Anteaters’ Best Shot Falls Short : New Mexico St. Wins, 72-69, as UC Irvine’s Perimeter Power Fails

Bill Mulligan has been espousing a bit of Georgetown philosophy all week and the UC Irvine coach probably wishes he’d kept his mouth shut. It turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Georgetown’s Charles Smith was quoted as saying that you have to bring your defense to every game so you can win on the nights when your jumper isn’t there, and Mulligan has been repeating it to the media all week.

The trouble is, Irvine doesn’t have all that much defense to bring and when the shots aren’t falling, the Anteaters are in big trouble.

For the second time in three days, Irvine’s perimeter power fizzled and even an inspired defensive effort wasn’t enough to overcome the sour shooting Saturday night. New Mexico State--with all five starters shooting 50% or better from the field--handed Irvine a 72-69 Big West Conference loss in front of 2,855 in the Bren Center.

The Aggies (18-8 overall and 11-5 in the Big West) played as if the Bren were their gym, sinking 60% of their field goal attempts. The Anteaters (11-14, 8-8) looked as if they were playing in a stranger’s back yard and clanked the rims to the tune of 43%.

Irvine did fine when it managed to get the ball through the Aggies’ aggressive matchup zone and in to their post players. Power forward Ricky Butler, who had a team-high 19 points, and center Mike Doktorczyk (17) were a combined 14 of 20 from the floor.

But the Anteaters’ outside shooters fired mostly blanks. . . . and airballs.

“Now do you know why I want to jam it inside?” Mulligan asked.

Irvine sophomore Jeff Herdman, who was No. 1 in the nation in three-point field goal percentage entering the week, was zero for seven from three-point range and one for 11 overall. Senior guard Kevin Floyd was two of 12 from the field and reserve guard Justin Anderson was zero for four. Herdman finished with two points. Floyd had four, his lowest in more than two years. Anderson didn’t score.

Irvine, No. 6 in the country in team three-point field goal percentage, made just four of 21 Saturday.

“I can deal with the shooting,” Mulligan said, “but I can’t deal with the (lack of) defense and throwing the ball away. We’ve got some people who, when the shots don’t go down, don’t do anything else right either.”

The remark was obviously aimed at Herdman, who made four costly second-half turnovers on ill-advised passes.

Herdman took a long shower and then faced the press.

“I felt fine,” he said, “and I got all my shots away OK. It just wasn’t falling. I guess I forced a couple passes and made some stupid turnovers, but I’ve gotta just keep shooting.”

Irvine entered this season-ending four-game homestand with a chance to clinch second place in the Big West with a sweep. Now, the Anteaters have lost two in a row and are fighting for one of the top six spots in the standings and a resulting bye on the first day of the conference tournament.

“We were so high after winning five of six,” Floyd said. “I wanted to get the broom out and sweep us into the tourney. Now, we’re just fighting for survival.”

New Mexico State is a team headed in the other direction. The Aggies became the only New Mexico State team to ever have a winning record on the road in conference (5-4) and are in sole possession of second place in the Big West after having won nine of their last 11.

“Our defense was really good tonight and we made the plays we had to make to win,” Aggie Coach Neil McCarthy said. “The game was played at a very high level of intensity. Both of these wins (the Aggies beat UC Santa Barbara, 82-81, Thursday) could have gone either way, but they’re both very big wins for us.”

The Anteaters did have a chance to win despite their cold shooting. They cut New Mexico State’s lead to just one (67-66) on a pair of free throws by Doktorczyk with 50 seconds left. But the Aggies blew through Irvine’s ensuing fullcourt press. Willie Joseph drove home a flying slam and then Johnny Roberson dropped in a layin to put New Mexico up, 71-66, with 25 seconds remaining.

The only thing that kept Irvine in the game was a determined rebounding effort that carried the Anteaters to a 38-24 rebounding advantage. They had 18 offensive rebounds, including six by Butler, most of which resulted in two points for Irvine.

“We were feeling good going into this game,” Butler said, “and I think we played really hard. I think that might have been our best defensive effort of the year. The outside shooting just wasn’t there.”

New Mexico State took most of its shots from considerably closer range and the result was predictable. Forward James Anderson hit 10 of 12 shots and tied his career-high with 21 points. Roberson and Keith Hill finished with 12 each and Joseph added 11.

Thursday night, an uninspired Irvine team sleep-walked to defeat against Cal State Long Beach. Saturday night, a seemingly inspired Anteater squad misfired its way to a loss.

“This wasn’t a letdown,” Justin Anderson said. “I really think we did a lot of things well. We just didn’t make baskets. That’s really the only thing you can say.”