UCI Gives Up Season-High 88 Points to Northern Arizona

Judgment day came, and was postponed. No one, especially UC Irvine Coach Pat Douglass, was up to the task of dissecting the Anteaters’ season eight games into it.

Northern Arizona’s 88-56 victory over Irvine in front of 1,005 Sunday in the Walkup Skydome was the Anteaters’ 19th consecutive road loss over three seasons and dropped them to 2-6 this season. It was these eight games that Douglass originally insisted were needed before you could judge a team, any team.

Apparently, though, not Irvine.

“Right now is not a good time to assess our program,” Douglass said.

“That is the type question to answer when the season is over.”

Who could blame him?

The Anteaters gave up the most points this season in being run off the court by a bigger, stronger and flat-out better Northern Arizona team. Even scoring the game’s last eight points did little to massage the score, or the egos.

Of course, the Lumberjacks have routed other teams this season--Texas Pan American, Western Oregon. They even beat Sonoma State by 22. This is not the company the Anteaters or Douglass wished to keep.

“What we have to do right now is worry about this team,” Douglass said. “This is not about what I’ve done in the past or what I choose to do in the future. We are trying to do our best with this team.

“Obviously this was not the effort we wanted. We have shown progress. We were hoping to do better here and we want to do better as [Big West Conference] play gets closer.”

UCI’s next stop is Nevada Las Vegas on Tuesday. By the way the Anteaters were manhandled inside Sunday, a date with the Rebels’ frontline of Kaspars Kambala (6 feet 9), Tyrone Nesby (6-6) and Issiah Epps (6-10) could be rather ominous. On the bright side, All-American candidate Keon Clark (6-11) and former Anteater Kevin Simmons (6-8) are still ineligible for UNLV.

The 6-9 Casey Frank and the 7-0 Dan McClintock were trouble enough Sunday. Frank made four of six shots and scored 14 points. McClintock made five of six--missing only a fun fling at a three-pointer with five seconds left--and scored 13 points.

Irvine’s guards could do little to help centers Wendell Robinson and Matt Willard. They rarely risked leaving Lumberjack shooters free on the perimeter and paid for it when they did.

Northern Arizona was the top three-point shooting team in the nation last season, and have become even better this year. The Lumberjacks (5-4) made eight of 13 three-pointers. Michael McNair, who returned from an ankle injury last week, was four of five and finished with a game-high 20 points.

Northern Arizona shot 61% in the first half--and led, 41-25--and shot 54% for the game.

“We’re a good shooting team, that’s about our percentage,” Lumberjack Coach Ben Howland said.

The Anteaters too, shoot well from the perimeter. But they didn’t Sunday.

Irvine shot 25% in the first half and 35% for the game. Junior Bond, Malachi Edmond, Lamarr Parker and Jason Flowers, the backcourt rotation so effective Thursday in a victory over Portland, was held without a field goal in the first half. Combined, they were 0 for 10 from the field in the first half.

Had it not been for Ben Jones, who scored 16 points, the game would have been a laugher by halftime. That was reserved for the second half.

Northern Arizona turned the game into a rout, with Irvine’s help. The Lumberjacks had a five-minute, 14-2 run to take a 60-34 lead. The Anteaters had more turnovers (five) than shot attempts (four) in that time.

“They missed open shots,” Howland said. “I really have a lot of respect for Pat and his staff. It’s going to take time for them to get it going, but they will get better every year.”

Douglass, for now, is not willing to look that far ahead.