Irvine Is in Over Its Head at Shark Tank; UNLV Wins, 114-72

If UC Irvine’s tiny band of overachievers could take Iowa, the nation’s No. 3 basketball team, to the final buzzer before losing by a basket, what could possibly happen when the Anteaters got their chance against Numero Uno, Nevada Las Vegas?

You don’t really want to know.

It was gruesome, it was brutal, it was Las Vegas 114, Irvine 72.

Saturday’s night Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game before a crowd of 19,058 at Thomas and Mack Center was every bit as bad as the final score suggested. The 42-point loss was the second worst in Irvine history, surpassed only by a 129-57 defeat, also by Las Vegas, in 1975.

“It was a blitzkrieg, just amazing,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “And they were really nice to us, too. They took it easy on us. They could’ve beaten us by a hundred.”

Las Vegas (12-0) toyed with 50, building a 47-point lead (102-55) with 5:10 left in the game. The Rebels had two players, Armon Gilliam and Gary Graham, score 20 points and another, Freddie Banks, add 19 as they shot 52.3% from the field for the game.

Irvine (5-5), a team that lives off its shooting, managed but 30% from the field (24 of 80). In the second half, the Anteaters shot 23.8%. Scott Brooks was 5 of 13, Joe Buchanan 2 of 14 and Mike Hess 2 for 7.

A year ago, Irvine swept the Rebels in PCAA play, upsetting them at Irvine and Las Vegas. Those losses stuck deep in the Rebels’ craws.

“They were bragging that they beat us here and there and that really made us mad,” Banks said. “We wanted to go out and kick their butts.”

Mulligan had tried to downplay the emotional impact thoses victories would have in Saturday’s game.

“I don’t think basketball is that emotional a game,” he said earlier this week. “The first five minutes, Vegas will be sky-high, but you can’t maintain that.”

Oh yeah?

At the Thomas and Mack Center, the psyche job begins early. Banners and message boards welcome you to “Tark’s Shark Tank,” a theme the locals can’t seem to get enough of.

During pregame introductions, the silhouette of a shark is flashed onto the court, right at the feet of the visitors. The band plays the theme from “Jaws” and, as accompaniment, 19,000 red-and-white clad fans open and close their arms, up and down, mimicking the mouth of a Great White.

You get the idea.

Amid this, the Anteaters opened their conference season. Barely 10 minutes later, they knew how it was going to turn out.

Irvine came out nervous and tentative, looking intimidated and forcing shots. Las Vegas guards Mark Wade and Gary Graham hounded Brooks, limiting him to two shots--both misses--in the first 10 minutes.

That freed the Anteaters’ other guard, Joe Buchanan, for a few open shots. He took eight of them in the first half. He made two.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas came out hitting 10 of its first 13 shots, breaking out to a 23-9 lead in barely six minutes. As expected, the Rebels pushed around the Anteaters inside, but the big damage was done from the outside.

Yes, the Anteaters, those poster boys for the NCAA’s 3-point shot campaign, were outmatched even beyond 19-9. In the first half, Las Vegas sank 75% of its 3-pointers--9 of 12--with four different players doing the casting away.

At the same time, Irvine shot 37%. That was including everything--layups, bank shots, jumpers.

Finally, Brooks was able to wriggle loose for a few hurried set shots. He hit 4 of 7, including three 3-pointers, to finish with 12 points at the half.

Despite that, Irvine entered the second half down, 64-40. Las Vegas, which shot 60% in the period, also outrebounded the Anteaters, 30-12.