Brown’s Troubles Continue as Irvine Loses Sixth in Row

About this time last year, Big West opponents were discovering that it wasn’t wise to employ a zone defense against UC Irvine. Guard Chris Brown, on his way to becoming the most prolific three-point shooter in the country, was terrorizing those defenses with his uncannily accurate long-range shooting.

The last time he played in Stockton, he scored 36 points.

These days, however, Brown is more likely to be pouting on the end of the bench or the outskirts of a team huddle than ripping the nets from 20 feet. And Thursday night, while Pacific shut down Irvine’s potent inside offense with a sagging zone, Brown was either missing shots or missing the action.

Pacific, 8-6 overall and 3-3 in the Big West, erased an 11-point first-half deficit and rolled up an 86-77 victory in front of 2,225 in the Spanos Center. Irvine (4-9, 0-6) has lost six in a row.

Brown had his first two attempts--uncharacteristic driving layups--swatted from his hands before he could even shoot. Then he missed two three-pointers and an open baseline jumper during a six-minute span while the Tigers turned a 46-43 lead into a 60-50 advantage. He played nine minutes and did not score.