No. 8 Utah Makes Nice, Dumps UCI

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 minute 56 seconds left to play when Ute forward Ashante Johnson collapsed on the floor after attempting 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 has rebounded with all the tenacity of a Tickle-Me Elmo doll at times this year, 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-pointers and guards attempted dunks. They even remained in a time-out huddle after the whistle blew and gave the Anteaters a five-on-zero situation which 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.

Early in the second half, the Utes found themselves embarrassingly ahead, 60-24. So Majerus went to his no-name offense--players who don’t have names on the back of their jerseys--guys such as Andre Thompson, Dan Sampson and Brandon Sluga.

But the Anteaters’ inept first-half play had already sealed the outcome. Irvine had a shot rejected, missed two layups, put up an airball and had three turnovers in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game. They trailed, 9-2.

And then they started to fall apart.

Two minutes had elapsed in the second half, before Irvine managed its 20th point.

Freshman Hanno Mottola, who started in place of Van Horn, had no trouble. He 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.

Majerus, who figures to have a better idea just how good--or bad--his team is after Tuesday night when it hosts second-ranked Wake Forest, said he was just glad to get this one over with.

“We scheduled this game because we have kids from here and Irvine was 10-2 here last year so we thought it would be a good game,” Majerus said. “But I feel bad for [Baker]. He’s a good coach and a good guy, but after all those players jumped ship, he’s in an untenable situation.”

When it comes to playing a team as good as Utah, there’s no arguing that.