UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Young and Fearless: UCI’s Mulligan Sends 3 Freshmen at UNLV

The one who lives on Froot Loops can’t wait to guard Stacey Augmon. The 6-foot-9 baby-faced one says he’s dying to dunk. And the one-time world champion skimboarder? Well, he’s just happy to be included in the lineup this time.

Craig Marshall, the Froot Loop fiend, Jeff Von Lutzow, the slammer, and Dylan Rigdon, the skimboarder, are freshmen on UC Irvine’s basketball team.

Together, they give Irvine hope for the future.

Tonight, they’re starting against the nation’s fourth-ranked team.

Yikes, you say?

Yikes it may well be.

UNLV (22-4 overall, 13-1 in the Big West Conference) has Larry Johnson, the 6-7, 250-pound community college transfer who some picked as the preseason national player of the year. UNLV has Stacey Augmon, a 1988 Olympian and last year’s Big West player of the year. UNLV has center David Butler. UNLV has guards Anderson Hunt and Greg Anthony. And UNLV has more good players on the bench.

When UNLV takes the floor of the Bren Center at 7:30 tonight, Irvine will counter with seniors Rod Palmer and Ricky Butler and . . . three freshmen.

But are Marshall, Von Lutzow and Rigdon worried? No, they’re too concerned with making the most of their opportunities, both in tonight’s game and the few more games remaining in the season.

“Just because we’re young and we’re freshmen doesn’t mean we can’t play with these older guys,” said Von Lutzow, a 6-9 forward from Charter Oak High School. “We’re approaching this game like we want to make a stand. We’re not pushovers. We want to come right out at them.”

The last time Irvine faced UNLV, Rigdon did not make the travel squad. Marshall had five points in 12 minutes, and Von Lutzow had eight points in 24 minutes in the 103-67 mid-January loss.

But with Irvine (3-20, 1-13) in the midst of its worst season, Coach Bill Mulligan has tried to find solace in his team’s youth.

“If you’re losing,” Mulligan has said. “You might as well be playing freshmen.”

And play they have. Perhaps not always stunningly, but as solidly as can be expected under the circumstances.

Rigdon, who was a standout at Mater Dei High School, had 24 points Saturday in Irvine’s startling 98-97 victory over UC Santa Barbara, the victory that broke the school-record 15-game losing streak. It was the fifth time in six games that he scored in double figures.

Marshall, from Saddleback High, proved he’s more than a defensive specialist Saturday, scoring 13 points and grabbing four rebounds--including the final one of the game--against Santa Barbara.

And while Von Lutzow had just four points and four rebounds against Santa Barbara, he is leading the team in field goal percentage at 55.2%, and is third in Big West field goal percentage at 57%. Mulligan is impressed with all three, for different reasons. Rigdon’s free-throw shooting in conference play is, at 82%, second-best in the Big West. Marshall’s emotional and psychological stability is beyond his years--”If you wanted to pick the rock, he’s the rock,” Mulligan said--and Von Lutzow, Mulligan has pointed out several times, “can be as good as anyone we’ve ever had here.”

While the praise has made them happy, it hasn’t eased the pain of a losing season. Especially, they say, considering their high school backgrounds.

“Yeah, going from 20-2 to 2-20, there’s nothing like that,” Rigdon said. “The lowest point of my career was not making the traveling squad. We’re like 219th in the computer rankings and I’m not even one of the top 15? I just said ‘Geez. Something’s wrong.’ ”

Added Marshall: “Yeah, it got real hard but I knew it could only get better. Still, we were catching a lot of slack. People were coming up to me and saying ‘Why’d you go to UCI? I told them, ‘I like UCI, and it’s going to get better.’ ”

With the victory at Santa Barbara, “better” arrived suddenly. Now, with the Anteaters’ losing streak finally over, the players have time to consider other goals.

“I want to get a dunk before the year’s over,” said Marshall, who wears a 40-pound weight vest around school because he said he feels it helps his vertical leap.

“Also, I’ve always wanted to guard Stacey Augmon. Now that I’m matched up against him, I’m excited.’

Said Von Lutzow: “I want to dunk (tonight). I want to dunk over (UNLV forward Moses) Scurry so bad. I want to beat San Jose and destroy Utah State, and hopefully break a freshman scoring record. But I want to beat Vegas, that’s all I really want to do.”

That’s all?

Marshall and Rigdon knew each other well as competitors through high school, but being teammates hasn’t ended their competitiveness with each other. That was apparent when each was asked to name his prep career highlight.

“Mine,” Rigdon said, “was winning CIF my junior year in the Sports Arena in front of like 10,000.”

Marshall: “Mine? Beating Mater Dei last year-- twice in a row. After we beat them the first time, everyone thought it was a fluke . . . “

Rigdon: “It was a fluke!”

Marshall: “It wasn’t a fluke.”

Rigdon: “Both times were flukes. Anyway, I still scored 26 on Craig.”

Marshall: “And I scored 26 on Dylan! Anyway, we got to the (5-AA) championship game last year. We wanted to play Mater Dei, but . . . they didn’t get there.”

Rigdon: “Yeah, but you lost to Millikan--a team we beat by 30 in the summer.”

Marshall (mockingly): “Ooooh, the summer!”

Although he is not yet in the class of Rigdon, Marshall or Von Lutzow, another freshman, Mike Foster of Edison High School, is being praised by Mulligan for his play last Saturday.

Foster, who has played only 21 minutes this season, played for six minutes against Santa Barbara, but that time was well spent. Although the statistics show him scoring only two points--on two-for-two free-throw shooting--and grabbing one rebound, statistics don’t say it all.

“Foster goes into the Santa Barbara game like he’s been playing all year,” Mulligan said. “He knocks down both of his free throws, he penetrates, plays good defense, shows good quickness . . . We’ve always said we ought to play him more. Right now he’s in our top eight.”

That’s a far cry from a few weeks ago. Mulligan said that Foster asked him last week where he stood as far as playing against Santa Barbara.

“I said ‘Mike, you ought to transfer,’ ” Mulligan said. “I’ve told him that about five times.”

Add Vegas: When talking about this year’s UNLV team, Mulligan wants you to know he’s not just saying they’re a superior team. He wants to make sure you know UNLV’s scarier than a pack of Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles.

“This is the best Vegas team I’ve ever seen,” he said. “And I’m including the Final Four teams, because there’s no weaknesses.”

Anteater Notes

The victory at Santa Barbara was the 150th of Bill Mulligan’s career at Irvine. Mulligan is 150-134 in 10 years as Anteater coach. . . . The UCI men’s swim team, led by All-American Brian Pajer, will attempt to break UC Santa Barbara’s 11-year string of conference championships at the Big West Conference swimming and diving championships Friday through Sunday at Belmont pool in Long Beach. Irvine, which finished second to Santa Barbara in the conference meet last year, upset the Gauchos in a dual meet two weeks ago. . . . The baseball team carries a four-game winning streak into this afternoon’s 2:30 home game against Cal Poly Pomona. The Anteaters (6-6) defeated the University of San Diego, 4-2, Tuesday on the strength of Osmar DeChavez’s two-run home run. DeChavez, a senior first baseman from Katella High School, has a six-game hitting streak going into today’s game. . . . Three signees to the women’s volleyball team: Dana Chalais of Citrus College, Traci Webb (University High) and Vesna Sepic (Alameda High).