UC Irvine Plays Poorly, Pays With Loss

The final indignity for Bill Mulligan, UC Irvine basketball coach, came after his team had lost, 80-71, to Boise State Tuesday night in front of 4,129 in the Boise State Pavilion.

The Anteaters had committed 27 turnovers, made just 41% of their shots and were outrebounded, 42-34.

And yet, the topper didn’t come until a mild-mannered Boise State male cheerleader walked Mulligan’s way, extended his hand and said, “You guys are pretty good, coach. Are you Division I?”

The rough part was the guy was serious. Probably because UCI (3-2) had just played that badly.

They had played so poorly that the only argument in the Anteater locker room was exactly whose fault it was.

“This game is my fault,” Mulligan said. “I changed the offense. Maybe that was a mistake.”

Said guard Scott Brooks, who finished with 22 points: “He (Mulligan) didn’t lose this game. We just didn’t play smart. We didn’t take advantage of golden opportunities.”

They both offer excellent arguments.

Mulligan deviated from the three-guard, one-post offense that had helped the Anteaters to surprise victories over Bradley and Nebraska.

Instead he chose to go with a two-post offense designed to take advantage of UCI’s superior height.

It didn’t. Boise State’s quicker inside men scored almost at will. Of the Broncos’ 17 first-half field goals, 13 came from five feet or closer.

Arnell Jones, the Broncos’ 6-foot 5-inch forward, scored 14 points in the first half and 21 for the game.

UCI had led by as many as eight points in the first half. But Jones scored eight points in the last four minutes of the half--three layups and a dunk--to put Boise State (5-1) ahead, 37-36, at halftime.

“We knew they were going to be bigger than us, so we knew we had to be quicker,” Jones said. “I’m not saying they were slower, but I could definitely go around them.”

In the second half, Boise State center Jeff Kelly scored 10 of his 18 points in a three-minute spurt that gave the Broncos a 57-42 lead with 13:18 left.

As Boise State was scoring inside, UCI’s frontline was busy committing nine turnovers. Several balls were simply dropped out of bounds as UCI’s big men attempted to hurry their shots.

Boise State blocked six shots, including Chris Child’s (6-3) block of Mike Doktorczk’s dunk attempt.

Not to be outdone, the usually reliable backcourt of Brooks, Joe Buchanan and Mike Hess turned the ball over 18 times.

“I don’t know what it was,” Brooks said. “We played horrible. They played good defense, but I don’t think it should have affected us that much.”

The Broncos did a good job of slowing down the UCI break. The Anteaters scored on just one drive in the first half and that was by 6-8 forward Wayne Englestad.

Englestad finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds.

Putting all that aside, UCI did rally and tied the score at 62-62 with with 5:20 left. Not surprisingly, it was the shoting of Brooks and Buchanan that brought the Anteaters back.

Buchanan had 13 points.

But Boise State built the lead back to 70-65, when Buchanan attempted a three-point shot that was blocked by guard Doug Usitalo and converted by Usitalo for a basket and a 72-65 Boise State lead with 2:31 left.

“That was a huge play,” said Bobby Dye, Boise State coach. “A huge play.”

Usitalo’s drive for a basket with 1:01 left put Boise State ahead 78-67 and the game clearly out of reach.

“We were just bad,” Brooks said.

They better get better quick. UCI plays Montana (6-1) on Thursday.

Anteater Notes

Forward Kevin Floyd, who transferred last year from Georgetown, made his first playing appearance for UCI. It wasn’t spectacular. Floyd played 20 minutes and scored two points. One shot, a three-point attempt, was an air ball. “I didn’t want to shoot it,” Floyd said. “But the bench was yelling at me to shoot, so I did.” Coach Bill Mulligan said: “I knew Kevin wouldn’t have that great a game. It’s really the first time he’s played since high school. It’s going to take a while.” . . . Irvine center Arthur Phillips did not play because of an injured ankle. The injury spoiled a homecoming for Phillips, who played as a freshman at Boise State and was chosen the Big Sky’s co-freshman of the year two years ago.