UC Irvine Turns In Sloppy Effort in Loss to Cal

UC Irvine’s 99-78 loss to California Saturday night at Harmon Arena was many things at many times.

It was sloppy. It was brutal. It was over early. And it was discouraging.

Irvine stayed close for a while, but without point guard Rod Foster, who is out because of a sprained knee, the Anteaters lacked direction and leadership.

Without Foster, who is expected to be out two weeks, the Anteaters seemed lost.

Miserable shooting from the field and the free-throw line, too many turnovers and a porous defense added up to the Anteaters’ worst loss of the season.

Among the lowlights:

--Cal had a school record-tying 10 three-point baskets.

--Cal had seven layups to Irvine’s none in the first half.

--Irvine didn’t have a fast break basket until there was only 1:09 to play and the outcome was decided.

--Irvine shot 42% from the field for the game after making six of 24 (25%) in the first half.

Reserve guard Bill Elleby led Cal with 17 points, one of six Bear players who scored in double figures.

Ryan Drew, the Cal-record holder for career three-point baskets, added 15 points, making five of six three-pointers.

Eric McDonough had 14 off the bench. Brian Hendrick and Keith Smith had 12 each and Roy Fisher 11 for the Bears (6-1).

Jeff Herdman, who had 17, led Irvine (1-4).

“I thought we were so bad,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “I apologize to Lou (Campanelli, Cal coach) for as bad as we played. We couldn’t stop their break.

“We could make 100 excuses. We were coming off final exams. We had our point guard hurt. I thought we were just terrible.”

Cal broke the game open with an 11-0 run midway through the first half. After Herdman made a free throw and Jeff Von Lutzow added two more, Cal outscored Irvine, 19-11, to close out the half and when Elleby made a three-pointer, the Bears led, 44-24.

Irvine never got closer than 20 points the rest of the way.

“The first half we pressured the ball and didn’t give them the chance to square up and shoot,” Campanelli said.

“The second half we had some breakdowns. But unlike (Oklahoma Coach) Billy Tubbs, I don’t care about getting 100 points every game.”

About the only question in the second half was whether Cal would top 100. The Bears didn’t, but the crowd of 6,578 couldn’t fault the reserves, including McDonough, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, whose 14 points were a career high.