TONIGHT’S GAMES

NONCONFERENCE

* SAN FRANCISCO at UC IRVINE

Time--7. Radio--KUCI-FM (88.9)

UC Irvine’s basketball team doesn’t ease into its rebuilding phase. The Anteaters open their season in the Bren Center against San Francisco, a team many have picked to win the West Coast Conference title. Irvine was 1-25 last season. Pat Douglass, who won three national titles at Division II Cal State Bakersfield, was hired after last season. Point guard Lamarr Parker, who averaged 13.4 points to lead Irvine, returns. But Douglass brought in six players, including Ben Jones, a 6-foot-7 freshman forward. Jones scored 23 and 19 points in the Anteaters’ two exhibition games. San Francisco has four returning starters from a team that finished 16-13 and 9-5 in the WCC last season. Hakeem Ward, a 6-6 forward, averaged 15.4 points. Damian Cantrell, a 6-6 forward, should be San Francisco’s most improved player. He averaged 6.6 points last season, but had 18 in an exhibition. The Dons beat Irvine, 77-44, in San Francisco last season.