Struggling UC Irvine Helps Itself to Another Defeat

For a moment, UC Irvine appeared to have found itself, and an opponent it could compete against. For a moment, those self-help classes the Anteaters attended this past week seemed to have had quite an effect.

Then the moment passed quickly and it was back to being schooled.

Cal State Northridge gave a rather harsh lesson in a 77-53 victory over Irvine in front of 493 at Northridge Saturday. Dunk after dunk--nine in all--drove the point home. It was going to take more than a seminar to get Irvine out of this rut.

The Anteaters (0-6) went through two three-hour self-development programs this past week intended to put them on the road to recovery after last Sunday’s 107-45 loss to USC. Apparently, all Northridge did to prepare was practice.

The Matadors (3-5) pulled away late in the first half, then avoided a second-half fade for the first time this season. Keith Higgins (20 points) and Derrick Higgins (12 points) saw to that by turning Irvine turnovers into dunks to turn a 38-30 halftime lead into a comfortable victory. Keith Higgins had five dunks and his brother had three to give Northridge back-to-back victories for the first time since Feb. 22, 1995.

Heady stuff for a team that has lost four games in the final 10 seconds this season. Then again, they had an opponent that has lost its games by an average of 30 points.

“My blood pressure is probably the lowest it has been at a basketball game for a long time,” Coach Bobby Braswell said.

And Irvine?

Well, the best thing that happened was the Anteaters were one game closer to Big West Conference play. Only one team in the past 25 years has gone winless in the Big West.

“We are going to get some wins,” said guard Lamarr Parker, who scored 14 points. “We don’t feel any pressure about that.”

Still, Coach Rod Baker tried to speed up the process.

This was his ninth consecutive loss, dating to last season. The school record for consecutive losses is 15 (1989-90). Baker went to some lengths to end his streak, including a little extra work in the area of self-help. The sessions didn’t produce a victory, but apparently it improved some psyches.

“We got to know ourselves,” said guard Juma Jackson, who missed the second half because of a mild concussion. “We can walk out of here with our heads up knowing that it’s not like us to lose.”

It was Saturday.

Jackson’s steal and dunk with 11 minutes left in the first half gave Irvine a 14-9 lead--its largest lead of the season. The Anteaters led, 16-11, then reverted to form.

Irvine finished with 23 turnovers and was outrebounded, 39-27. Northridge had 17 offensive rebounds. The Anteaters turned the ball over on their first four possessions in the second half, a problem addressed in their seminar.

“We broke it down into what it was going to take for us to win,” forward Brian Johnson said. “We talked about turnovers and not giving up second chances. [Northridge] killed us on the boards and we had a tremendous amount of turnovers.”

Johnson, who missed the last two games because of a sprained toe, kept the Anteaters from complete collapse. He scored 16 points and had seven consecutive points in the second half when Northridge was pulling away.

“All we can do is come back and practice tomorrow and play [University of] San Diego on Monday,” Baker said. “It’s simple.”