BIGGEST GAME IN TOWN

For the first time in 20 years, the UC Irvine library thins out on basketball game nights.

The Anteaters--yes, Irvine is the school with that funny nickname--received votes in this week’s national polls for the first time since the 1981-82 season.

And with good reason. The sleepy South Orange County think tank known nationally as Cal-Irvine has the second-longest winning streak among major-college men’s basketball teams.

The Anteaters, 17-2 overall and 9-0 in the Big West Conference, begin tonight’s game against Utah State in Logan, Utah, having won 13 in a row, second only to top-ranked North Carolina’s 16-game streak.

Indeed, Irvine has surprised everyone--even itself.

“I knew for sure that we would do well,” said Jerry Green, a junior from Pomona who is the team’s leading scorer, “but I did not expect us to be playing with a record like this.”

The last time Irvine was in first place in the conference this late in the season was February 1996, when it briefly shared the lead with Long Beach State. The Anteaters then lost five of their last seven games. They haven’t had a winning season since.

Irvine’s start is its best since it opened 16-1 in 1981-82, this after being picked in a preseason poll of coaches to finish fourth in the conference.

Defending champion Utah State was favored to repeat. Then the teams met last week at Irvine’s Bren Center.

Utah State raced to an 11-3 lead, but Irvine rallied and won, 56-51, ending Utah State’s 26-game conference winning streak.

The season has gone a lot like that game.

Irvine opened by losing an exhibition to Division II South Dakota, 73-60.

Three weeks later, in its third regular-season game, Irvine faltered down the stretch against visiting San Diego and lost, 63-60.

Then a transformation seemed to take place. Three days after its loss to San Diego, the Anteaters defeated California, 56-52. After that, they defeated UC San Diego, then had a 14-point first-half lead against UCLA before losing to the Bruins, 65-60, at Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 16.

That was Irvine’s last loss. On Dec. 28, the Anteaters earned their second victory over a Pacific 10 Conference team, defeating Washington, 56-55, at Seattle.

So far, it has been the type of breakout campaign Irvine was hoping for in the 3 1/2 years since it hired Coach Pat Douglass from Cal State Bakersfield, where his teams won three NCAA Division II titles.

Green said it took a while for Irvine players to fully comprehend all of Douglass’ elaborate offensive schemes.

The difference: “We’re all buying into what [the coaches] are saying,” Green said. “It took two years for us to get it, to do it right.”

Tough defense has become an Irvine trademark. The Anteaters give up only 59.5 points a game, seventh-best in the nation.

“Open looks were few and far between,” said Utah State Coach Stew Morrill, whose team shot only 34.7% in the loss to the Anteaters. “Even the shots that we got were open for a just second, and then they always got a hand up in your face.”

For scoring, Irvine turns to Green, a quick guard who has led the team in scoring each of his three seasons. Green is averaging 17.2 points; he had 22 points, 10 rebounds and three assists against Utah State.

He was held to four points Saturday in a 58-57 victory at Long Beach State, but included was the game-winning basket, a 15-foot jump shot.

Green, who scored a career-high 32 points in Irvine’s 57-37 nonconference victory at St. Mary’s on Jan. 3, has been drawing rave reviews from opponents.

“Jerry Green is as good a player as there is in this league,” Morrill said.