Men’s Basketball: ‘Eaters sustain first home loss

UC Irvine wasn’t good from distance and it wasn’t good enough inside in a 70-62 nonconference men’s basketball loss to visiting UT Arlington on Saturday.

And, now at 4-4 following their first home defeat of the season and only their sixth setback in their last 35 games at the Bren Events Center, the defending Big West Conference champions, ranked No. 18 in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll, are, most would suggest, simply and surprisingly not very good.

UCI made four of 24 three-point attempts (a season-worst 16.7%) and shot 35.6% from the field (21 for 59, just a fraction better than its poorest shooting performance of the campaign in a loss at Fresno State).

The team picked to defend its conference title after losing only one player from last year’s 23-12 squad that reached the NIT, lost the rebounding battle, 35-34, and in a rare occurrence, was bested, 26-22, on points in the paint.

The Mavericks (5-4) shot 59.3% in the first half and finished at 49% for the game (24 for 49), including nine of 21 from three-point range (42.9%). They posted a 36-15 bulge in bench scoring to overcome an 18-12 turnover deficit.

UCI, clearly now more than ever in an already somewhat disappointing start, has plenty to overcome.

“We allowed [the Sun Belt Conference representatives] to make six of 11 threes and a number of dunks [in the first half],” UCI Coach Russell Turner said. “I always look there [at team defense] first, because I think the defensive end and our performance there is reflective of our commitment and our togetherness. And when we play as poorly on defense as we did in the first half, I think that’s a problem. It’s a really disappointing feeling, as the head coach of this extremely talented, but under-achieving team.”

UCI used an 8-0 run early in the second half to pull even, 44-44, and later utilized a 7-0 surge that included a pair of three-pointers by sophomore guard Luke Nelson, to forge a 57-53 advantage with 6:06 left.

After a Travis Souza three-pointer with 2:46 left erased a 58-57 UCI deficit, the Mavericks used an 8-0 spurt to gain control and create a 12-2 advantage to close out the contest.

“Give credit to UT Arlington,” Turner said. “[The Mavericks] came across the country after a week of exams for them and outplayed us.”

Souza was one for eight from threedom and Nelson, who tied his season-high scoring output with 19, was three for 11 from beyond the arc.

Junior guard Alex Young, who led the ‘Eaters with six steals and four assists, was two for 10 from the field and missed both of his three-point attempts. He missed all six of his second-half field-goal attempts.

Drew Charles paced the visitors’ sharpshooting display, connecting on all four field-goal tries, including a trio of threes.

Kevin Hervey, a 6-foot-7 forward who matched Drew for team-high scoring honors with 15, was six for nine from the field, including three for six from beyond the arc.

UCI’s four front-court players, who for the third straight game did not include 7-6 sophomore Mamadou Ndiaye (sprained left foot), combined for just 10 first-half points and finished with 23, just one better than UCI’s most futile inside scoring output of the season.

“We weren’t able to get the ball [inside] very easily,” Turner said. “Some of that is credit to UT Arlington. We knew how they were going to play. I thought our post guys didn’t demand the ball very well for some portions of the game. I thought as the game went on, Will [Davis (13 points on five-for-eight shooting)] started to do that better. We didn’t do a real good job of taking the ball to positions on the floor where we needed to get it to [the post players] against the way [the Mavericks] were playing. That’s a real disappointment for a team that I feel is mature and should be better than that. But we weren’t and that’s a reflection on all of us and the job we do.”

Senior John Ryan, who started in place of Ndiaye, had eight points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

Young and Souza combined for seven points.

UCI visits Morgan State on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Baltimore for the first of four straight road games.

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Nonconference

UT Arlington 70, UC Irvine 62

UTA – Hervey 15, Bilbao 2, Hill 7, Outler 6, Wilson 4, Charles 15, Gainey 11, McClanahan 8, Walker 2.

3-pt. goals – Charles 3, Hervey 3, Outler 2, Gainey 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

UC Irvine – Davis 13, Ryan 8, Nelson 19, Young 4, Souza 3, Martin 6, Dunning 5, Wright 2, Best 2.

3-pt. goals – Nelson 3, Souza 1.

Fouled out – Nelson.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 40-34, UTA.