Brown Scores 29 as Irvine Defeats Iowa

UC Irvine, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, the team that had made a habit of falling 15 points behind before half the fans had found their seats, the group that seemed destined to explore every dead-end avenue of defeat, beat Iowa Wednesday night.

The Anteaters, who found out that starting point guard Zuri Williams and second-leading scorer Todd Whitehead had been suspended indefinitely for “violating team rules” just hours before the game, pulled together and came away with a 86-78 victory, easily the most significant in Coach Rod Baker’s two-plus seasons at Irvine.

“It was a monster win,” Baker said. “At this point, after what we’ve been going through, it’s just a monster win.”

Chris Brown, who became academically eligible two weeks ago, made seven of 16 three-point shots and scored 29 points as the Anteaters turned a 36-36 halftime tie into a runaway victory before 3,172 in the Bren Center.

Irvine (3-4) led by as many as 12 points in the final minute, but it was Brown’s three-pointer with 1:32 remaining that put the Anteaters ahead, 80-72, and sent the bench into a celebration frenzy.

“We talked before the game,” Baker said, “We can sit here and say, ‘Oh, we have to play without two of our better guys,’ and feel sorry for ourselves. Or we can face the adversity. We’ve been too inward lately, too businesslike. And I think we were a little more emotional tonight.

“Of course it helps when you Chris Brown in a zone. He missed three or four shots early, but they were all right there. And you don’t need to tell him to keep shooting.”

Irvine’s pressure defense forced the Hawkeyes (5-3) into 28 turnovers.