UC Irvine, Coming Off Win With New Lineup, Plays Utah St. Tonight

It could hardly be billed as a battle of titans, but tonight’s UC Irvine-Utah State game matches a couple of teams coming off significant victories.

Utah State (5-9 overall and 3-2 in the Big West) has never been known as a defensive juggernaut, but its swarming defense was enough to throw off UC Santa Barbara’s shooting touch Saturday night and the result was a 78-65 Aggie victory and the Gauchos’ first loss of the season. Santa Barbara shot just 34% from the field.

It’s a little early in conference play for “must wins,” but Irvine (4-8, 1-2) got the victory it felt it simply had to have Saturday night in San Jose, beating the Spartans, 71-62.

The Anteaters won with some new faces in the starting lineup, but the most startling personnel shakeup was forward Mike Labat’s plummet down the depth chart. Labat, who had started every game before Saturday and was averaging 28 minutes per outing, didn’t play at all against San Jose State.

Sophomore Jeff Herdman, who started in Labat’s place, responded with a career-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Seldom-used Troy Whiteto got the rest of the playing time at small forward. Coach Bill Mulligan, said nothing is wrong with Labat, he just felt Herdman deserved to start and Whiteto deserved some playing time.

A lot of people thought the Aggies would be in the Big West’s upper echelon before they went 2-7 in nonconference play, but Utah State is beginning to live up to preseason expectations. Senior guard Reid Newey leads the Aggies, averaging 21 points per game. Newey made 3 3-pointers in the opening minutes Saturday as the Aggies jumped to a 19-4 lead.