‘Eaters still winless

IRVINE — Freshman Eric Wise may be the golden child of the UC Irvine men’s basketball program. But, Wednesday night against visiting Eastern Washington, all he amounted to was a silver lining.

Wise, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound mound of potential, talent and, according to his coach, superior basketball IQ, had a team-high 19 points, six rebounds and two assists in just 23 minutes in his first collegiate start.

But it was the finish, a 74-69 nonconference loss to the unheralded Big Sky Conference representative, that cast a noticeable cloud upon the modest home crowd of 1,021.

Douglass, however, wasn’t all doom and gloom after seeing his team fall to 0-2 and match the number of losses the Anteaters had in 12 games at the Bren Events Center last season. The loss also broke a streak of four straight wins in home openers for UCI.

“We’ll be better in time, we just didn’t take care of business tonight,” Douglass said. “We’ll get there, we’re just not in a groove yet.”

Even Wise, who made six of 10 field-goal attempts and all seven of his free throws, wasn’t immune from a few missteps. He committed a turnover on UCI’s first possession, missed his first shot and committed an early foul, prompting his removal with just two minutes, 10 seconds elapsed.

“I had to explain to him what he was supposed to do on post defense,” Douglass said of the reason for Wise’s quick departure.

When he wasn’t gleaning wisdom on the sideline — he had four points in seven minutes before intermission — Wise found some offensive productivity in the final 20 minutes. Such productivity was in short supply with the rest of the UCI front-court rotation, a five-player unit that was a combined four of 16 from the field and collectively managed 12 points.

Included in that futility was a missed two-handed breakaway dunk by 6-8 senior Kevin Bland, after he had stolen the ball to create the rare transition scoring chance that would have pulled the hosts even with 5:12 left in the game.

While the UCI rooters noticeably slumped over the bungled bunny, Eagles sophomore reserve guard Trey Gross hit a 15-foot jumper, his second straight field goal, to make it a four-point switch and put the visitors on top, 59-55, with 4:57 seconds remaining.

After UCI junior guard Michael Hunter missed a three-point attempt on the ensuing possession, a three-pointer by the visitors’ Milan Stanojevic with 4:03 left, gave the Eagles a 62-55 edge.

A Gross three ball with 2:13 left gave the Eagles a 65-57 cushion and the visitors, who made 16 of its first 17 foul shots, converted nine of their remaining 12 free throws in the final 1:30 to preserve its first win and improve to 1-1.

“They earned it,” Douglass said of the Eagles, who forged a 36-22 rebounding advantage to help overcome a 14-8 shortfall in the turnover department. Eastern Washington shot 53.3% from the field (24 of 45), including four of six from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.

Wise’s threw his weight around inside to help the Anteaters remain within striking range, as did a combined 17 second-half points from starting guards Hunter and Darren Moore, a junior transfer from Citrus College. Hunter and Moore scored 13 points each.

“[Wise] is pretty crafty inside,” Douglass said of the former ML King High standout, who started in place of Bland, a former state Co-Player of the Year at Delta Community College who has 13 points, six rebounds and seven turnovers, while shooting 25% from the field (in 20 attempts), to start what UCI backers hoped would be a breakout season.

Junior Chad DeCasas, who made seven of nine field-goal tries, including four three-pointers, on his way to 18 points in the ’Eaters’ exhibition win over Cal Poly Pomona, was one for eight from the field Wednesday. He finished with three points in 26 minutes, after missing his only field-goal try in 24 scoreless minutes Saturday at USC.

“It’s early,” Douglass said of the combined lack of productivity from Bland and DeCasas. “If they play eight or 10 games and they haven’t produced, then we’ve got a little bit of concern.”

Douglass, when asked if his players might be angered by Wednesday’s defeat, took a similarly long view.

“We haven’t won enough to be mad yet,” he said. “If we had a lot of veteran guys who came out and lost a game we were supposed to win, they could be mad. But these guys, we can’t. I don’t want them to get down. We’ve got a lot to learn yet.”

Nonconference

Eastern 74, UC Irvine 69

EW – Genao 12, Dunn 11, Moore 9, Valentine 17, Stanojevic 6, Gross 12, Gibson 4, Christensen 3.

3-pt. goals – Gross 2, Stanojevic 2, Valentine 1, Genao 1.

Fouled out – Moore, Brunell, Stanojevic.

UCI – Wise 19, DeCasas 5, Atkinson 1, Hunter 13, Moore 13, Bland 6, Rembert 5, Lauer 5, Staker 2.

3-pt. goals – Rembert 1, DeCasas 1, Moore 1, Lauer 1.

Halftime – EW, 33-30.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].