Party time’s over for ‘Eaters

Steve Virgen

The UC Irvine Anteaters were all smiles after their 66-62 road win

over Pacific Thursday. Yet, as UCI Coach Pat Douglass’ birthday ended

those smiles ceased. Douglass’ men’s basketball team turned its focus

to tonight at 7:05 p.m., when the Anteaters take on Cal State

Northridge at the Matadome in a Big West Conference matchup.

UCI (11-4, 5-1 in the Big West) is in first place in the Big West,

while Northridge is ninth. But that hardly matters to Douglass.

“That was a great win,” Douglass said Thursday after the ‘Eaters

gave their coach a victory for his birthday. “We’re going to

celebrate. This is exciting for us. But, they know it will end, soon.

We have to turn around and get ready for Northridge. They’ll be

ready”

The Matadors (8-8, 2-4) are similar to UCI in that they have also

discovered their chemistry recently. Though Northridge opened Big

West action with an 0-4 record, the Matadors have won the past two

games.

Northridge recorded their worst conference start under Coach Bobby

Braswell with the 0-4 mark. However, Braswell has turned his team

around with two straight victories.

The Matadors gained confidence with a 73-54 road win over Cal Poly

San Luis Obispo and they maintained their momentum with a victory

over Long Beach State Wednesday at the Matadome.

Sophomore Ian Boylan leads the Matadors, scoring 15.2 points per

game.

Curtis Slaughter, the Matadors’ 6-foot-7 guard averages 11.6

points per game. He scored 17 points and dished out five assists in

the win over Cal Poly.

Northridge entered the week atop the Big West statistics in

scoring offense (74.1 ppg), turnover margin (+2.1) and steals (10

steals per game). The Matadors have compiled 10 or more steals in

eight games this season.

Freshman Jeff Gloger, UCI’s starting point guard, knows all about

steals. He leads the Big West with 50 thefts and he entered the week

third in the nation with 3.4 per game. Gloger is inching closer to

UCI’s single-season record of 66 steals set by Scott Brooks in

1986-87. Gloger scored six points and recorded two steals in the win

over Pacific Thursday, when senior guard Mike Hood and senior forward

Jordan Harris guided the Anteaters to the victory.

Hood, the Big West Co-Player of the Week, scored a season-high 20

points, including five of UCI’s final seven points. He nailed a

three-pointer with 20 seconds left to give UCI a 64-60 lead. Hood has

scored 42 points over the past three games (14 ppg), since he

re-entered the starting lineup after a seven-game hiatus.

Harris, who knocked down two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to

secure the win, contributed 18 points and grabbed a team-high eight

rebounds Thursday.

He is now UCI’s leading scorer, averaging 12.2 points per game.

UCI 7-foot junior center Adam Parada is second on the team in

scoring with 11.9 points per game, after coming up with six on

Thursday. Douglass wants to get Parada more involved in the offense,

yet Douglass is confident other players can step up to pick up the

scoring.

UCI’s key reserves include freshman guard Ross Schraeder,

sophomore center Greg Ethington, junior forward Matt Okoro and junior

guard Aras Baskauskas.

Douglass said the Anteaters did not have bench support like this

last season.

Last year, Northridge snapped UCI’s school-record 19-game home

winning streak with a 73-72 overtime win at the Bren Events Center.

The Anteaters won 82-80 later in the season that year. UCI leads the

series, 14-12.