UCI meets host UCLA

Barry Faulkner

UC Irvine men’s basketball coach Pat Douglass would like nothing

better than to spoil the holiday weekend of his former boss, UCLA

Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, when the Anteaters meet the Bruins

tonight at 5 at Pauley Pavilion.

The Anteaters (1-1) are hoping for their third all-time victory

over the Bruins (2-0), their first since 1988.

Douglass, in his eighth season with the Anteaters, was hired at

UCI by Guerrero, the school’s former athletic director.

The Anteaters suffered their first loss Monday, when host USC

rallied from a one-point halftime deficit to claim a 90-70

nonconference triumph at the Sports Arena.

UCI opened its season with a 106-69 win over visiting Cal State

Dominguez Hills.

The Anteaters have lost 10 straight road contests.

UCLA has home victories over Western Illinois (75-60 Tuesday) and

Chicago State (64-53 on Nov. 20).

The Bruins, under second-year head man Ben Howland, were picked to

finish fifth in the Pac-10 in a preseason media poll.

Dijon Thompson, a 6-foot-7 senior, leads UCLA in scoring (14 per

game) and rebounding (12 per contest), while freshman point guard

Jordan Farmar (11.5 ppg) and 7-0 junior Ryan Hollins (10 ppg) are

also providing scoring punch.

Lorenzo Mata, a 6-8 post, who along with starting guard Arron

Afflalo and Farmar highlight a heralded freshman class, is expected

to make his collegiate debut tonight. Mata missed the first two games

with a sprained ankle.

UCI has been paced by junior point guard Aaron Fitzgerald, who has

averaged 22 points and 6.5 assists thus far.

Junior guard Ross Schraeder and Greg Ethington, a 6-8 senior, are

averaging 16 and 14.5 points per game, respectively. Ethington has

averaged a team-high eight rebounds and is shooting 64.3% from the

field.

UCI’s Kevin Floyd went coast-to-coast for a game-winning layup in

the ‘Eaters’ 91-90 win over UCLA at the Bren Events in 1988. UCI’s

other win over UCLA came at Pauley, an 80-74 triumph in the 1986 NIT.

UCI fell, 75-74, in 2001, and was defeated, 65-60, in 2000, both

at Pauley.

The Anteaters are 9-26 against Pac-10 teams.