Howard Gets 33 as Pepperdine Routs Hapless UC Irvine, 102-76
A group of UC Irvine students unfurled a huge banner featuring a David Letterman-style top 10 list (“Ten Reasons to Hate Tom Lewis”) before Saturday night’s game against Pepperdine. The No. 1 reason: “He promised to go to UCI, but that’s OK, he’s not smart enough, anyway.”
A couple of hours later, the Anteater fans realized they should have brought a sign that said, “Thirty-three reasons to hate Pepperdine’s other 6-foot 7-inch junior forward.
Dexter Howard may not have the reputation of Lewis--the former Mater Dei High School star who had orally commited to Irvine in the summer of 1986 before opting for Pepperdine--but he had all the right moves Saturday night as the Waves rolled over Irvine, 102-76, in front of 2,836 in the Bren Center.
Howard scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds before watching the last 5 minutes from the bench as Pepperdine (4-2) easily won its fourth in a row. Lewis scored just 6 points, tying his career-low offensive output at Pepperdine, but one scoring forward was plenty for the Waves this time around.
“I just wanted to come out real intense tonight,” Howard said. “I’m the type of player who does whatever it takes for us to win.”
On this evening, he did just about whatever he wanted and scored 23 points in the first half.
The Waves had three other players in double figures. Reserve guard Shann Ferch made 2 of 3 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. Guard Craig Davis was 4 for 4 from 3-point range and scored 14. And center Casey Crawford also had 14.
“I’m really mystified that we could come down here and win this easily,” said Tom Asbury, the Waves’ first-year coach. “I guess it was just a case of us playing fairly well and them not playing very well.”
Asbury must not have seen any of Irvine’s games this year. The Anteaters, who at 1-4 are off to their worst start in 17 years, have played some pretty ugly basketball this season, but they reached some new lows Saturday night.
“They’re playing so poorly, it looks like they’ve never been coached,” said Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan, apparently wanting to distance himself from his team by calling his players “them” instead of the usual “we.”
“I don’t ever remember being 1-4 as a coach. I guess a little humility is good for you.”
If that’s the case, Mulligan might live to be 100 because the Anteaters look as if they might lead the nation in humility this season. Before the season, Mulligan said they might lead the nation in scoring, you’ll remember. At the moment, however, they’re front-runners for the points-allowed title.
Saturday night, they dribbled the ball off their feet, dropped it out of bounds, took a slew of ill-advised shots and shot just 39% from the field. Irvine scored just 16 points in the first 12 1/2 minutes and trailed by 15 midway through the first half.
Mulligan, who thinks this team lacks leadership, had a lengthy one-on-one conference with senior Kevin Floyd this week and held junior transfer Rod Palmer out of the starting lineup for the first time this year. The motivational ploys resulted in mixed results: Palmer scored 23 points and Floyd had 16, but the Anteaters were still in a state of disarray most of the game.
“It was the same thing again,” Mulligan lamented. “Early in the game we can’t score and the other team does and we get down and can’t recover. Sure, we gave them a lot of easy shots, but the defense aside, we’re supposed to be a good shooting team.”
Palmer, who didn’t start because Mulligan thought he moped during the team’s afternoon shoot-around, hit a pair of 3-pointers and a running 6-foot jumper in less than a minute and Irvine closed to within 9 points (43-34) with 2:20 left in the first half.
So much for Irvine highlights.
The Anteaters trailed by 9 (50-41) at halftime, but only because the Waves--who had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half--missed a bunch of close-in follow shots and shot just 39%.
After the intermission, however, Pepperdine found the range, picked up the pace and, by the mid-point of the second half, it was the Waves’ version of showtime.
Ferch, a 6-1 guard, slammed home a breakaway dunk to give the Waves an 18-point advantage with 16:04 left in the game. Crawford slammed home a couple more, and when Howard scored on a layup with 8:24 play, Pepperdine was coasting, 87-60.
Later, Mulligan was asked how he intended to get his team ready to play 10th-ranked Nevada Las Vegas in 5 days. “I don’t know. . . . I’m scared to death of Eastern Washington (Irvine’s opponent Tuesday night). Hell, I don’t even want to think about Vegas.”