UC Irvine Exposes All the Aztecs’ Shortcomings : College basketball: Anteaters capture their season opener, 79-64, keeping San Diego State winless after three games.

It just kept getting worse. The longer they slept, the longer the nightmare continued to haunt them Saturday night.

They are still the winless San Diego State Aztecs men’s basketball team.

The nightmare was UC Irvine.

That’s right, UC Irvine. In front of 2,169 at the Bren Events Center, UC Irvine embarrassed the drowsy Aztecs, 79-64.

“We just didn’t play very well,” SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg said.

Save for sophomore forward Courtie Miller, who scored a game-high 22 points before fouling out with 1 minute, 8 seconds left, Brandenburg’s statement was right on the money.

And save for Miller’s outside shooting, that’s the only thing that hit the mark for the Aztecs Saturday night.

SDSU shot 42% from the field, making 19 of 45 attempts. Take away Miller’s nine-for-13 night, and those team numbers dwindle to 10 for 32.

But shooting was only part of the problem.

SDSU was also outrebounded, 40-29, by the much shorter Anteaters, who won their first season opener since 1987.

SDSU turned over the ball 18 times, including eight by junior point guard Virgil Smith.

SDSU had only three steals.

SDSU had only six assists, including a whopping one in the first half.

One! In 20 minutes of play, the Aztecs managed only one assist.

“We’re just not a very good team right now,” Brandenburg said. “By that I mean, the approach just isn’t there. We’re going to have to distribute the ball better and play with a lot more offensive efficiency.”

Indeed. Joe McNaull, who led the Aztecs by averaging 17.5 points and eight rebounds in earlier losses to the University of San Diego and Richmond, had three points and no rebounds.

And other than Miller and Keith Balzer, who scored 14 points, no Aztec had more than six.

The drought was so severe, SDSU did not record its 10th field goal until 12:55 remained in the second half.

“Some of the problems continued to reappear,” Brandenburg said. “We did not execute. We got killed on the boards. We just did not play very well.”

UC Irvine, on the other hand, had four scorers in double figures, led by Elgin Rogers with 21 points. Rogers, a 6-6 senior forward, also had a game-high 14 rebounds. Both were career highs for Rogers.

The Anteaters shot 59% from the field in the second half and turned a one-point halftime deficit into a rout within 10 minutes.

“I’m not sure we played offensively any better in the second half,” Coach Rod Baker said. “But we turned it up defensively.”

Baker was coaching his first game for Irvine after being hired in April to replace Bill Mulligan.

The first half offered little in terms of style, but the Aztecs managed to take advantage of 16 Anteater fouls and sank 18 of 22 free throws (82%) to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room.

Miller led all scorers with 12 points, including two three-pointers, but seven of those points came in the first 4:48 as SDSU took an early 9-7 lead.

Though SDSU led several times in the half, its biggest was only three--22-19 at 7:44 and 32-29 with 40 seconds left.

A 3:42 Aztec scoreless streak early in the second half allowed Irvine to take a 46-36 lead with 15:20 left, and the Anteaters never looked back.

Irvine’s biggest lead, 68-50, came with 6:06 left.

“UC Irvine is to be commended,” Brandenburg said. “They played much better than we did.”

SDSU Notes

San Diego State plays next on Friday and Saturday in the Texas Longhorn Tournament. The Aztecs do not return to the San Diego Sports Arena until Dec. 14, when they play host to UCLA. . . . UC Irvine junior forward Uzoma Obiekea averaged 1.7 points and 4.6 rebounds last season for U.S. International. Because the USIU program folded in March, Obiekea, a native of Oguta, Nigeria, was eligible to play at another school immediately. . . . Among the four recruits signed by UC Irvine during the early signing period was Dee Boyer of Saddleback College. Boyer, a 6-foot-10, 255-pound forward/center graduated from El Camino High School.