Irvine Gets Two Thumbs Down

UC Irvine players, and their coach, tried to explain just what led to Saturday’s debacle. None seemed to capture the moment.

So it was left to center Matt Willard, who summed things up with two thumbs down and a raspberry as he left the locker room. It wasn’t very articulate, but it pretty much got to the marrow of a 76-64 loss to the University of San Diego in front of 1,277 in the USD Sports Center.

The Anteaters (4-6), who had won two consecutive games, took a giant step backward, losing to a team with a glossy 9-3 record bloated by victories over Concordia, Eastern Washington (in overtime), Chicago State and Occidental. Not exactly a Final Four. The Toreros also have a victory over San Diego State, which has yet to beat a Division-I team.

Certainly, the Anteaters expected more from their last game before Big West Conference play begins on Thursday.

“We didn’t come to play,” forward Adam Stetson growled.

Not as colorful as Willard’s explanation, but equally to the point. But then, everyone was a little chippy after this one.

Ben Jones, Irvine’s leading scorer, had one shot in the first half. Stetson, who averages 10 points, didn’t even have that.

“Maybe we should run some plays for them,” Coach Pat Douglass said, sarcastically, when asked about the lack of shots from his front line.

Asked again, Douglass merely said, “It wasn’t our intention.”

Nor was being smoked from the get-go. San Diego jumped to an 11-2 lead and limited the Anteaters to eight points in the first 10 minutes.

“The coaches prepared us for this game,” said Stetson, who had nine points, “But we didn’t do anything we were told.”

Instead, the offense was pretty much limited to guard Jerry Green looking for one-on-one opportunities. Green scored eight points. He finished with six assists but had none in the first half as San Diego built a 37-21 lead.

It equaled Irvine’s lowest point total for a half this season.

“I think if we came fired up, we could play with this team,” said Jones, who scored eight points. “We didn’t set any screens early on. I wasn’t setting screens. If we did, we might have got some shots. “Maybe it was a lack of concentration.”

Douglass seemed to be the only one focused early on, when he glowered at officials during a timeout. This was Irvine’s third loss to a West Coast Conference team this season.

“All on the road,” Douglass said.

San Diego shot 36 free throws, Irvine 12. But the officials didn’t take the Anteaters out of the game. They didn’t show up until the second half.

Irvine had more turnovers (five) than points (four) in the first five minutes.

The Anteaters managed to cut it to 37-26 early in the second half, but Brock Jacobsen stamped out any comeback fires, making three consecutive shots to push the lead back to 17.

Jacobsen tied his career high with 23 points, making eight of 11 shots. He also had nine rebounds, five offensive. It helped keep Irvine perfect: The Anteaters are 0-6 when they get outrebounded and 4-0 when they have the edge.

San Diego had a 33-25 rebound advantage.

Some serious score massaging by Irvine, mostly by guard Gabe Cagwin, kept it from being a total embarrassment. Cagwin sank three three-pointers after San Diego took a 64-37 lead with six minutes left.

It helped Irvine end the game with a 27-8 run.