UC Irvine’s Turnovers Help Tulane Roll, 86-65

After three days of hearing more cries of “Roll Tide,” from Alabama’s Sugar Bowl fans than they could stand, UC Irvine’s Anteaters finally met the Tulane Green Wave on Saturday.

The Anteaters got swept away, committing 18 turnovers in the first half of an 86-65 loss to Tulane in front of a sellout crowd of 3,500 in Fogelman Arena.

Only last Wednesday, Irvine played No. 10 Georgetown to a 64-60 loss. Tulane, after losing to Alabama Birmingham and Jackson State, has recently fallen out of the rankings. But the Green Wave (8-3) ran all over Irvine (2-5), making 16 steals and helping create some of Irvine’s 28 turnovers.

Jeff Von Lutzow, UC Irvine’s leading scorer, sat on the bench for all but seven minutes of the first half, and did not score until Irvine trailed by 23 points with less than eight minutes left in the game. He was averaging 19.5 points but finished with eight against Tulane, his total in losses to Nevada Las Vegas and Georgetown.

“I know I let the team down tonight,” Von Lutzow said. “Personally, I just want to say I’m sorry, to my teammates and my coaches, especially my coaches.

“I wasn’t there tonight. It seems like I stumble out of the starting blocks in our big games.”

Irvine Coach Rod Baker sat Von Lutzow down for much of the first half after Von Lutzow’s performance in a stretch when the Anteaters committed five turnovers in six possessions early in the game.

“I thought we were going to have no trouble whatsoever with their press after the way we handled Georgetown’s,” Baker said. “I thought that was not going to be an issue. I’m not sure how many turnovers were caused by their press. We threw the ball all over the place.”

Pointer Williams, G.J. Hunter and Matt Greene each had 13 points for Tulane.

Keith Stewart led Irvine with 17.