UCI deadly from field

Though the UC Irvine men’s basketball program had never played on New Year’s Eve, the Anteaters certainly displayed supreme efficiency in getting the ball to drop.

The Anteaters made seven of their first 10 field-goal attempts, shot 70% for the second half and finished at 66.1% for the game in an 82-53 nonconference win over Hampden-Sydney, a Division III school at which UCI Coach Russell Turner was an All-American player in the early 1990s.

By contrast, the Tigers (8-2), for whom Turner holds the career record with 2,272 points and is a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame, made just three of their first 18 field-goal tries, before settling in.

UCI (7-6) scored 14 straight points after Hampden-Sydney seized its only lead (2-0) and led by double-digits the rest of the way to improve to 4-1 at home this season.

Junior guard Alex Young was six for eight from the field on his way to a game-high 13 points. The reigning Big West Conference Player of the Week also led all players with six assists and four steals, and also chipped in four rebounds and two blocked shots in 27 minutes.

“Alex Young continues to assert himself and that is important for us,” Turner said of the third-year starter, who has stepped up with the recent absence of sophomore starting guard Luke Nelson.

Nelson has missed the last two games with a facial fracture, while 7-foot-6 sophomore center Mamadou Ndiaye has now missed the last eight games with a sprained foot. “These injuries we have right now are revealing how good [Young] can be, and that is a good thing to watch.”

Junior Dominique Dunning produced 11 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench, netting five of nine field-goal tries, as all 10 UCI scorers shot at least 50%.

“I was really proud of the effort that [Dunning] put out there,” Turner said after Dunning recorded his first career double-double and bettered his previous single-game high of eight rebounds. “He’s a high-level player that I sometimes am not able to play that much. But when I play him, it seems like he always produces and I was happy to see him have the game he had today.”

Junior Mike Best made five of six field-goal attempts to record 10 points in 17 reserve minutes. He added three rebounds, one steal and one assist and had one-third of the ‘Eaters nine blocked shots.

Senior Travis Souza was three for four from the field, all from three-point range, to net nine points, while senior post John Ryan, who has filled in admirably for Ndiaye, had eight points (on four-of-six shooting), four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Senior starter Will Davis had seven points and five boards, while junior Reed McConnell (three for three from the field, including one three-pointer) and freshman Haroldas Saprykinas both had seven points.

It was a career-high scoring output for McConnell, while Saprykinas, who was one of five UCI players to connect from threedom (seven for 14 as a team) matched his career-high point total.

“Obviously we played pretty well offensively, in terms of our shot selection and team balance,” said Turner, whose squad lost in overtime at Oregon on Monday.

Still, it was not all noisemakers and party hats for the hosts, who lit Turner’s competitive fuse by allowing the Tigers to shoot 46.7% from the field after intermission (14 for 30) to elevate their overall field-goal accuracy to 37.5%, up from just 26.9% at halftime. The Tigers netted eight of 17 from threedom (47.1%).

Turner said he had mixed emotions about competing against his alma mater. He took time after the game to appear on the Hampden-Sydney radio broadcast back to Virginia, in addition to his typical postgame radio interview with the UCI radio broadcasters.

“I don’t know how many people [in Virginia] were listening, but they are all important to me,” Turner said. “It was a tough thing for me to get in competitive mode against a program that I care a lot about. I was proud of the way those [Tigers] competed, which didn’t surprise me in the least.”

The game featured just nine foul shots, only three by the ‘Eaters, who made just one.

UCI more than doubled up the visitors in the rebounding department (39-19), though its 14 turnovers were four more than the Tigers’ total.

UCI visits New Mexico State on Saturday, before opening defense of its Big West Conference regular-season title on Thursday at home against Long Beach State at 7 p.m.

Turner said he is not sure when Ndiaye or Nelson may return.

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Nonconference

UC Irvine 82, Hampden-Sydney 53

HS – Owens 8, Kuehn 0, Lewis 9, Duncan 8, Murray 5, Guimaraes 11, Hargrove 4, N’Diaye 3, Chase 3, Katowitz 2.

3-pt. goals – Duncan 2, Owens 2, Lewis 1, Murray 1, N’Diaye 1, Chase 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

UCI – Davis 7, Ryan 8, Young 13, Souza 9, Martin 4, Dunning 11, Best 10, McConnell 7, Saprykinas 7, Dimakopoulos 6.

3-pt. goals – Souza 3, Young 1, McConnell 1, Saprykinas 1, Dunning 1.

Fouled out – Martin.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 35-18, UCI.