Freedom Bowl Tournament : Irvine Holds the Press, Beats TCU

Bill Mulligan sincerely believed his new hot-rod running game would blow away the competition this season. The UC Irvine coach thought his team would rocket along with a step-aside, our-cruise-control’s-in-overdrive attitude.

But Mulligan has been coaching for 33 years, and it took him only one game to figure out it was time to junk the souped-up model and go with something that doesn’t break down as often.

Saturday night, Irvine all but scrapped its fullcourt press, ran the offense--instead of just running up and down the court--and came away with an 83-75 victory over Texas Christian in the consolation game of the Western Digital Freedom Bowl tournament in front of 1,673 in the Bren Center.

Remember all that hoopla about the Anteaters leading the nation in scoring?

Never mind.

In fact, the Anteaters might not even lead the city of Irvine in scoring. Woodbridge High School boasts a potent offense, you know.

“We changed our philosophy a little,” Mulligan said. “In a few days, we may look like Fresno State.”

Mulligan used to call Fresno’s deliberate style “vomit basketball.” But Saturday’s result made him considerably less nauseated than Friday night’s 25-point embarrassment at the hands of Georgia State.

Guards Rod Palmer and Kevin Floyd led the way for Irvine. Palmer made 9 of 13 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and scored 25 points. Floyd was 7 of 12 from the floor and finished with 18.

“(Friday) night was a shocker,” Floyd said. “You’d like to make it to the championship game of your own tourney. A lot of our fans left holding their noses . . . and we surely stunk the place up.

“We came in just wanting to run, run, run. But the bottom line is to win.”

Irvine looked as if it would start the season 0-2, as TCU (1-2) ran out to an 11-point lead (21-10) with 9:43 left in the half. But Palmer scored 7 quick points and the Anteaters closed to within 3 at the half (40-37).

Palmer, a junior transfer from UCLA, hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 45-second span early in the second half, and Irvine finally went ahead for good, 68-66, on a pair of Palmer free throws with 4:56 remaining.

“I was a lot more focused tonight,” Palmer said. “(Friday) night was my first real game in 2 years and I was a little antsy.

“That game opened our eyes. We thought we were going to run everybody into the floor. Now, I think we’ll try to outsmart people instead of just outrunning them.”

The Anteaters still have a way to go in the smarts department. Even with a less frantic pace and a modicum of patience, they committed 29 turnovers.

They also had trouble stopping the Horned Frogs’ inside game. Reserve center Rich Antee led TCU with 19 points and forward Craig Sibley scored 15.

But the Anteaters responded with an inside game of their own, thanks mainly to the play of senior forward Mike Doktorczyk. Doktorczyk, starting in place of sophomore Jeff Herdman, was 6 of 7 from the field, scored 14 points and had a team-high 9 rebounds.

Irvine also enjoyed a rare rebounding advantage (38-23).

Probably most significant, however, was what the Anteaters didn’t do: Press.

The absence of the press translated into a drastically reduced number of layups by the opposition. The Anteaters applied token fullcourt pressure often, but they employed the trapping high-risk press just three times in the first half and the result was three TCU layups.

They didn’t use it again.

Mulligan wasn’t overjoyed with everything he saw Saturday night, but, he was quick to point out, it added up to a win.

“We’re going to practice tomorrow instead of taking the day off,” he said.

Will there be more changes?

“We’ll see how it goes,” he said, managing a smile. “Anything it takes to win.”