Irvine Finally Feeling Entitled

The time finally came to celebrate. There was no need to contain their excitement any longer.

And when the final buzzer sounded Thursday in UC Irvine’s hard-earned 58-55 victory over visiting Cal State Fullerton, giving the Anteaters the first Big West Conference title in their 36-year history, the Bren Center crowd erupted.

A sea of blue and gold-clad students, the bulk of an announced crowd of 4,054, surged past half-hearted security guards and spilled onto the floor to surround team members, who were just starting to whoop it up themselves.

No more of this one-game-at-a-time stuff that Irvine players and coaches had repeated as they marched down the stretch run and into the school record book.

Guard Jerry Green, who led the Anteaters to their sixth straight victory with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, broke free and leaped onto a row of tables in front of the student section, held his index finger high above his head and slapped high-fives with approving fans.

The song “Celebrate” blared from house speakers as freshman center Adam Parada raised a hand-lettered sign that read simply “champs.”

There were hugs all around and later, during a on-court ceremony conducted by conference Commissioner Dennis Farrell, usually stoic Coach Pat Douglass had a short slam-dance with Green while fans chanted, “Jerry, Jerry.”

“We haven’t had a chance to kick up our heels too much,” Douglass said later, smiling. “But I want to take time to enjoy this. It’s pure ecstasy. I don’t have a lot of thoughts right now. It’s a great feeling.”

Irvine (23-3, 14-1) made only 17 of 48 field-goal attempts (35.4%) and couldn’t shake the Titans until the waning moments when Sean Jackson buried a three-pointer from just in front of the Anteater bench with 18 seconds to go. The basket, which gave the Anteaters a 58-53 lead, beat the shot clock by three seconds and followed a charging call at the other end against Fullerton forward Ike Harmon. Jackson finished with 11 points and made three of six three-point attempts.

“I never expect to miss,” Jackson said. “But I’d say that shot was pretty significant. This season has gone beyond any of our expectations.”

Green, a strong contender to be named most valuable player when the all-conference team is announced Monday, said that banging into the taciturn Douglass was just a reaction to the celebration.

“We’ve been through a lot these last three years,” Green said of his relationship with Douglass. “That was just a special moment together.

“It feels great. This was a dream of mine. I knew by my junior year that we were going to be something special.”

Top-seeded Irvine could face a rematch with Fullerton (4-22, 3-13) in the opening round of the conference tournament next week. The Titans are competing with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Idaho (which hosts Irvine Saturday) for the final two spots in the eight-team field.

“I hope we do meet,” first-year Fullerton Coach Donny Daniels said. “That means we’re in the tournament. I’m not sweating anything. We should have beat Cal Poly and Santa Barbara earlier this year. The situation we are in is all the result of us putting ourselves here, so I’m not sweating out the final results.”

Fullerton, which has lost nine of its last 10, could have helped its postseason chances, but the deliberate Titans shot almost as poorly as Irvine, making 13 of 35 attempts (37.1%).

Fullerton dictated the pace of the game, however, particularly in the first half when Irvine struggled to find its range. The Anteaters missed their first nine shots and had two would-be baskets waved off on offensive goaltending calls.

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The Long Trek to the Top

UC Irvine’s 58-55 victory over Cal State Fullerton Thursday clinched an outright Big West men’s basketball championship for the Anteaters, their first in 24 seasons in the league. UC Irvine’s league record, place in the standings and overall record during its tenure in the league (the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., until changing its name to the Big West for the 1988-89 season):

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League Over. Year Record Place Rec. 1977-78 2-12 8th 8-17 1978-79 3-11 8th 7-19 1979-80 1-13 8th 7-20 1980-81 9-5 3rd 17-10 1981-82 10-4 2nd 23-7 1982-83 8-8 5th 16-12 1983-84 14-4 2nd 19-10 1984-85 8-10 6th 13-17 1985-86 12-6 2nd 17-13 1986-87 9-9 4th 14-14 1987-88 9-9 5th 16-14 1988-89 8-10 8th 12-17 1989-90 3-15 10th 5-23 1990-91 6-12 9th 11-19 1991-92 3-15 9th 7-22 1992-93 4-14 10th 6-21 1993-94 4-14 10th 10-20 1994-95 6-12 8th 13-16 1995-96 11-7 2nd 15-12 1996-97 1-15 6th 1-25 1997-98 6-10 3rd 9-18 1998-99 2-14 6th 6-20 1999-00 7-9 3rd 14-14 2000-01 14-1 1st 23-3

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NOTE: From 1996-97 through 1999-2000, the Big West split into two divisions. UC Irvine’s finish for those seasons is for the six-team West Division.

Lofty Company

The top 10 Division I men’s teams in the country, by winning percentage:

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1. Stanford 25-1 .963 2t. Michigan State 23-3 .885 2t. UC Irvine 23-3 .885 4. Georgia State 26-4 .867 5. Duke 25-4 .862 6t. Iowa State 24-4 .857 6t. St. Joseph’s 24-4 .857 8t. Hofstra 23-4 .852 8t. North Carolina 23-4 .852 10. Boston College 22-4 .846

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