Anteaters Battered, Bruised and Beaten

Shawn Daniels, perhaps the best player in the Big West Conference, was too good for UC Irvine on Thursday night, as he and his Utah State teammates handed the Anteaters their first Big West Conference loss of the season, 67-52.

The 6-foot-6, 260-pound Daniels, nursing a pulled hamstring muscle, had 18 points and eight rebounds to help stop Irvine’s 13-game winning streak.

The victory allowed the Aggies to climb into a first-place tie with Irvine, which had defeated Utah State, 56-51, eight days earlier at the Bren Center.

Teammate Curtis Bobb had 10 rebounds and scored 16 points, including a thunderous dunk with 14:18 to play that gave Utah State a 47-31 lead that it eventually built to as many as 23 points.

“This was a must win for us,” said Bobb, a forward. “We didn’t play well [in Irvine]. Now we’ll see which team can play well down the stretch, but we had to have this game.”

And it was Daniels who made sure the defending conference champions would get their 20th consecutive home victory.

“No one could guard Daniels tonight,” Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said. “Their post players dominated the game, and we had no answer for Daniels.”

Playing before a noisy crowd of 10,114--second-largest of the season here--Utah State (20-3, 9-1) battered the Anteaters (17-3, 9-1) in the paint with the most physical game Irvine has faced this season.

Daniels, who made nine of 10 field-goal tries, Bobb and center Dimtri Jorssen were all in early foul trouble at Irvine last week. That was not the case Thursday and that allowed Daniels to take on anyone Irvine tried to throw at him.

Center Adam Parada got in foul trouble and scored just four points to go along with six rebounds. Stanislav Zuzak and J.R. Christ, who made his first start of the season, couldn’t handle Daniels, either. Zuzak was scoreless; Christ scored four points and had two rebounds.

“When I’m not in foul trouble it gives me a chance to be more physical,” Daniels said.

That he was, adding credence to Utah State’s claims that he is the most valuable player in the conference this season.

“Shawn and Curtis stepped up big time,” Utah State Coach Stew Morrill said. “How can you go nine for 10 in a game like that? That’s amazing.”

Christ, Zuzak and Parada weren’t the only Anteaters to feel like they had been run over by a tractor. Douglass benched the team’s leading scorer, Jerry Green, and most of his regulars for the final eight minutes of the game. Green finished with 18 points, 13 in the first half.

Utah State had a commanding 41-27 advantage on the backboards. Irvine won that battle in the first meeting last week, 36-28. Irvine’s win that night stopped Utah State’s 26-game winning streak in conference games.

Now it’s on to Boise State Saturday for the Anteaters, who have struggled of late and were held to their lowest point total of the season Thursday. Irvine didn’t match up well against Boise State last month at the Bren Center, despite its 76-71 victory.

On Thursday, the Anteaters, who are in the midst of their first winning season since 1995-96, looked like Irvine teams of old--flustered and confused. They committed 16 turnovers and made just 17 of 44 field-goal tries (38.6%) while being held to their lowest point total of the season.

At the other end, Utah State was getting good looks at the basket and converted 26 of 55 (47.3%) of their field goal tries, the first time in five games that an Irvine opponent has shot more than 40% from the field.

“We just got beat up tonight,” Christ said.