UCI IS 0-11 at Fresno After Loss
For Mike Doktorczyk, UC Irvine’s freckle-faced sophomore forward, innocence was lost Monday night in one horrific final minute in Selland Arena.
This was Doktorczyk’s first visit to Fresno and all he knew about the traditional Anteater burial place was what he had read (Irvine’s 0-10 record in Selland) and heard (rumors about some indoor maelstrom called The Red Wave).
But they say there’s no substitute for experience--although Doktorczyk now may argue that point to his final breath. Committing two critical miscues in the waning seconds, Doktorczyk contributed mightily to the Anteaters’ latest failure here, a 66-65 loss before a sellout crowd of 10,132.
Background to a breakdown:
Irvine had just assumed a 65-64 lead on Scott Brooks’ arching three-point field goal and regained possession when Fresno State’s Jervis Cole was called for traveling. With 1:05 left, the Bulldogs called timeout.
When the teams reconvened, Doktorczyk was standing at midcourt, ready to inbound the ball.
Cole pressured Doktorczyk, who pumped left, hesitated and finally threw right. The pass was directed at Irvine guard Joe Buchanan but it never got there. Fresno’s Mike Mitchell deflected the ball off Buchanan’s hands and out of bounds.
With 1:04 left, the Bulldogs had the ball back.
And with 39 seconds left, Leo Walker sank his sixth basket in six attempts, giving Fresno a one-point lead. For Irvine, ample time remained to set up a good shot--but, again, Doktorczyk came up less than ample.
A right-hander, Doktorczyk drove left and, with 16 seconds to play, put up a layup that banked hard and high off the glass. “A terrible shot,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan called it.
The missed shot bounded away from Anteater center Wayne Engelstad and Fresno rebounded. A few ticks of the clock later, the Bulldogs had evened their Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. record at 1-1 and Irvine remained oh-for-ever in Selland Arena.
For the season, the Anteaters dropped to 5-6 and 0-2 in conference. Fresno is 6-7 overall.
“This was one of the toughest losses I’ve had to take, because all I read here was ‘Irvine 0-10,’ ” Mulligan said. “I can deal with losing but I can’t deal with guys who don’t do what I tell them.”
In the Irvine locker room, Mulligan grew livid about Doktorczyk’s two costly plays.
“I’ve never gone so goofy in a locker room in my life,” he said later. “I jumped on one of our kids . . . and I feel bad about it now.”
So did Doktorczyk. He spent several minutes sitting in silence, his head buried in a towel. He broke that silence by jerking a shoe off his foot and rifling it against the wall.
Engelstad, dressing nearby, tried to be sympathetic.
“Everyone was screaming and yelling,” Engelstad said. “I would’ve hated to be in his shoes, taking the ball in.”
Doktorczyk was asked if the crowd noise had bothered him.
“No, it was my own fault,” he whispered. “I don’t know what I thought.”
Then he cut off his questioner. “I’d rather not say anything else,” he said, walking away. “Catch me after a good game.”
Mulligan, however, was more expansive.
On the inbounds play: “All you gotta do is call timeout. We had three of ‘em left. If you have any question at all about getting it in, call time.”
On the missed shot: “With three minutes to go, I told (the team) that the only guys I wanted shooting it the rest of the way were Brooks and Buchanan. . . . There were 16 seconds left. You don’t shoot that from the left side. Pull up and kick it outside to someone.”
Nothing about this stop on Irvine’s PCAA schedule particularly thrilled Doktorczyk. In the midst of a shooting slump, he had lost his starting job, with Mulligan opening Monday’s game with Frank Woods at forward.
Woods responded with 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting. But with 1:05 left, Mulligan switched forwards again.