Victory Over Utah State No Longer Surprises UCI

There was a time not very long ago--anyone remember last year?--when UC Irvine would have been ecstatic to split a two-game trip through Reno and Logan, two of the toughest places for a visiting Big West team to win.

These days, however, the Anteaters are the scourge of the conference. So they accepted their sweep of Reno and Utah State and a fourth consecutive victory, a 78-72 defeat of Utah State in front of 8,069 in the Spectrum Saturday night, with a satisfied nonchalance.

“I think we have some guys who are special,” Coach Rod Baker said, “some guys who are battle-tested, guys who have been in these situations before, guys who weren’t necessarily overwhelmed to come in here and play.”

Irvine (9-6 and 6-2 in the Big West) was clearly overwhelmed last year, losing at Reno by 16 points and then to the Aggies here by 27. It was a different story this time around, thanks largely to point guard Raimonds Miglinieks. Miglinieks had 27 against Nevada Thursday night and came back with a team-high 17 points and eight assists against the Aggies.

But when he scored was more important than how much he scored.

“Miglinieks makes that team go,” Utah State Coach Larry Eustachy said, “and tonight he answered every time they had to have it.”

Irvine jumped to an eight-point lead, but the Aggies (10-10, 4-4) cut it to one, 14-13. Miglinieks hit a three-pointer.

Irvine had a 12-point advantage at the half, but the fans--which Cal State Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking said are louder and more intimidating than UCLA’s in Pauley Pavilion--were imploring the Aggies to make a comeback. Miglinieks opened the second half with a crowd-silencing three-pointer.

Utah State closed to within four points with 11 minutes left, but Miglinieks came back with another three, the old-fashioned way, on a driving bank shot and a free throw after he was fouled.

And then when the Aggies turned a 14-point Irvine lead into a six-point margin with an 8-0 run in less than three minutes, he drilled another three that put Irvine ahead, 71-62, with 2 minutes 41 seconds left to play.

“This is one of the toughest crowds there is,” Miglinieks said, “and when [the Aggies] make a little run, they really get into it. So you have to make some shots. Those are the plays that quiet the crowd and also pumps up our whole team.”

The Anteaters, prone in the past to scoring droughts that cost them a number of games, have been able to minimize their lapses in concentration and quickly rally to regain their poise in recent games.

“That’s our thing this year,” forward Kevin Simmons said, “we let people back in the game, just enough to let them get happy for a minute, and then we beat them.”

Maybe, but the Anteaters don’t always make it easy on themselves. Saturday night, they made only seven of 14 free throws in the final two minutes.

“We kept getting one of two,” Baker said, “but that was important. We couldn’t come up empty on those possessions.”

Center Eric Franson led the Aggies with a game-high 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, but the Aggies, whose strength is in the post positions, were hurt by their one-dimensional approach in the first half. Only two Utah State players, Franson and forward Silas Mills had more than four points at halftime and the Aggies had only one field goal from beyond 15 feet.

The Anteaters had five players with five or more points and were four of seven from three-point range at the intermission. Irvine finished nine of 19 from three-point range and shot 51% from the field for the game. Simmons and Shaun Battle had 16 points each and combined for 15 rebounds.

“I think we play better when our scoring is balanced,” Simmons said. “I think we’re really coming together. The difference this year is that this team knows how to win.”