Late-Addition Utah Too Much for Irvine, 97-80

One way to recover from a terrible season is by selective scheduling, which is one of the reasons UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan tried to arrange a game with Cal State Northridge, instead of, say, Louisiana State.

But when a planned game with Northridge fell through because of confusion about the date, Mulligan turned to his friend Rick Majerus of Utah to fill an opening for a home game.

Unfortunately for Mulligan and the Anteaters, Utah is no Northridge and Utah scored a 97-80 victory Saturday before 1,246 at the Bren Center.

Utah (6-1) held Irvine’s leading scorer, center Ricky Butler, to three points in the first half, and led by 19 points at halftime.

Butler adjusted to Utah’s collapsing defense in the second half, and finished with 23 points.

Utah center Walter Watts, who like Butler has struggled with excess weight during his career, led the Utes with 21 points, making nine of 10 shots.

Gerald McDonald added 19 points for Irvine, including three three-pointers.

It could be partial tribute to the friendship of Mulligan and Majerus that the final margin was only 17.

“This is probably the worst I’ve felt after winning in my life. I love Bill Mulligan and what he’s done for basketball in this area and for his players ,” said Majerus, whose friendship with Mulligan dates to when Mulligan was a community college coach and Majerus was an assistant to Al McGuire at Marquette. “I’ve probably never felt more hollow, except maybe beating Bill Foster at Northwestern.”

Majerus was concerned about Mulligan several years ago when Mulligan suffered a mild stroke. Last year, it was Mulligan who was concerned. Majerus, 42, underwent multiple bypass heart surgery and missed most of the season.

Despite seeing his team’s record fall to 3-3, Mulligan was smiling afterward.

“First of all, they’re a really good team, I think that’s obvious,” he said.

Besides Watts, Utah has forward Josh Grant, a versatile player who has been their leading scorer, and three strong starters who are in their first year with the team--guards Tyron Tate and Byron Wilson and forward M’Kay McGrath.

Utah attacked Irvine’s full-court press, and won that battle repeatedly. It was that success in part that helped the Utes shoot 60% for the game.

Irvine lost despite its best shooting of the season, 53%.

The Anteaters struggled without shooting guard Dylan Rigdon, who will be sidelined for at least two games because of a hip injury. Rigdon’s 10-point scoring average has been a disappointment, but the effect of his absence was clear in more than the scoring totals.

“Him being there, people have to respect him because if he gets hot, he can shoot all night long,” Butler said. “When he’s not there, they pay more attention to me.”