Irvine Sees More Dunks Than a Doughnut : College basketball: Nevada Las Vegas gets 13 slams. Forward Stacey Augmon leads the way with five.

Thursday was a bad night to be a UC Irvine Anteater, or a basket in the Bren Center for that matter.

By late evening, both were well-beaten.

Nevada Las Vegas, often spectacular and never dull, ran Irvine silly, 117-76. But that figured.

UNLV, top-ranked this season and maybe No. 1 for all time, has bulldozed better teams than Irvine by an average of 30.9 points.

Given that, it’s still startling to witness UNLV’s dizzying array of dunks. The Rebels kept a sellout crowd of 5,005 riveted to their seats, despite the lopsided score.

And what sets off this aerial show, unmatched in college basketball?

Defense. It’s all defense.

The Rebels are in the passing lanes, constantly overplaying their opponents. It’s suffocating.

“The hardest thing about playing Vegas is that you can’t run your offense,” UCI Coach Bill Mulligan said earlier this week. “You’re forced to do some things you don’t want to do. You gotta do things just to make the first pass. Say Al is going to throw a pass to Joe. The only problem is Joe can’t get open and you have to dribble to get Joe open.”

And then the Rebels swarm, steal the ball and dunk.

Thursday’s final tally was 13 dunks. All five starters had at least one. Forward Stacey Augmon led the assault with five.

Here’s a dunk-by-dunk account:

--Greg Anthony started it off three minutes in, swiping a pass intended for Craig Marshall and sailing in for the jam. Tame stuff, except Anthony is a 6-foot-2 point guard.

--Next, Augmon took a pass from Anthony and set down a left-hander.

--George Ackles, a 6-9 center, got No. 3 by barely jumping, throwing down and right-hander.

--Then came the A material, courtesy of Augmon.

Taking a pass from Hunt, Augmon cruised in from the left side and unleashed a reverse jam that shook the basket. It was the night’s best, by far.

--Augmon got No. 5, bringing the ball to his waist, then above his head before dunking.

--He got the next one, too, gliding to the basket on yet another fast break.

--Larry Johnson checked in with a simple, two-handed dunk just before halftime.

--Ackles’ tomahawk got the second half started.

--Augmon, who is left-handed, dunked right-handed for No. 9.

--Anderson Hunt, the Rebels’ 6-1 1/2 shooting guard, took an underhand flip from Anthony and dunked on the break.

--Reserve forward Evric Gray threw down Nos. 11, 12 and 13.

By then UNLV led by 30 and Coach Jerry Tarkanian had cleared the bench.

“I asked him (Augmon) to stop dunking on us,” Irvine center Ricky Butler said.