UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Herdman Brushes Up on His Attitude This Season

Jeff Herdman is, at the moment, leading UC Irvine’s basketball team with an average of 15.8 points a game. He’s also, at the moment, one of the few Irvine players complimented by Coach Bill Mulligan on a regular basis.

With all this going for him, you would expect a happy Herdman, right?

Not when Irvine (1-5 overall) is off to the worst start in the school’s history.

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Wednesday night, Irvine lost to Colorado, 98-83, at Boulder. Herdman scored 20 points.

“Right now is not a good time to talk to me,” Herdman said Tuesday. “I was looking forward to this year. I thought we would do better.

“I don’t think everyone is playing hard right now. . . . I think that everyone on this team wants to win, but I think they need to play harder.”

Tenacious play, in all areas of the game, has been Herdman’s specialty this season.

“I like Jeff Herdman a lot because he plays so hard,” Mulligan said. “But sometimes, he can be a real pain. . . . “

Herdman, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound junior forward, did not start in Irvine’s first exhibition game this season--against High Five America--because, Mulligan said, he was not coming to practice with cooperation on his mind.

“He had his own game plan--the Jeff Herdman plan,” Mulligan said. “He wasn’t gonna run the offense; he was gonna run the Jeff.”

Although Mulligan used one of his favorite weapons--loud, harsh and continual criticism--to try to sway Herdman, it didn’t seem to work.

“I just let it go in one ear and out the other,” Herdman said. “I don’t really listen to what he says anyway. . . . I play for myself.”

Said Mulligan: “I went after him so bad, I was almost amazed that he didn’t quit. I mean, he didn’t pout or back off. It was like I was talking to the wall. He was not intimidated one bit. His reaction was, ‘I’ll show you.’ ”

In the season opener, a 79-71 loss to the University of San Francisco, Herdman scored a team-high 21 points. He is the only Anteater to score in double figures in every game this season.

Although Herdman was more of a shooter last year--he led the nation in three-point field goal percentage (60.6%) in February and finished the season ninth nationally (51.2%)--he has expanded his role.

“(Last year), if they stopped my shooting, they stopped my game,” Herdman said. “Now I’m a much better offensive rebounder. . . . Rebounding’s just attitude. If you want to rebound, you can.”

Herdman’s attitude--some would call it intense or aggressive, others would just call it an attitude--is one that has given him something of a fearless demeanor on the court.

“My attitude is, I don’t back down to anyone,” he said. “I’ve been like that all along.”

Last year, Herdman scored a career-high 29 points to lead Irvine to an 82-79 victory at Fresno State. It was the first victory in 12 tries for Irvine at Fresno.

“He’s the only big-time shooter I ever had to go into Fresno and just dominate the game,” Mulligan said.

Herdman said he hopes such performances become more commonplace, but mostly, he hopes his shooting--he’s 41.3% from the field, 40.9% from three-point range--gains some consistency.

But most of all . . .

“I want to win,” Herdman said. “ That’s what motivates me. That’s what I want.”

Mulligan on the team’s poor start: “We’re struggling. That’s obvious. I’m very frustrated, the players are very frustrated. Somehow we’ll pull it together. . . . I’m sorry we’re not playing better. I’m embarrassed. . . . It’s the coaches’ fault. I don’t want to lay it on the kids. We need a win. We need a win so everyone can hug each other again.”

Greg Patton, Anteater men’s tennis coach, has been asked if he would be interested in coaching a new professional tennis team starting in Orange County.

Chip Powers, spokesman for Domino’s Team Tennis, said arrangements are in the works to secure a host site in Newport Beach, possibly at the Newport Beach Tennis Club. A formal decision will be announced by Domino’s Monday.

The teams play a very short season, from July 10 through Aug. 11, so, Powers said, a college coach could easily continue his duties along with the Domino’s coaching.

“They just asked if I was interested, that’s it,” Patton said. “I said I would be interested.”

Members of the men’s tennis team will be playing across the country during the holidays.

All-American Trevor Kronemann, ranked fourth in the nation at singles, will play in the Citrus Bowl tournament at Orlando, Fla. Dec. 26. Other Irvine players are playing at Milwaukee, Palm Springs and Scottsdale, Ariz.

Said Patton: “It’s kind of like, I’m the Pope and I’m sending my missionaries around the country . . . This is kind of a full-scale national attack.”

Anteater Notes

The women’s basketball team (1-4) travels to Pepperdine for a nonconference game at 7:30 tonight, then to the University of San Francisco for a game Sunday. Jenny Lee is averaging 9.2 points a game to lead Irvine. . . . Senior All-American Brian Pajer qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. swimming championships in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.56 seconds at the Cerritos Invitational last weekend. The Irvine men’s and women’s teams won titles at the three-day event.