Anteaters Can’t Stop San Diego : Basketball: Toreros commit 27 turnovers but make 42 of 46 free-throw attempts. Irvine shoots 41% from the field.

Here was an intriguing matchup:

One team couldn’t shoot.

The other couldn’t hold onto the ball.

But in the end, thanks to marvelous free-throw shooting, the University of San Diego’s 27 turnovers did less damage than UC Irvine’s 41% shooting from the field, and the Toreros dragged away a 96-82 victory.

In front of 1,841 in Irvine’s Bren Center, San Diego set a school record by making 42 of 46 free-throw attempts.

“That’s ridiculous,” Irvine guard Zuri Williams said. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.

“If you give a team 46 attempts from the free-throw line, of course they’re going to beat you.”

Particularly if that team shoots at a 91.3% clip.

The Toreros, who made only 65% of their free throws last season, handled the free-throw line as effortlessly as dropping quarters into a jukebox. They made 12 of 13 attempts in the first half and then scored 15 of their first 17 second-half points at the line.

Then, they made their last 15 attempts of the game.

“I really don’t know,” San Diego Coach Hank Egan said in trying to explain the difference between last year’s performance and Thursday night’s. “We shoot a lot of free throws, but we always do.

“It’s a hard shot because it’s one you’re supposed to make. It’s like the three-foot putt.”

They were all difficult for Irvine, which had hoped to rebound from a 92-66 pasting delivered on Tuesday by Utah.

“This loss hurts because this is one we really needed to get,” Anteater Coach Rod Baker said. “At home, against a relatively local team. . . . But I still don’t feel that badly about us.

“The stat that bothers me is getting outrebounded, 41-25.”

Oh, yeah, there was that statistic, too.

You could have spent all night reading this box score.

The amazing thing was, while San Diego (2-0) was turning over the ball 27 times, Irvine (1-2) gave it up on only 12 possessions and still failed to win. And Tuesday at Utah, the Anteaters forced the Utes into 23 turnovers while having only 15 themselves.

“I’m starting to get the sense that points off of turnovers is a more important stat than turnovers,” Baker said. “We’ve gotten two teams now to throw the ball all over the place.

“I’m starting to think that turnovers is a very overrated deal.”

As for shooting, that’s not overrated. And so far, it has been as big of a problem for the Anteaters as it was last year. Lloyd Mumford, moved to off-guard this winter, went six of 16 from the floor and finished with 17 points. For the season, Mumford has made only 12 of 40 shots, and only three of 17 three-pointers.

The numbers got bleaker: Todd Whitehead, Irvine’s version of instant offense off the bench, made only four of 11 shots (15 points) and Khalid Channell, a junior walk-on who made his first start at Utah, was zero for nine from the floor and didn’t score.

Only Jermaine Avie (16 points) and DeForrest Boyer (12) made more shots than they missed among starters, and that was because they play inside and shoot from close range.

“I told Khalid at halftime, he’s starting to play like he has something to lose,” Baker said. “He has never been a starter before. When you play like you have something to lose, you lose. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders and he’s the one who is putting it there.”

The Toreros, who left the Bren Center to catch a red-eye to South Bend, Ind., where they will play Notre Dame on Saturday, were led by guard Doug Harris, who had 27 points and was 13 of 14 from the line.

But, as Baker said, he still doesn’t feel too badly about his team. Why? Because Whitehead, Boyer and Mark Odsather have all missed time with injuries--Whitehead and Odsather with leg injuries--and all figure to be healthier soon.

“They still have not practiced enough,” Baker said. “And I think Todd and Mark’s shooting problems are more fitness and conditioning. They don’t have their shooter’s legs yet.”

But if the Anteaters were paying attention, they learned some pretty good free throw techniques.