UC Irvine Loses Ninth in Last 10, 69-60

UC Irvine is trying to make the Big West Conference tournament to send retiring coach Bill Mulligan out on a decent note after the past two dreadful seasons.

But the Anteaters hurt their chances Saturday night in a 69-60 loss to UC Santa Barbara at Irvine, turning a one-point halftime lead into a lost cause by going 10 minutes without a basket in the second half.

“Now you know why I got out of this damn game,” said Mulligan, 61, who has resigned effective the end of the season after 11 years at Irvine.

Irvine scored four points and only one field goal during a 12 1/2-minute stretch that took them from a 40-37 lead with 15:08 left to a 58-44 deficit with 3 1/2 minutes left.

Santa Barbara lost five of its previous six games, including defeats at the hands of No. 12 New Mexico State and No. 1 Nevada Las Vegas.

“I thought Santa Barbara’s defense was magnificent,” Mulligan said.

Irvine remained in last place in the conference, two games out of a tie for eighth between Cal State Long Beach and San Jose State.

Irvine (8-18 overall, 3-11 Big West) has lost five consecutive games and nine of 10.

Santa Barbara (11-12, 6-8) stymied Irvine’s leading scorer, Ricky Butler, without two inside players. Bob Erbst was on suspension and Sam Robson has back trouble.

That left the task of stopping Butler to Gary Gray, who picked up two fouls in the first half and was called for his third midway through the second half.

But Gray had 17 points, and Butler had 14 rebounds but only 12 points, six below his average. Jeff Herdman scored 20 for Irvine.