33 Turnovers Spell Disaster for Anteaters : College basketball: Irvine falls to New Mexico State, 77-60, its fourth consecutive loss.

Soon enough, everyone’s eyes traveled to the same spot on the game box, and rested there.

Turnovers, UC Irvine--33.

What other statistic in New Mexico State’s 77-60 victory over Irvine Monday could mean much, after that?

“Oh my god, that’s so embarrassing,” Irvine’s Ricky Butler said.

New Mexico State Coach Neil McCarthy whistled when he saw it.

“Oh my goodness, 33?” he said. “That’s a lot.”

And Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan?

“You missed one,” he said. “Our radio guys had us with 34.”

Irvine (7-13, 2-6 in conference) had 20 of those turnovers by halftime, and was already trailing by 15 points, well on its way to its fourth loss in a row, and its third in five days.

Gerald McDonald, the point guard, had 11 of Irvine’s turnovers, and Jeff Herdman had five.

“I think the bottom line is that if you turn it over 33 times, you can’t play with New Mexico State,” Mulligan said. “I mean, that’s 33 times you don’t even get a shot.”

No. 23 New Mexico State (13-2, 5-1) easily recovered from Saturday’s upset at the hands of Cal State Fullerton, to the delight of a crowd 9,148 in the Pan American Center.

Reggie Jordan and substitute Ron Putzi had 15 points each, and Randy Brown had seven points, 12 assists and three steals. Putzi and William Benjamin also each had three steals, as the Aggies combined for 14.

For Irvine, it was the sort of game in which you could feel a season unraveling.

“I’m getting real worried,” said Ricky Butler, who scored 15. “I’m trying not to let the team know. I’m trying to be positive.”

That is becoming more of a task. Irvine’s 60 points were a season-low, and Herdman had to carry most of the offensive load. He had 23 points and 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.

In the first half, Irvine had only seven field goals, and four of them were three-pointers by Herdman.

“I was open, so I shot,” Herdman said. “Most of the guys were scared, or playing scared.”

He entered the game needing only eight points to reach 1,000 for his career, right behind Butler, who reached 1,000 Saturday.

The scoring load has fallen heavily on the shoulders of Butler and Herdman lately, and by the second half Monday, two of the starters were not playing at all.

Mulligan benched guard Dylan Rigdon, who had a career-high 31 points just four games ago but took only one shot in the first half, and forward Jeff Von Lutzow, who did not return to the game after receiving a technical for arguing a charging call against him midway through the first half.

Butler operated well against the Aggies’ small front line when he got the ball inside, but he didn’t get it often enough.

“I was open a lot,” Butler said.

As for the turnovers, they turned up with inconceivable variety.

Herdman was called for traveling, McDonald for double-dribbling.

Rigdon stepped on the baseline as he drove under the basket. Cornelius Banks threaded a pass between two players, well out of reach of both.

Herdman threw a pass to Von Lutzow on the wing, just as Von Lutzow vacated the area on a baseline cut.

It was at least bad as it sounds.

At one point during the first half, Mulligan called a timeout after four turnovers in the middle of a 10-0 New Mexico State run. Irvine returned to the court, and turned the ball over again.

At halftime, the Anteaters came out incredulous, talking among themselves about the 20 turnovers, then threw the ball away on their first possession.

“We told ‘em we’d prefer a five-second call to a turnover,” Mulligan said. “They didn’t listen.”

New Mexico State’s McCarthy praised his team’s trademark defense, but in the end, no one could quite get over the one statistic.

“I think most of it was casualness or inexperience,” Herdman said. “Even their press is not good enough to cause 20 turnovers in a half.”

Anteater Notes

UC Irvine’s previous turnover high was 28 in the season opener against UCLA, a 134-101 loss. . . . Neither Irvine nor the NCAA publishes records for turnovers. . . . Dylan Rigdon, who played 15 minutes in the first half and was benched in the second, declined to comment after the game. “I didn’t play Rigdon because I thought maybe he was trying to get (New Mexico State guard Randy) Brown’s autograph,” Coach Bill Mulligan said. Jeff Von Lutzow, who played 13 minutes, was benched after a first-half technical that helped turn a nine-point deficit into 12 points. “First of all, it was definitely a charge, and second, what he said to the official is going to put him on the bench,” Mulligan said. “Von Lutzow was out of line.” . . . Von Lutzow entered the game a perfect 19 of 19 from the free-throw line in Big West Conference games, and was two for two before sitting down. . . . A moment of silence was held before the game because of the Gulf War. . . .Next: Cal State Fullerton in the Bren Center Saturday.