like I was frustrated the whole game.

“Nothing was going right. I’ve had poor shooting nights before, but this was different.”

Murphy, held to 11 points, joined Rogers in frustration, particularly over his 3 for 8 performance from the free-throw line. “I’d like to think I’ll never have another game like I had tonight,” he said.

With Murphy and Rogers struggling, guards Scott Brooks, Joe Buchanan and Mike Hess kept it from becoming a rout by combining to make 15 of 24 shots from the field. Brooks led the Anteaters with 17 points. Hess made all five of his shots, and finished with 13 points. But with five BYU players scoring in double-figures, the Anteaters simply needed Murphy and Rogers to score more.

Said Hess: “We made a few offensive runs, but it seemed like the most we could do was match buckets with them. It seemed like they scored from every position. We just never could get over the hump.

“Johnny and Tod are our thoroughbreds, and we had trouble even getting the ball to them.”

BYU had a 76-54 lead with 7:56 to play before Irvine made what would be its last, last-ditch effort. The Anteaters outscored the Cougars, 17-5, over the next six minutes to close the gap to 81-71. But by then only 1:56 was left, and the Cougars made enough free throws to hold on.

“It was BYU’s defense that was a big factor in the game,” Mulligan said. “The tempo was all one-sided.”

UCI had an uncharacteristically poor night from the free-throw line. The Anteaters were 18 of 29. BYU was 25 of 32. The Cougars shot 54.8% from the field (34 of 62), including 60% in the second half. UCI shot 50.8% (31 of 61).

Thus ended UCI’s season of ups and downs. The wins over UNLV and last Thursday’s victory over UCLA will rank as some of the biggest achievements in Irvine history. But there were some pretty forgettable moments.

Said Mulligan: “The loss to Oral Roberts at our place was a low point. Losing to Fullerton three times was a low point. But we had a lot more high points than low points.”