UC Irvine Has Its Hands Full Tonight

To understand the problem confronting UC Irvine tonight when the Anteaters play host to Nevada Las Vegas at 7:30 at the Bren Center, consider the match-up of the big men--the Anteaters’ Wayne Engelstad vs. the Rebels’ Armon (Hammer) Gilliam.

It’s the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. player of the week against the PCAA player of the decade.

OK, maybe that’s overstating it. Maybe Gilliam’s only got the half decade wrapped up. At any rate, he is averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds a game, is shooting 60% from the field, is a certain first-round National Basketball Assn. draft choice this summer and is the main reason why the No. 3-ranked Rebels are 19-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference.

In the first meeting four weeks ago, Las Vegas dealt the Anteaters their second-worst defeat ever, a 114-72 rout.

What has happened since then? Well, Las Vegas fell from No. 1 to 3 in the polls with a loss to Oklahoma. And Irvine has managed to right itself in the standings and now has a PCAA record of 6-4 and an overall mark of 11-8.

Irvine’s Joe Buchanan, who had an abdominal infection, was released from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange Tuesday and will watch tonight’s game on the Irvine bench in street clothes. Starting again in his place will be sophomore Kevin Floyd.

Engelstad, who draws the assignment of guarding Gilliam, was named PCAA player of the week after scoring 58 points and grabbing 31 rebounds in three games for Irvine.