Utah’s Easy Win Cut Short

Utah Coach Rick Majerus--longtime friend of UC Irvine and nationally renowned nice guy--couldn’t stop it. A flu bug that sent All-America candidate Keith Van Horn back to the hotel and slowed a number of other Utes couldn’t either. And the Anteaters were clearly helpless to avert it.

Apparently, Irvine’s eighth consecutive loss was preordained.

Eighth-ranked Utah (8-1) coasted to a 77-50 nonconference victory Saturday night in a game that ended with 1:56 to play when Ute forward Ashante Johnson collapsed on the floor after trying a layup. Johnson, who said he felt something pop in his back, was conscious and even smiling at times, but he remained on the floor until paramedics removed him by stretcher and transported him to Irvine Medical Center for observation.

An emergency room spokesman said doctors were still waiting for X-rays but that Johnson was up and walking late Saturday night.

“We lost by 27 and the game didn’t even get to be finished,” Irvine Coach Rod Baker said. “But last time I checked, that’s still a pretty good team, even without Keith Van Horn.”

Majerus, who says his team is unathletic and is in no way a legitimate top-10 team, might accept the “pretty good” label.

Still, it would be difficult to make any kind of valid assessment of Utah’s strength on this evening.

The Utes tried an everyone-touches-the-ball-twice passing game and let the 35-second clock expire twice. Post players tried their hand at three-point shots and guards tried dunks. They even remained in a timeout huddle after the whistle blew and gave the Anteaters a five-on-zero situation that resulted in a layup . . . after teammates screamed at a confused Paul Foster to put the ball in the basket. No matter how the Utes tried to even the playing surface, the Anteaters (0-8) kept sliding off toward oblivion.

Freshman Hanno Mottola, who started in place of Van Horn, made nine of 11 shots from the floor and finished with a team-high 19 points. And Utah, which had been shooting 28% from three-point range, made seven of 13.

“Hanno played well and we shot better, but it’s easy to shoot when you’re relaxed and you know you’re bigger, better, deeper and more experienced,” Majerus said.