UC Irvine Will Retrench, Give Defense a Shot : College Basketball: After a 12-17 season in which they averaged 82 points a game and gave up 86, the Anteaters will try stopping people instead.

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team brazenly set out to lead a nation of millions in scoring last season and found that they couldn’t even stay ahead of the competition.

The Anteaters averaged 82 points a game, the opposition 86; this is the stuff that 12-17 records are made of.

UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan might not be a rocket scientist, but he can look at those numbers and figure out that this season’s team should either:

--Score more points; or

--Guard someone.

With full knowledge that six of his top returning players averaged all of 48 points last season, Mulligan has opted for the latter.

“We have to improve on our defense,” Mulligan said during the annual Big West Conference media day last week.

The comment solicited a healthy amount of snickering, because Mulligan says that every year.

“Hey, we really spend a lot of time on defense in practice,” said Mulligan, with a voice that begged to be believed. “We really do. We practice it, then I don’t know what happens in games.”

To prove his sincerity, Mulligan cut through the laughter with this bombshell. Irvine would utilize a zone this season.

“I’ve always been very stubborn about playing zone,” he said. “I don’t like it. But we probably should have played some last year, and we will play some this year.”

Last season, in its frenzy for points, Irvine played a full-court, chest-to-chest, man defense that ended up giving up more points than it was taking away.

So this season, players will be allowed to take a step back.

Offensively, they will be asked to take a step up. Ricky Butler will be asked to continue doing what he did in the last 12 games of last season, averaging 17.8 points and 8.3 rebounds. Butler still figures to be the focal point of Irvine’s offense. Reminiscent of Wayne Engelstad but without his outside shot, Butler has enough moves and enough smarts to score any time he has the ball in the key, no matter how many people drop on him.

At 6-feet-7, 255 pounds, Butler is in much better shape than the player who started last season hovering around 290--that’s if people weighing 290 can hover.

“Ricky looks a lot better,” Mulligan said. “We’ll be going to him a lot more. If people try to double down on him, we’ll kick the ball out.”

When Mulligan says out, he means 19 feet 9 inches or more. The trio of players, guards Rod Palmer and Justin Anderson and forward Jeff Herdman, will be expected to pick up the rest of the offense with three-point shooting.

Depending on the three-point shot is a tenuous plan, as Pacific Coach Bob Thomason observed: “I believe in the three-point shot, but I believe in it a lot more when it goes in.”

When Herdman, Palmer and Anderson are shooting from long range, Irvine is very adept at putting in the shots.

Herdman led the nation in three-point field-goal percentage during February, making 60.6% during the month, including one torrid four-game stretch in which he made 16 of 25 shots from the distance.

When Anderson came to Irvine two years ago, he was touted as one of the best shooters the school’s fans would ever see, but he slumped last year, averaging only 3.2 points a game.

Much of that can be attributed to the fact that Anderson was shooting with one eye on the rim and one eye on Mulligan, who used a quick hook on him.

“I’m going to play him,” Mulligan said. ‘In the past, if he missed a shot, we took him out.”

For his part, Anderson has spent the off-season playing against much better competition than he could ever find in his hometown of Valley City, N.D.

Make no mistake: Anderson can shoot. His long-range exploits during practice are the stuff of legend. And a confident Anderson could definitely pick up a lot of the slack.

Palmer averaged 15 points a game last season, fluctuating between the point and off-guard positions. Palmer made 44% of his three-point shots, giving Irvine a potent one-two punch at the guard position.

The problem is that after Anderson and Palmer, Irvine’s depth in the backcourt is, well, not so deep.

Backup point guard Brett Pagett played in only 15 games last season and made only two of 14 shots. Pagett, a 6-foot sophomore, has yet to prove that he can control the tempo of a game or handle pressure effectively.

Mike Labat started at the point two years ago, but he figures to spell Herdman more than any guard. Labat is a solid if unspectacular player, but he is an exceptional defender, something Mulligan will be looking for this season.

Also figuring to get a lot of time on the front line is Don May, a rather nondescript 6-9 player who took less than half a shot a game last season.

“People ask me, ‘How can you play him (May), he’s not very good,’ ” Mulligan said. “Well, all Don May is going to do is graduate in his third year and leave UCI with a master’s in business administration.”

Yeah, but can he give Irvine eight minutes of quality backup time?

One of the players May will be backing up is starter Rob Doktorczyk, brother of Mike, an All-Big West second-team selection last season. Rob is not the outside shooter Mike was--he has attempted only 13 three-pointers in his three years at UCI--but he has an effective move to the basket and will be counted on to get some rebounds on a team lacking height. The UCI front line stands 6-7, 6-9, 6-7.

There are other quality players on the Irvine bench. Guard Etop Udo-Ema is a scorer, forward Elgin Rogers is an athlete. Freshmen Craig Marshall and Dylan Rigdon are both scorers. Rigdon is an exceptional outside shooter. Marshall, an outstanding leaper who can create opportunities, also is an outstanding defender and, of course, UCI is going to play some defense this season.

Seriously.