UC Irvine to Try a Run-and-Gun Attack on Pepperdine

Basketball Coach Jerry Tarkanian of Nevada Las Vegas calls UC Irvine’s Bill Mulligan “the best coach in America” because he can change game plans in the middle of the season and still be successful.

Last week against San Diego State, Mulligan changed schemes in the middle of the game , but the Anteaters still lost, 102-88. And It was the second philosophical flip-flop for Irvine (1-3) already this season.

The Anteaters, who went from a pressing, run-and-gun style to a passing game and half-court defense, will be back to running and gunning at 7:30 tonight when they play host to Pepperdine (3-2) at the Bren Center.

Mulligan says he’s “not into shooting percentages, I’m into who wins,” but the Anteaters are shooting 45% while their opponents are sailing along at a 58% clip, and that combination hasn’t added up to many victories.

Pepperdine is a team going in the other direction. The Waves have won 3 in a row, most recently a 71-67 decision at Cal State Fullerton Tuesday night. The Waves’ starting forwards--Tom Lewis and Dexter Howard--are 6-foot 7-inch juniors averaging a combined 39 points and 15 rebounds a game.

In their first 4 games, the Waves were out-rebounding opponents by almost 10 a game, but Fullerton managed to stay even with them, 43-43. Pepperdine is averaging 82 points a game and holding its opponents to 74.