UC Irvine’s Bay Bombers : Kevin Floyd of Westchester Is In-and-Out Excitement. . .

Basketball, the way Kevin Floyd plays it, has the pace of a freight train ready to derail. If he had his way, the game would be a full-throttle, 94-foot demolition derby ending with a slam dunk.

Floyd has more twists and turns than the Tasmanian Devil. And he draws a horde of player-control violations. But Floyd is one of the most electrifying college players on the West Coast, and without him, UC Irvine would be missing a lot of creativity and excitement.

Floyd can get carried away at times. Just ask his coach, Bill Mulligan, who has referred not so affectionately to Floyd--a former Westchester High School star--as “Mr. Turnover.”

Mulligan concedes, however, that when the game is on the line, he wants the ball in the hands of No. 32.

“I don’t always want him under control,” Mulligan said. “Most of the time, I want him almost out of control. The important thing is the decision he makes at the end of being out of control.”

Floyd’s midair decisions have provided plenty of late-minute heroics this season. Just about as many have ended with offensive fouls. But when Floyd isn’t giving away a charge, he’s usually taking charge.

Floyd’s game-winning basket Dec. 28 against UCLA at Irvine’s Bren Events Center was one example. Bruin point guard Pooh Richardson had just given his team a one-point lead with seconds remaining. Mulligan called a timeout and told Floyd to run the basketball up the gut of UCLA’s defense. He instructed Floyd to kick the ball out to teammates Rod Palmer or Jeff Herdman if the Bruins smothered him.

“I told him, ‘Five seconds is an eternity,’ ” Mulligan said. “He could run all the way up the court and back in that amount of time, with his speed.”

Irvine inbounded, and all five UCLA defenders took a stab at Floyd. But the thought of passing the ball was just a passing fancy to him.

His sortie through the Bruin defense was a one-man Charge of the Light Brigade. Floyd, airborne, punctuated the drive with a looping layup at the buzzer that downed UCLA, 91-90.

“The defense was kind of staggered,” said Floyd, who had 26 points. “It was like going in and out of rows of checkers. I flicked the basketball up just before I heard the horn. I knew it was over when I saw it go down. It was the greatest feeling.”

Floyd hasn’t always been so lucky. In a loss to Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 11, Floyd cast a 25-footer over outstretched Derek Jones that would have sent the game into overtime. Instead the ball ran around the rim twice and spun out. Irvine lost, 78-75.

“I was happy for a moment when I saw it go in,” Floyd said. “But then it barely cradled over the rim. It was like someone said, ‘No, you’re not gonna tie this one tonight.’ ”

Floyd took his revenge on University of the Pacific, and he did it in typical fashion--recklessly.

With Irvine down by one at Stockton with 25 seconds left, Floyd brought the ball up court, drove for the hoop too fast, slipped and drew a traveling call. Then he fouled Pacific’s Reggie Ricks, who nailed a pair of free throws to give the Tigers an 83-80 lead.

“I’ve got to remember to slow things up a half step,” Floyd said. “Sometimes my feet get to moving too fast and I trip over myself. I don’t know how quick I’m moving, and it’s hard to slow down.”

With eight seconds left, Floyd didn’t slow down, but he got even. He buried an off-balance 3-pointer in Ricks’ face to tie the game, then bombed another 3-pointer and hit a pair of free throws in overtime. Floyd finished with 25 points and the Anteaters fought off the upset, 95-92.

“Kevin is up and down, but he’s a big-time athlete,” Mulligan said. “He’s a big-time kid.”

Floyd is one of Irvine’s big-time scorers as well. He’s averaging 15.5 points per game, although the Anteaters have switched to a slower offense that tends to inhibit his athletic skills. And the 6-5 Floyd, who leads Irvine in assists and steals, has moved to point guard, so he’s sacrificing a bit of his offense for the team.

“Earlier on I’d try to create the shots,” he said. “But now, if I get the ball and go goofy with it, it may have a ripple effect, and a sophomore or freshman might think they can do the same. So I’ve got to hold back on taking my turn.”

Unless the game is on the line.

Some may call Floyd’s take-charge attitude selfish. “It all goes back to summers as a kid in the city,” he said. “We used to play pick-up ball, games where you play to 11 baskets, and as soon as the score would get to 7 or 8, I’d want the ball. It’s not like being greedy, but it feels like every time I touch it, it’s going in. If I lose at backgammon or cards, I get into fights with my girlfriend. I hate to lose.”

Irvine (11-13, 8-7) is winning more with the precise half-court offense Mulligan installed halfway into the season. And that means Floyd and shooting guard Palmer are looking inside for center Mike Doktorczyk and forward Ricky Butler more often. Herdman, a sophomore forward, has a license to shoot at will, and he’s leading the nation in 3-point accuracy.

“I’m giving up a little scoring, but it looks like I’m doing the overall job,” Floyd said. “Hopefully, I can do a little bit of everything--dish off, score, play defense.”

Floyd’s defense has often been a sticking point with Mulligan. “Floyd couldn’t guard my grandmother, and she’s not very good,” Mulligan once told reporters. He’s since changed his tune and often has Floyd guard the opponent’s best offensive player.

Against Cal State Fullerton, Floyd responded. Although Irvine lost when Floyd’s shot rimmed out, Floyd held Cedric Ceballos--the Big West Conference’s leading scorer--to 11 points. In the second half, Mulligan switched Floyd to Wayne Williams, who had burned Irvine in the first half with a barrage of 3-pointers. Floyd held him to a pair of baskets.

But offense, not defense, is Floyd’s specialty. It was that way in 1984 when Floyd was second-team all-state in his senior season at Westchester and helped take Coach Ed Azzam to his first City championship game.

Floyd signed with Georgetown University out of high school. In his freshman year the Hoyas, led by Patrick Ewing, went 35-3 but lost to Villanova in the NCAA championship.

Floyd played in 22 games as a backup to guard Michael Jackson and averaged five points a game. But he grew impatient with lack of playing time, and when Georgetown Coach John Thompson signed a pair of East Coast guards out of high school, Floyd packed his bags for California.

“As a high school player, you just get used to starting,” Floyd said. “There I was, my second championship game in two years, and I was rarely getting off the bench.”

Floyd sat out a year and enrolled at Irvine, at the time building the Bren Center. UCLA hadn’t recruited him, the basketball program at USC was going through hard times, and Loyola Marymount seemed a little too close to home, so Floyd figured Irvine was perfect. He enrolled in economics at Irvine.

Floyd averaged eight points a game as a sophomore playing off the bench. He blossomed as a junior, averaged 13 points and was named a preseason honorable mention All-American by Street and Smith magazine.

“I was a diamond in the rough,” Floyd said. “They just buffed up my game here.”

Floyd’s game has enough luster that Mulligan thinks he has a good chance of catching on in the National Basketball Assn.

“He’s so quick,” Mulligan said. “Plus, he’s playing the position he would have to play in the NBA, point guard.”

“I’ll have a shot if they invite me to a camp,” Floyd said. “I’ve never been cut in anything you had to have a tryout to make.”