Irvine Back in New Home Tonight
UC Irvine challenged a couple of scoring records in its Thursday night debut at the new on-campus Bren Events Center, but more of the same is not expected tonight when the Anteaters play host to San Jose State in a 7:30 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game.
Irvine’s 118-96 victory over Utah State amounted to the third-highest scoring total in the school’s history and guard Scott Brooks’ 43 points were three shy of Kevin Magee’s single-game Anteater record of 46. But, as Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan put it, “Luckily for us, Utah State likes to run.”
San Jose State does not. The Spartans’ game is discipline and controlling the tempo. Thursday night, that style kept San Jose surprisingly close to top-ranked Nevada Las Vegas. The Spartans lost, 89-77, but trailed by just one at halftime and by five late in the second half.
San Jose, 6-6 overall and 2-1 in the PCAA, is led by 6-7 forward Reggie Owens and guard Ricky Berry, who is averaging 18.1 points for the season and 24.3 in conference. Berry, a junior, was an honorable All-America selection as a sophomore.
The Spartans’ other guard, Rodney Scott, played for Irvine two seasons ago.
Irvine takes a 1-2 PCAA record and a 6-6 overall mark into the game.
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