UC Irvine Lets Arizona State Off the Hook in Second Half

Coach Rod Baker ran his finger down UC Irvine’s nonconference schedule before the season began and pointed to games against Ohio and Arizona State. “I think we’re good enough to play with all of these teams but maybe these two,” he said.

The Anteaters proved him wrong during an overtime loss to the 14th-ranked Bobcats on Dec. 2. And they almost proved him wrong again against the Sun Devils on Saturday night.

Irvine led 13th-ranked Arizona State, 47-42, with 13:43 left to play, but then the Sun Devils discovered a new gear and ran away with an 87-58 victory in front of 6,249 at the University Activities Center.

It took Arizona State four minutes to turn that five-point deficit into a 10-point lead with a 15-0 run. And the Sun Devils (5-1) were on cruise control only three minutes after that, holding a 69-51 advantage.

“I thought walking into the building tonight that we could play with these guys, but I guess we’re only good enough to play with them for 30 minutes,” Baker said. “The fact that we didn’t rebound in the second half is what killed us.

“But don’t get me wrong. They are a very, very good team. They are definitely going to hurt some people’s feelings in the Pac-10 this season.”

The Sun Devils’ full-court press caused 13 second-half turnovers. And their mastery of the boards after halftime--they outrebounded Irvine by 16 after both teams had 21 in the first half--turned the contest from an upset-in-the-making into a laugher and dropped the Anteaters to 2-3.

“We were so bad in the first half,” Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder said. “We hadn’t played in two weeks and when you don’t shoot well, you don’t play well.”

The Sun Devils, who came into the game with the second-best field-goal shooting percentage (.567) in the country, made only 34% of their first-half shots from the floor. With the Anteaters double-teaming 6-foot-9 forward Mario Bennett underneath, Arizona State struggled to score from the perimeter.

But when Isaac Burton, who finished with 18 points, began to find the range outside, it opened things up for Bennett, who scored 10 points in the second half and ended up with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Sun Devils shot 40% for the game, the first time this season they have shot less than 52% from the field.

Irvine, which had used a balanced attack to beat its last two opponents, got an inspired offensive effort from forward transfer Michael Tate, who scored six points as Irvine jumped to a 15-7 lead and finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. And forwards Mark Odsather and Khalid Channell combined to score 23.

But the Anteaters did not get a point from their leading scorer, point guard Raimonds Miglinieks, or their top-scoring inside threat, freshman forward Kevin Simmons.

“When your starting point guard and a starting forward don’t score a point, I don’t care who you are, you’re going to have trouble winning,” Baker said.

Miglinieks, who always looks to pass before shooting, had six assists but did not attempt a field goal before fouling out with 3:25 remaining. And with Miglinieks on the bench, Arizona State’s press became an even more effective tool.

“If I don’t have a good shot, I’m not going to shoot,” said Miglinieks, who had 828 assists in two years at Riverside City College. “We were taking our shots too fast.

“We played good for a while, but you have to play all 40 minutes. If you can’t play for 40 minutes, then just go off the court.”

Guard Chris Brown, who was the most prolific three-point shooter in the country last season, continues to struggle. He made only three of 13 three-point attempts, but still led the Anteaters in scoring with 18 points.

“This was exactly like the overtime against Ohio U.,” he said. “We start to get satisfied with what we have and we relax a little bit. They were more aggressive and got a couple of steals out of their press and then that made them more intense and our heads went down.”