Two Recruits for UC Irvine Injured in One-Car Accident : Basketball: Shipp and Simmons’ rental car leaps divider, hits tree and turns over. Shipp, the driver, was reported in critical condition.

A prominent UC Irvine basketball recruit was critically injured and another suffered minor injuries when the rented convertible they were in flipped over in front of the campus early Tuesday.

The driver, Tchaka Shipp, 20, was reported in critical condition with head injuries after undergoing surgery at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Kevin Simmons, 19, who managed to crawl out from under the car, suffered bruises and was released from the hospital Tuesday.

Irvine police Sgt. Scott Cade said the two New York City residents were going east on Campus Drive shortly after 2 a.m. when their car leaped a curb on the median, slammed into a tree and flipped onto its roof.

Police said the car appeared not to have been exceeding the 45 m.p.h. speed limit at the time of the accident, and investigators also ruled out drugs or alcohol as factors in the crash.

Shipp may have fallen asleep at the wheel, and Simmons was sleeping in the reclined passenger seat at the time of the crash, said Officer Keith Milledge. Both were wearing seat belts, police said.

“You got two guys driving down the road at about 2:19 and they hit the center divider for no reason,” Cade said.

Simmons, accompanied by UCI basketball Coach Rod Baker, declined to comment as he was wheeled out of the hospital.

The recruits--who have not yet been formally admitted at UCI--are expected to be key additions to the Anteater squad, which reached the Big West tournament final after a 7-19 regular-season record.

Shipp, a 6-foot-8 forward who played two seasons at Seton Hall, would be a sophomore at Irvine, but NCAA rules require him to sit out one season. He would be eligible to play two more years. A former star player at Brooklyn Lincoln High, Shipp was a reserve at Seton Hall, averaging 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds last season.

He announced he was transferring to Irvine in June, shortly after Pirate Coach P.J. Carlesimo was hired as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Baker was once an assistant coach under Carlesimo at Seton Hall.

A UCI spokeswoman said Shipp has not yet applied for admission, but Baker said Shipp planned to apply in time for the fall term beginning Sept. 26.

Simmons, who is also 6-8, would be a freshman. A former high school star in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was ranked by Basketball Weekly among the top 65 prep recruits when he originally signed with Irvine in 1993. But Simmons was academically ineligible because he missed some required courses, and attended Redemption Christian Academy, a prep school in Troy, N.Y., last season.

UCI admissions officials are reviewing Simmons’ application, said spokeswoman Karen Newell Young. “It’s not unusual to admit athletes even later than this,” she said.

Baker said the two men moved from New York to California about two weeks ago to begin jobs that he declined to identify. Shipp and Simmons were paying to stay in a campus fraternity house rented to non-students in the summer, he said.

“I saw what was at the accident,” said Baker, who was awakened shortly after the crash. “I feel for them. Thank God they are strong-bodied. And I’m of the belief that they’ll be able to fight through the injuries.”

He said the two were returning from a friend’s house after attending a Torrance basketball tournament that included a New York City youth team on which Simmons once played.

Times staff writers John Weyler and Mike Reilley contributed to this story.