Irvine Gets Some Consolation From Pepperdine

After a couple of hard-fought defeats against Oklahoma and 14th-ranked Ohio University, UC Irvine appeared to be headed toward an easy victory over a young Pepperdine team early in the first half Saturday night.

The Anteaters may be improved, but they clearly are a long way from steamroller status.

Irvine let a 26-16 lead evaporate and trailed by as many as eight in the second half before a late rally carried the Anteaters to a 75-68 Hawkeye Invitational consolation game victory over the Waves in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Anteaters (1-2) continued to exhibit solid defense, strong rebounding and poor shooting. They overcame a 38% effort from the field and a 63% performance at the free-throw line.

Irvine Coach Rod Baker is relying heavily on his bench. Ten Anteaters played 11 or more minutes and no one played more than 28.

“We got a lot of good minutes from a lot of guys,” Baker said. “I’m beginning to believe our depth is the strength of this team and tonight everybody got a chance.”

Senior guard Chris Brown, the nation’s top three-point shooter last season, did almost as much sitting as shooting. Brown made two three-pointers in the first 3 1/2 minutes, but then he appeared to be frustrated by the absence of a call when he felt he was fouled on a layup attempt. So Baker put him on the bench to “unwind.”

“Chris’ level of excitability is directly related to his inability to make his shots,” Baker said. “He needed to watch the game a little bit. He was too wound up.”

The tactic apparently worked. Brown made a three-pointer with four minutes to play to put Irvine up for good and then another a minute later that gave the Anteaters a 71-66 advantage. He finished with a team-high 17 points, making five of 14 shots.

Forward Monte Marcaccini led the Waves (1-3) with 18 points. Kirk Goehring had 17 points and eight rebounds.