Faulkner: ‘Eaters’ depth delivered

The steps to the UC Irvine men’s basketball team’s first Big Dance have been frequently performed with a limp.

The No. 13-seeded Anteaters (21-12), who make the 50-year-old program’s inaugural appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Friday against No. 4-seeded Louisville (24-9) at Seattle’s KeyArena at approximately 1:10 p.m., have overcome a procession of injuries in this most momentous of seasons.

Among the team’s top eight scorers, five have missed a combined 43 games due to ailments sustained to feet, knees and cheekbones, including two separate sideline stints that spanned 19 games by 7-foot-6 sophomore center Mamadou Ndiaye.

In addition to Ndiaye, whose 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game rank third and second on the team, respectively, 6-10 senior John Ryan, junior guard Alex Young, sophomore guard Luke Nelson and junior Dominique Dunning have forced trainers and doctors to work overtime during the 2014-15 campaign.

Ryan, who filled in capably for Ndiaye to make his 19 starts, missed the final nine games of the regular season with a balky tendon in his foot. Ryan, who averages 5.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and ranks second on the team with 33 blocked shots (just one behind senior first-team All-Big West performer Will Davis), is expected to play against Louisville. It was basically a 10-game absence, as Ryan was hurt in the opening moments of the team’s upset loss at UC Riverside.

Nelson missed six games in late December and early January after breaking bones in his face during practice (one absence was due to illness). He had a team-best 17 points in the 68-57 win over Hawaii in the Big West Conference Tournament final and is the second-leading scorer this season (10.5 ppg).

Young missed four full games early in the second half of conference play, but he was stricken early in a home loss to UC Davis that for all intent and purpose made it five games.

And Dunning, a continual energizer off the bench who made one start this season, has missed the last six games with a knee problem that is expected to prevent his return this season.

During 10 of UCI’s 12 losses, Coach Russell Turner was without at least one member of his top-eight rotation. In five losses, two or more of the aforementioned players either sat out completely or played only a handful of minutes.

Only November losses at then-No. 2-ranked Arizona and at Saint Mary’s were setbacks in which UCI was at full strength.

“It has been a bumpy ride,” Turner said. “More so than I’ve ever experienced on a team, especially one that was expected to be as good as we were expected to be. So all that adversity has made things probably more volatile at times, than maybe they would have otherwise been.”

The unexpected absences, most of which have led to nine different starting lineups this season (only nine times have the opening-night starters opened the game), have both revealed and developed the depth that has become a strength for this team.

“There has been some benefit,” Turner said of the injuries. “Players clearly believe on this team that we were deep and that different guys would step up. That was clear before the injuries, but the injuries required it, and required it of a few key guys.

“We’ve seen saw guys step up when others were out and win games for us, like Dunning at Hawaii; Ryan doing the same when Mamadou was out; and, when Luke was hurt, Jaron Martin stepping in. That was what we said we needed and that’s what we got. So there was some belief, based on experience, that we were going to be all right if we brought it.”

Former UCI standout Mike Wilder, the director of administration who has been on the bench for every game this season, has marveled at this team’s resiliency.

“We have been riddled with injuries all season,” Wilder said. “It seemed at one point, that we just couldn’t catch a break. But guys have stepped up big. When Luke went down, guys like Martin and Aaron Wright stepped up. And when Mamadou went down, John Ryan stepped up big, as well as Mike Best and Ioannis Damakopoulos. That’s the kind of depth that can help you win three games in three days [at the Big West tournament].”

Still, as great a role as the role players have played, Turner is not conflicted about the importance of his now-healthy marquee talent.

“I’ve said all year that it would come down to the guys on the road signs [banners that hang on light poles around the UCI campus],” Turner said. When we got them back and they all played, then kind of a natural order of things in the team was restored.”

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•This is the eighth NCAA Division I tournament appearance for Turner, who was an assistant in four previous trips with Stanford and three more with Wake Forest.

When asked about his previous Big Dance card, he first volunteered his least favorite tournament memory.

“It was my first year on the Stanford staff and I cost us a technical foul because I didn’t get the lineup to the scorer’s table on time,” Turner said. “I was watching my friends play in other games that were going on [on television], one of which was in overtime [before the Cardinal’s game] and I thought I had enough time. But it was a long way from the locker rooms to the table in the Metrodome [in Minneapolis] and by the time I made the long trip, I was about six seconds late. [The opposing coach] made a big deal and we got a technical. It was the only game in the history of the NCAA tournament to that point that started with a score other than 0-0. I remember vividly the Stanford players telling me they had my back and they did, because we won.”

Among Turner’s favorite NCAA memories was, ironically, a win over Louisville in 1996 when he and All-American Tim Duncan were at Wake Forest. The victory in the Sweet 16 propelled the Demon Deacons into the Elite Eight, where they were eliminated by eventual champion Kentucky. It remains the deepest tournament run of which Turner has been a part.

Turner’s Stanford teams lost in the Sweet 16 to No. 1-seeded Oklahoma State in 1995 and lost in the same round in 2000 to Maryland. In 2004, the Cardinal was a No. 1 seed, but lost in the second round to Alabama.

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•On the subject of Louisville history, I polled a handful of UCI players and coaches about their knowledge of two legendary Cardinals players, who were keys to their first two national championships.

I wanted to know if anyone recalled the nicknames of 1980 hero Darrell Griffith (Dr. Dunkenstein) or 1986 Tournament MVP Pervis Ellison (Never-Nervous Pervis).

Only Turner got Ellison’s moniker on the first try, while Wilder, after learning about Dr. Dunkenstein, said he recalled his dad talking about that nickname when Wilder was a child.

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•UCI fans looking for encouragement about an upset Friday, could look to losses at Arizona (Nov. 19) and at Oregon (Dec. 29).

In Tucson, UCI led, 29-26, at halftime and was up, 46-41, with 10:30 remaining. The Wildcats, who went on a 30-8 run to close the game from that point, finally surged ahead, 47-46, with 7:53 remaining and cruised.

At Oregon, UCI led, 33-26, at halftime, 39-30, early in the second half and was up, 57-54, after a Travis Souza jump shot with 26 seconds left in regulation. But the Ducks’ Dwayne Benjamin sank a three-pointer with seven seconds left to force overtime and Oregon never trailed again on its way to a 69-67 overtime win.

“We lost both of those, but I told our players to remember that we’ve played well in Seattle,” Turner said. “We went up there and had one of our best games last season at [the University of Washington, an 86-72 UCI win on Nov. 14, 2013]. “I don’t think this team lacks confidence in its ability to win.”

In the win at Washington, Davis was 10 for 12 from the field on his way to 22 points, while Ndiaye was seven for nine from the field, had 18 points, a team-best eight rebounds, and blocked a then-school-record nine shots.

Ndiaye has since upped the school record to 11.