UC Irvine Still Winless in Big West

UC Irvine lost its Big West opener to Cal State Fullerton and the thinking was, “Yeah, but anything can happen in a rivalry like that.” Then, the Anteaters lost at Nevada Las Vegas and it was, “Yeah, but it was close and we led by nine at halftime.” And then they lost by five at New Mexico State and it was, “Yeah, but last season the Aggies beat us by 30 down there.”

Saturday night in front of 2,604 at the Bren Center, Irvine ran out of “yeah, buts.” The Anteaters looked flat and listless and lost, 95-83, to Nevada, which has won only four Big West road games in the last three seasons.

“I think we came off the road feeling a little too good about ourselves,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “It depends on how you want to look at it. Those games were close, but the bottom line is they were failures. And two losses don’t teach you anything about how to win.”

Irvine, full of high aspirations and expectations after a 4-3 nonconference season, is 0-4 in conference play, 4-7 overall. The Wolf Pack (7-6, 3-2) led by 12 points at halftime after a 16-2 run midway through the first half and hit a season high in scoring, thanks in large part to the play of Damien Edwards. Edwards made 11 of 12 shots and scored 27 points. He also had 10 rebounds, six offensive.

“Edwards played really well and he gave us a big lift in the first half when he came in and turned five offensive rebounds into five baskets,” Nevada Coach Pat Foster said. “Any win on the road is a good win in this conference, but we played really well tonight, which is pleasing since we’ve been in a win-one-lose-one mode lately.”