COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘87-88 : Fullerton, Irvine May Go in Separate Directions : For Now, Anteaters Will Shoot to Be Best of PCAA’s Rest

The way Bill Mulligan sees it, this season’s Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. basketball race could be billed as “The Big Three and Parity.”

“UNLV, Fullerton and San Jose State are at the top,” the UC Irvine coach said. “The other seven are all about even.”

A fourth-place finish in the senior-laden PCAA this season would be a definite victory for the Anteaters. But if they finish tied for eighth, as the conference coaches predict they will, it will be a major disappointment.

One thing is clear, however: The Anteaters’ rise or fall in the bottom seven will hinge on whether their superior shooting can overcome their inferior defense.

It’s an annual problem. UCI shot 46% (including 42% from three-point range) from the floor last season and averaged 87 points a game. Opponents shot 50% and averaged 88.

It’s a planned problem, really.

“The ideal situation in today’s market is to get the great athlete who’s a great shooter,” Mulligan said. “For those of us who seldom get those kids, there are two options--get the great athlete or get the great shooter. Most times, we can’t get the great athlete in school here.”

Mulligan knows what it will take for the Anteaters to keep today’s PCAA market from crashing on their heads:

“For us to win, these guys are going to have to shoot as well as they can and defend better than they have ever in their lives.” THE SHOOTERS

Irvine’s newest in a long line of shooting sensations is freshman Justin Anderson, the North Dakota player of the year last season at Valley City High School. According to the UCI coaches, the 6-foot 5-inch guard is shooting 77% from the field in practice.

Anderson was supposed to be the sixth man this season, but has been pressed into a starting role for the first two games. Mulligan suspended Kevin Floyd, who started 21 games last year, for the Freedom Bowl tournament, which begins Friday at UCI’s Bren Center.

Don’t look for Anderson to replace the 24 points a game Scott Brooks pumped in last season, but, though the rest of his game needs lots of work, Anderson’s a confident, pure shooter.

Seniors Wayne Engelstad and Frank Woods are being counted on to carry much of the offensive burden.

Engelstad, a 6-8, 250-pound center who averaged 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds last season, finally has become the kind of basketball player Mulligan envisioned when he recruited him out of Bosco Tech four years ago.

“He’s a really good player,” Mulligan said. “I’m really happy with him. He’s trying to do everything we ask, and he’s trying to be a leader.”

Mulligan, however, maintains that his star center is “too fat.” Engelstad shrugs it off when he’s off the court and does his best to disprove it when he’s on. He’s nimble and has good instincts underneath and a nice touch from outside.

Woods, a 6-5 forward who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery after last season, has returned to full speed. He started 19 games and averaged 11.7 points (14.6 in conference play) and 6.3 rebounds last season. He’s consistent--he scored in double figures in 18 games--and is an excellent free-throw shooter (81%, third best in the conference).

Floyd, a junior transfer from Georgetown who averaged eight points last season, has improved offensively and should be in double figures this season . . . if he can stay out of Mulligan’s doghouse.

Forward Mike Doktorczyk, who started 13 games last season, is the Anteaters’ second-best outside shooter, but even freshmen such as Chris Cresswell (a 6-3 guard from Merced High School) and Jeff Herdman (a 6-6 forward from Mission Viejo High) have the green light to shoot. And that includes three-pointers. Mulligan recruits shooters, remember.

“I haven’t told anybody not to shoot yet,” Mulligan said. “They have no conscience when it comes to shooting, and I love it. We just want them to shoot when they’re open. We don’t want any creations. . . . We don’t have anybody who can create, anyway.” THE DEFENDERS

In basketball, everybody plays both ways. Some are asked to play a little harder on defense than others, though. Woods and Floyd are two of the players who had been expected to fill that role for Irvine.

“We’ve got to find somebody who can guard the other team’s best players,” Mulligan said.

After a 126-92 exhibition victory over a second-division Swedish club team, he’s still looking. The Anteaters had worked extra hard on defense in practice, but two players on Club Malbas combined for 75 points in the exhibition.

“If five guys can’t stop two, we’ve got a long way to go,” Engelstad said.

Mulligan brought in Andy Andreas--a retired Bobby Knight mentor-turned-disciple--as a volunteer assistant this year to revive the defense. Andreas, who gave Knight his first assistant coaching job at a high school in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, later served under Knight at Indiana.

“I think there’s been improvement, but it’s going to be a slow process,” he said, “The philosophy is basically the same, although we’ve added a few more wrinkles. We’ve just drilled more and put more emphasis on defense.

“A lot of the kids are going through an adjustment period. I don’t think kids ever totally buy defense. Athletes try to avoid the dirty work, but somebody has to block and tackle. Not everyone can throw and catch passes.”

A key player in the dirty-work department remains an unknown factor. Mike Labat, a 6-5 sophomore transfer from Idaho, missed a month of practice with an ankle injury. He was a projected starter at point guard and probably will jump into that role as soon as he’s ready.

“We had three midgets at guard last year (5-10 Brooks, 6-1 Joe Buchanan and 6-1 returner Mike Hess), and people just shot over them,” Mulligan said. “We’re bigger now, but we still don’t have a lot of foot speed. We’re just not as quick as most of the people we play, and when we get licked, we don’t recover well enough.”

Mulligan, who refuses even to consider a zone because of the three-point rule, still regards Hess, the starting point guard at the moment, as one of his best man-to-man defenders. Floyd is the best athlete on the team with the most potential, but he isn’t eliciting rave reviews from the coaching staff yet.

Everyone figures a healthy Labat could be the team’s best defender, but Mulligan isn’t sure he wants a sophomore who has to run the offense burdened with guarding the opponent’s best perimeter player as well.

Much of the inside defensive load will have to be carried by Woods and Engelstad. Woods is improving, but neither is nearly as effective at the defensive end as the offensive end. At least Engelstad seems to have overcome the lure of ill-advised fouls. He fouled out nine times last year.

“I’m not worried about Wayne getting in foul trouble (defensively), I’m only worried about him when he gets out of control offensively,” Mulligan said. “You see, Wayne’s main problem is he has to rest sometimes because he’s never really in shape. It’s hard to stay in shape when you’re that fat.

“And now we’ve got a fat guy backing up a fat guy. (Backup center Ed) Johansen is in worse shape than Wayne.”

Engelstad figures to be able to play effectively for 25 to 30 minutes a game. Johansen, a 6-9 junior, will fill in the rest of the time.

Sophomore Steve Florentine, a 6-7 forward who has shown marked improvement lately, could provide some needed defense and rebounding off the bench.

Another weak Irvine defensive team? Maybe. But at least the attitude has improved.

UCI MEN FACTS & FIGURES

1987-88 ROSTER

Lettermen returning (7)

No Player Po Hgt Yr FG% FT% Ast Reb Pts 33 Mike Doktorczyk F 6-9 Jr .442 .792 1.1 5.0 7.4 30 Wayne Engelstad C 6-8 Sr .501 .716 1.2 8.3 16.5 21 Steve Florentine F 6-7 So .364 .636 0.4 1.1 1.5 32 Kevin Floyd F 6-5 Jr .460 .719 2.2 2.8 8.0 10 Mike Hess G 6-1 Sr .449 .743 3.4 1.5 7.0 42 Peter Strauss G 6-5 Jr .300 .833 0.2 0.3 1.5 23 Frank Woods F 6-5 Sr .449 .810 0.8 6.3 11.7

No Hometown (High School) 33 San Pedro (Mary Star/Sea) 30 Rosemead (Bosco Tech) 21 Hermosa Beach (Union) 32 Los Angeles (Westchester) 10 Corona del Mar (Corona del Mar) 42 Hilton Head, S.C. (Hilton Head) 23 Indianapolis (Northwest)

Newcomers (8)

No Player Po Hgt Yr Hometown (High School) 20 Justin Anderson G 6-5 Fr Valley City, ND (Valley City) 5 Chris Cresswell G 6-3 Fr Merced, CA (Merced) 11 Jeff Herdman G 6-6 Fr Mission Viejo (Mission Viejo) 25 Ed Johnsen C 6-9 Jr Papillion (Papillion-La Vista) 3 Mike Labat G 6-5 So Huntington Beach (Ocean View) 40 Eddie Shannon G 6-0 Fr Compton (Gardena) 41 John Boyle G 6-1 Fr Corona del Mar (Mater Dei) 41 Tyrone Howard G 6-4 So Long Beach (Long Beach Jordan)