UC Irvine Season Ends in 93-80 Loss to BYU

UC Irvine’s roller-coaster ride through the 1985-86 basketball season is over.

The West Coast’s last remaining representative in postseason play was eliminated when it lost to Brigham Young University, 93-80, in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament Tuesday night in front of 11,436 spectators in BYU’s Marriott Center.

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

But the ending wasn’t what forward 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 Irvine, 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 on Friday night at 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.

There will be no more next times this season for the Anteaters. Irvine 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. But what he’ll remember most about his last college game is the disgust and disappointment he felt at the loose balls that bounced away from him or the fouls called against him.

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

Murphy, held to 11 points, joined Rogers in frustration, particularly over his 3-for-8 shooting 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 the shots he attempted and finished with 13 points. But with five BYU players scoring in double-figures, the Anteaters simply needed more production than they got from Murphy and Rogers.

BYU had a 76-54 lead with 7:56 to play before Irvine made what would be its last-ditch effort. The Anteaters outscored the Cougars, 17-5, over the next six minutes to close the gap to 81-71. But by that time, there was only 1:56 left in the game, and the Cougars made enough free throws to keep it out of reach.

Irvine 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% (34 of 62), including 60% in the second half. Irvine shot 50,8% (31 of 61).