‘Eaters making progress

BARRY FAULKNER

At roughly the midway point of its season, the UC Irvine men’s

basketball team is, by virtue of standing atop seven others in the

10-team Big West Conference, ahead of schedule.

But, following Saturday’s 74-67 home conference win over Cal State

Fullerton, seventh-year coach Pat Douglass isn’t ready to elevate

expectations he said may have been unrealistically high before play

began.

Citing a starting backcourt of sophomores and a 10-player rotation

that includes three sophomores, two freshmen and one junior, Douglass

believes the preseason polls that picked UCI to finish third in the

Big West were skewed by the program’s success the previous three

years (two regular-season conference titles and a runner-up finish).

But standing just one game behind second-place University of the

Pacific and 1 1/2 games behind conference-leading Utah State, with 12

conference games remaining, the Anteaters (9-6, 4-2 in conference)

are in position to reap the benefits of Douglass’ proven ability to

create perpetual improvement with his teams.

“[Douglass] is always looking ahead to the future,” said 7-foot

UCI center Adam Parada, a fifth-year senior. “We may have a good

game, but its not good enough. From the first game of the season, he

has talked about us being at a certain notch with our play. He tells

us we’ll be five notches higher as the season goes on. He never lets

our team be satisfied.”

There is much to be satisfied with this season, including shooting

47.6% from the field (second best among Big West schools), allowing

opponents to shoot just 41.8% from the field (tops in the

conference), and a plus-2.3 rebound advantage per game.

However, there is the minus-3.9 turnover margin, last in the

conference, and a conference-worst 8.9 offensive rebounds per game.

Individually, there is extreme offensive balance, with the four

leading scorers ranging from sophomore guard Mike Efevberha’s 12.9 to

sophomore point guard Jeff Gloger’s 10.5. Senior Stanislav Zuzak

(12.6) and Parada (12.3) round out the featured quartet, from which

at least one member has led or shared the team-lead in scoring in 14

of the first 15 games.

But such extreme balance can also be interpreted as inconsistency,

even mediocrity, as individual scoring totals among the Big Four have

fluctuated from one (Parada against UOP) to 37 (Efevberha against

Arkansas-Monticello).

Gloger, on the Big West’s All-Freshmen team last season, when he

set a school single-season record with 75 steals, has been the

closest thing to consistency the Anteaters possess.

The 6-4 standout from Capistrano Valley High leads the team in

rebounds (7.2 per game), assists (4.7) and steals (2.1). He is also

shooting 49% from the field and, even when his scoring is lacking, he

seems to find a way to help his team. In six conference games, he has

35 assists and only 13 turnovers. He had 36 assists and 21 turnovers

the first nine games.

Efevberha, a slasher who leads the team with 29 three-pointers,

has explosive scoring potential and Parada (62.1% from the field) and

Zuzak (50%, including 42.6% from beyond the arc) are increasingly

living up to the burden Douglass demands of his seniors.

“In order to be one of the better teams in your conference, your

seniors have to be consistent,” Douglass said before the last two

wins. “Zuzak and Parada have to do that for us, and really they have

not been able to.”

Though he termed Saturday’s win one of the team’s best

performances of the year, he tempered talk of gaining separation from

the likes of defending champion and preseason favorite UC Santa

Barbara (3-2 in conference), as well as UC Riverside (3-2), Cal State

Northridge (2-4) and Long Beach State (2-4).

“There are still 12 conference games left,” Douglass said. “We’re

4-2 right now, but we go on the road here [against Long Beach State

Saturday, Utah State Jan. 29 and Idaho Jan. 31], so we could be right

back down there [in the standings].”

*

All 10 Big West coaches participated in a media conference call

Tuesday to discuss the progress of their season and UOP’s Bob

Thomason provided the line of the day.

Asked how his team slowed down Nevada leading scorer Kirk Snyder,

holding him six points below his 18-point average in the Tigers’

82-76 home win Dec. 6 over the Wolfpack, Thomason paused only briefly

before theorizing: “Maybe it was the Stockton nightlife.”

*

Utah State (13-1, 5-0), off to its best start ever, could be a

runaway regular-season champion in the Big West. UCI visits Logan,

where it earned one-point wins the last two seasons, Jan. 29, hoping

to slow an Aggie unit that has drawn raves from Big West coaches.

“I think it’s the best team [sixth-year coach Stew Morrill] has

had and it may be the most cohesive team he has had,” UCSB Coach Bob

Williams said.

Thomason, when asked about how his team prepared for Thursday’s

66-51 loss at Logan, noted: “I don’t know what we can do, because

they shoot, execute, they have tough guys, they’re unselfish, and all

five starters are playing well. It’s kind of scary.”

*

UCI has drawn at least 2,000 fans for its six games this season at

the 5,000-seat Bren Events Center, making it 14 straight home games,

dating back to last season, with at least that many in attendance.

But the Anteaters’ 2,658 home average, including the 16th sellout

(Nov. 25 against Stanford) since the Bren opened in 1987, is down

from last season’s 2,726 average, as well as the 3,166 average in

2001-02.

*

A check of the most recent Jeff Sagarin college basketball

ratings, which ranks 326 Division I schools, has UCI at No. 164,

directly below Wright State and one spot above Vermont.

Utah State is ranked No. 32. Other Big West schools: UCSB, 119;

UOP, 120; Cal Poly, 140; Northridge, 178; Idaho, 191; UC Riverside, 195; Cal State Fullerton, 218; and Long Beach State, 279.

The Anteaters’ schedule rates a No. 132 ranking in the Sagarin

listings. Idaho is No. 5 (fifth-toughest in the nation) and UOP (No.

61) and Cal Poly (100) also crack the top 100 for schedule difficulty.

For those curious, North Carolina A&T; is ranked No. 326 and

Stephen F. Austin has the nation’s least-difficult schedule,

according to Sagarin.