UC Irvine Relies on Defense to Win : College: Unable to shoot well, the Anteaters turn to a full-court press to defeat Eastern Washington, 86-66.

UC Irvine had trouble scoring from the perimeter for the second consecutive game, but the Anteaters’ pressure defense was enough to produce an 86-66 victory over Eastern Washington in their home opener Saturday in the Bren Center.

“We need to understand how to play when we don’t make the outside shots,” Coach Rod Baker said after Irvine shot only 21% from three-point range. “You can’t always determine whether the shots go down or not, but you can keep the defensive effort consistent.”

Irvine (3-1) used a full-court press to force the Eagles (0-6) into 18 turnovers and probably twice that many ill-advised shots. And the Anteaters, who made one of seven first-half three-point attempts, abandoned their outside game in the second half, working the ball underneath where their taller and more physical post players dominated.

Irvine guards made only five of 14 shots in the first half and the Anteaters were struggling along at a 43% clip from the floor. But after emphasizing the inside game in the second half, they shot 59% after the intermission.

Reserve center Paul Foster made all four of his shots from the floor and both free throws. He was one of five Anteaters scoring in double figures as Irvine’s post players made 11 of 15 field-goal attempts.

Sophomore forward Kevin Simmons, who began the week on crutches after suffering a deep bruise to his right calf during last Saturday’s loss at Oregon State, was in fine form by game time. He made three of his first five shots and had 10 points and five rebounds as Irvine pulled ahead, 38-29, by halftime.

“I think he’s OK,” Baker said. “Kevin played with a lot of spirit today and when he’s enthusiastic, he usually plays really well.”

Simmons, who finished with a game-high 16 points and led Irvine with six rebounds, said his leg was “a little sore, but nothing that would have kept me out.”

“This was an important win for us,” Simmons said. “I guess losing to Oregon State kind of woke us up. We practiced really hard this week. To have come home and lost this one would have been really bad.”

The noon tipoff didn’t exactly bring out a big and rowdy crowd--only 1,523 showed up--and the Anteaters got off to a sleepy start. The Eagles stayed even with Irvine for the first eight minutes and led, 14-12, with 12 minutes 4 seconds left in the first half.

But Irvine’s constant pressure began to wear on the Eagles, who have a 10-man roster, and the fatigue began to show up on the scoreboard. They went almost eight minutes without a basket, scoring on seven free throws, as the Anteaters went on a 17-7 run that put Irvine up by eight points.

The rest at halftime didn’t do Eastern Washington much good, though. Irvine, pressuring the length of the court, scored the first eight points of the second half and the rout was on.

Senior forward Curtis Porter, who had a career-high 21 points during a loss to Portland Thursday night, led the Eagles with 15 points, but nine of them came in the last 4:54 against mostly Irvine reserves.

“I think we’re playing really good team defense right now,” said Irvine guard Raimonds Miglinieks, who scored 12 points and had eight assists.

Anteater Notes

The much-awaited return of Tchaka Shipp, who was almost killed in a car accident in July of 1994, will have to wait a week. Shipp could have become eligible Saturday, but the final grades on two of his four classes were not recorded on time. “Maybe it wasn’t realistic to expect that all of his grades would be in quickly enough for Tchaka to be eligible today,” Associate Athletic Director Petrina Long said.