Utah State Rolls Past Struggling UC Irvine

The nation, for some reason, needed to see this.

It didn’t take long to get a whiff of the Anteaters’ season. In fact, shortly after player introductions were finished, so was Irvine.

An ESPN audience saw Utah State get on a roll--Troy Rolle--and ease to a 76-46 victory in front of 6,688 in the Smith Spectrum. It was the 10th consecutive loss for Irvine (5-16, 1-10).

This was the fewest points the Anteaters have scored this season and their most lopsided loss--quite a feat considering they played 10th-ranked Arizona earlier, losing by 23.

“Coach had a lot of expectations for this season,” forward Marek Ondera said. “The way the Western Division is, anyone could win it. There was no reason it couldn’t have been us.”

This wasn’t the same Aggie team that reached the NCAA tournament last season. In fact, they are struggling to hang on to fourth place in the Big West Conference’s Eastern Division.

Rolle was eight of eight from the field and scored 20 points, 14 in the first half. Donnie Johnson, a burly 6-foot-6 center, dominated the inside and guard Tony Brown buried three-pointers.

The Anteaters, meanwhile, are out of silver linings. They had lost five conference games by a total of 15 points, but there was nothing to cling to in this game.

Irvine shot 34% and was outrebounded, 38-27.

“We discussed what we need to do a couple days ago,” forward Adam Stetson said. “We have discussed it a lot. We have to come out and play hard for 40 minutes, not 30 or 35. We have to expect to play the whole game.”

That didn’t happen. Oh, they put in a good five minutes before things came crashing down.

Rolle kept the Aggies (12-10, 5-6) close, scoring scored 10 of their first 13 points. His 12-foot jumper gave Utah State a 13-12 lead with 14 minutes 55 seconds left in the first half. It started a 14-0 run--with Irvine going seven minutes without a point.

By halftime, the Aggies were shooting 60% and had a 40-26 lead.

Irvine had a brief moments. Jerry Green scored six of the Anteaters’ first seven points, giving them an early 7-3 lead. He later had three shots blocked. Green finished with 12 points.

Guard Gabe Cagwin made five of 10 three-pointers and finished with 15 points. He hit back-to-back threes to pull Irvine to within 32-24. It unraveled after that.

Utah State led by as many as 33 points in the second half. Brown scored 17 points, making five of eight three-pointers, and Johnson 13 points.

Along with Rolle, those three had more points then the Anteaters as a team.

“They kicked our butts in every aspect of the game,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said. “Inside in the post area and defensively they took us out of everything we tried to do.”