Anteaters Leap Forward by Getting Personal With Rebounds

Rod Baker emerged from the visitors’ locker room after UC Irvine had beaten Utah State Jan. 27 and greeted reporters with a question.

“OK, what did we do wrong tonight?”

It was noted that the Aggies had outrebounded the Anteaters, 45-29.

“I don’t give a [darn] who wins the conference rebounding title and you shouldn’t either,” he said.

Victories are clearly more important than rebounds, but all too often, the two are inexorably linked. And during halftime of Saturday night’s game against Cal State Fullerton, Baker saw fit to write this on the locker room grease board: “The next rebound belongs to me.”

The Anteaters, who had been outrebounded by 12 in the first half, must have taken Baker literally and were waiting for him to clear the boards. Fullerton outrebounded Irvine, 20-13, in the second half.

By Monday night, however, the Anteaters had gotten the message. They earned their rebounds the old-fashioned way, by boxing out and creating space rather than attempting to out-leap opponents. Paul Foster, who had a career-high 11 rebounds, and Michael Tate, who had eight, set the tone, getting many of the rebounds at eye level while a blocked-out opponent watched helplessly.

Irvine won the battle of the boards, 35-29, and took over first place in the Big West with an 84-81 victory.

“We certainly talked about it enough,” Baker said. “We knew we had to do a better job on the boards to beat them this time.”

A marginal rebounding deficit isn’t a concern, but often the Anteaters have been totally dominated on the boards during the conference season. Irvine has been outrebounded by margins of 19, 16, 13, 12 twice and 11 in Big West play.

Irvine’s slack in the rebounding stats is a curious turn from its nonconference performance when it outrebounded St. John’s, USC, University of San Diego and Sienna and stayed within three or fewer rebounds of Washington State and Oregon State.

The most disturbing trend recently has been opponents’ free reign on the offensive boards. When the 49ers beat Irvine at the Bren Center Feb. 3, they had 22 offensive rebounds and the Anteaters had 10. Saturday night, Cal State Fullerton had 20 offensive rebounds; Irvine had eight.

But Monday night at the Pyramid, the Anteaters had an 11-9 advantage.

“We started chanting it. ‘The next rebound belongs to me,’ ” Baker said. “Hopefully, it will stick.”

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Balancing act: The videotape of Irvine’s victory Monday night figures to put a few Big West coaches in a dark mood. This Anteater team can be pretty scary when it has it all going.

Monday night, the 49ers held leading scorer Kevin Simmons to five points and four rebounds. They held Raimonds Miglinieks, who leads the nation in assists with a 9.1 average, to six assists and 12 points. And they lost.

How? Brian Keefe hit seven of 10 three-pointers, which didn’t hurt. But opposing coaches also will note that reserve Danny Fernandez, a former walk-on, hit both of his three-point attempts. And backup point guard Lamarr Parker made his only three-point try and three of five pressure-cooker free throws.

“We have good players,” Baker said. “I don’t know if we have the best five players in the league, but we sure have 10 pretty good ones.”

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Bigger is better: Tate, a senior forward, is listed at 6 feet 4, but looks about the same size as Miglinieks, who is listed at 6-3. Still, Tate holds his own in the post, battling players up to a half a foot taller. He’s the Anteaters’ second-leading rebounder with a 6.2 average.

How good would he be if he was 6-8?

“Doesn’t matter,” Baker said, “because we’d be watching him on TV, saying, ‘If that guy was 6-4, he could play for us.’ ”

Anteater Notes

Is Coach Rod Baker--whose team is in first place after 12 Big West games for the first time in history--loving life these days? “I like my job all the time,” he said, “but when the outcome is winning, everybody around is in a much better mood. But even when you’re losing it’s a good job. It’s not like I have to go pick up garbage.” Baker is feeling so good about his job and Irvine, that he recently bought a house and just finished moving in. . . . The women’s tennis team is 4-0 and off to its best start since 1988. Freshman Leah Fisher, playing all but one match at the No. 1 singles spot, also has a 4-0 record entering Thursday’s match at UCLA. Fisher and doubles partner Nina Basica, a sophomore, are 3-1 at the No. 1 doubles position. . . . Junior Omar Amr, who scored 30 points this season, was named a second-team All-American Tuesday by the American Water Polo Coaches Assn. Junior Craig Watson, who scored 23 points, was named to the third team and sophomore Ryan Bailey, who scored 50, was an honorable-mention selection. . . . The women’s soccer team will host the Japan Collegiate All-Star team at 7 p.m. Friday at Anteater Field. The Japanese team, on an American tour to promote international friendship, has tied Auburn, 0-0, and beaten a German club team, 2-1.

The women’s basketball team has shot less than 43% from the floor in each of the last four games, all losses. Freshman guard Princess Hatcher made 10 of 18 shots and scored a career-high 24 points during an 80-67 loss to Cal State Fullerton Sunday. But Irvine’s other four perimeter players were a combined two for 18. The Anteaters have had 20 or more turnovers in 11 of the last 12 games. . . . Wendy Yokoyama, a midfielder from Torrance High, has orally committed to attend Irvine. . . . The men’s and women’s track teams open the season Saturday at the Long Beach Relays at Long Beach State.