Men’s Basketball: ‘Eaters advance yet again
ANAHEIM — Thursday night’s Big West Conference men’s basketball tournament quarterfinal between No. 3-seeded UC Irvine and No. 6-seeded UC Riverside was all about culture change.
And the Petri dish for the Anteaters’ 63-54 victory at Honda Center began germinating when this year’s seniors were freshmen in 2011.
The triumph, keyed by UCI’s 18-6 surge in the final seven minutes that included a 12-1 run in a five-minute span after UCR had taken a 48-45 lead, propelled UCI (19-12) to the tournament semifinals for the fourth straight year.
UCI will meet No. 2-seeded UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 9 p.m.
It’s the first time the Anteaters, who have never won the tournament in their previous 32 appearances, despite making 16 trips to the semifinals in those bids, have achieved such sustained postseason survival. UCI had never before won its first Big West tournament contest in four consecutive seasons. And it’s that postseason investment that rolled over when Coach Russell Turner’s ‘Eaters needed it most.
“Tonight we survived, so we advance,” Turner said. “We’ve been in this position before, and I think the experience we have with the players in our program helped us tonight.”
Senior Will Davis, a first-team all-conference performer, played like a man with the best basketball resume on the floor. The 6-foot-8 forward, who led all Big West players in regular-season field-goal percentage, made eight of 10 shots from the field on his way to a game-best 17 points. His 10 rebounds, giving him his fifth double-double of the season, also led UCI, which prevailed in a game with 11 lead changes and nine tie scores.
“Will played like an all-conference player and he played like a senior,” Turner said of only the third player in UCI history to top 1,000 points and 800 rebounds (now with 1,342 and 818), not to mention a school-record 207 blocked shots. “What he did tonight was what I expect him to do. The fact that he contributed on both offense and defense is why he’s going to leave our program as one of the best players to ever wear an Anteater uniform.”
Sophomore Luke Nelson had 11 of his 14 points after halftime and his four assists tied junior Alex Young for team-high honors. Young added eight points and four rebounds, while Mamadou Ndiaye, a 7-6 sophomore, had seven rebounds, three points, one block and one assist.
Sophomore Ioannis Dimakopoulos had eight points, three rebounds, two blocks and two assists in 18 minutes off the bench and came up big during UCI’s aforementioned 12-1 run.
UCI played without senior John Ryan and junior Dominique Dunning, due to injuries.
“We have other players who also made big contributions tonight,” Turner said. “I want to make sure I talk about Luke Nelson and the impact he made in this game, but I don’t want to take any shine away from Will. I recognize [Davis’] individual efforts, but Will would probably tell you the thing that makes us good is that we are a team.”
UCI, now 5-2 in the Big West tournament during Turner’s five seasons, was severely tested by a UCR team (14-17) that was picked to finish last in the preseason conference media poll and has won just two Big West tournament games in the last 10 seasons. UCR, which was eliminated by UCI in the first round last season, has never made it past the Big West quarterfinals.
“[The Highlanders and Coach Dennis Cutts, who completed his first season after having the interim tag in 2013-14] have changed the culture there it seems in the five years I’ve been here,” Turner said. “The media picked them last, but they aren’t a last-place team in any kind of way. They are a team that can beat anyone in our league.”
UCR, in fact, knocked off UCI, 70-63, on Feb. 14 in Riverside. Winning the season series against the ‘Eaters appeared within reach after the Highlanders’ 11-3 spurt created a 36-32 lead with 13:59 left.
But Nelson’s second three-pointer in a little more than 100 seconds stabilized the designated home team, until it could find a way to pull ahead.
“I think we made the plays down the stretch that you have to make to win,” said Turner, who identified holding Big West Freshman of the Year Jaylen Bland to two-of-11 shooting as a key factor. Bland was one for seven from three-point range, from where UCR made just two of 17. “That’s the nature of tournament basketball. When the chips are down, you have to figure out how to make plays and get rebounds. I thought our rebounding effort [a 44-37 edge] was excellent tonight.”
Taylor Johns, a junior forward who earned first-team all-conference laurels, led UCR with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
UCI, which was one for eight from the free-throw line in the first half, made 14 of 16 in the second half, including its final six in the last 30 seconds.
“This is our fourth year in the Big West tournament and I feel like a lot of our older guys, our juniors and seniors, have gotten some wins,” Davis said. “Going back and forth in the game, we felt like we were going to come out on top.”
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Big West Conference Tournament
Quarterfinal
UC Irvine 63, UC Riverside 54
UCR – Johns 15, Thornton 8, Larsson 8, Gruninger 6, Bland 5, Quick 8, Thiero 4.
3-pt. goals – Bland 1, Johns 1.
Fouled out – Thornton.
Technicals – None.
UCI – Davis 17, Ndiaye 3, Nelson 14, Young 8, Souza 3, Dimakopoulos 8, Martin 5, Wright 3, Best 2.
3-pt. goals – Nelson 3, Souza 1, Martin 1, Wright 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
Halftime – 24-23, UCI.