Men’s basketball: Big West Conference midseason report

Amara Aguilar

Only one men’s basketball team remains undefeated in the Big West

Conference standings.

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team is on a five-game win streak and

sits alone at the top. Utah State is No. 2 with the best overall record.

Here’s a glimps at how the Big West standings are shaping up so far.

1. UC Irvine (10-4, 3-0)

Coach Pat Douglass said his team has “enjoyed the confines of being at

home.” The Anteaters won their first three Big West Conference games at

the Bren Events Center.

They were picked first by the media to win the conference, but

Douglass doesn’t exactly agree with the Big West poll.

“We are playing better basketball, but the team is not quite at the

level I’d like them to be at yet,” Douglass said. “We’ve won a lot of

games with five minutes to go. We should not have been favored to win the

league, but that’s other people’s choices.”

The Anteaters rallied from seven-point deficits to defeat Long Beach

State on Dec. 22 and Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 3, before coming away

with a convincing 72-53 victory over UC Riverside Saturday.

“Our kids focus when they get their backs against the wall. We have

not taken care of the basketball, except against Riverside, and we need

to do that for long periods of time,” Douglass said.

Except for the presence of season senior guard Jerry Green, last

year’s Big West Player of the Year, the Anteaters are relatively young.

The Anteaters have two juniors, guard Mike Hood and forward Jordan

Harris, in their regular starting line-up. Sophomore center Adam Parada

and sophomore forward Stanislav Zuzak are also regular starters.

“We lost three seniors with seasoning that played excellent defense,”

Douglass said. “We’ve shot the three-point well. We’ve made up that

deficit from last year.”

Douglass said one of his team’s strengths so far has been his

starters’ abilities to shoot the ball.

“Anytime you have those five kids out there, we are hard to defend and

Jerry is learning to trust them a little bit more,” Douglass said.

The Anteaters begin a two-game road trip this week.

2. Utah State (11-2, 3-1)

The Aggies have performed well in the preseason and the momentum has

carried into conference competition.

“We had some good preseason wins that helped our confidence,” Coach

Stew Morrill said. “Beating Utah on the road and BYU here helped us. We

do have limitations. We are not as balanced as were were a year ago. We

have got real good kids and enough talent to compete.”

Desmond Penigar is averaging 18.2 points per game to lead the Aggies

while teammate Tony Brown is averaging 16.5.

“They both have been very productive offensively,” Morrill said.

“Desmond is an inside, outside guy. He’s taken good shots. Tony is a wise

old veteran. Every year he’s gotten better and now he’s a senior at the

top of his game.”

3. UC Santa Barbara (9-4, 3-1)

The Gauchos are off to a good start for a change. They defeated UC

Riverside, Cal State Fullerton and Idaho before falling to Utah State.

“Preseason wins have been far and in between for us in the past few

years,” Coach Bob Williams said. “Hopefully we can build on that. We need

to improve a lot in the next month and a half.”

Santa Barbara has allowed opponents to make only 36% of their

field-goal attempts this season.

“We’ve defended pretty well, but it’s something we have to make sure

we get better at,” Williams said.

4. Cal Poly (9-3, 3-1)

The Mustangs are another team that has come on strong to start the

season. They stunned Utah State on Jan. 3 by defeating the Aggies, 61-58.

“We knew we had our hands full,” Coach Kevin Bromley said. “Knowing

(the Aggies) were coming in here feeling like they were winners, we knew

it was going to be an all out battle and it was.”

Cal Poly led by only one point at halftime, but held on for the win.

“It was a close game down the stretch,” Bromley said. “We answered

every big shot that they made. To this point, obviously, I think it was

the biggest win in our program.”

The Mustangs have defeated Cal State Fullerton and Idaho, but dropped

a game to UC Riverside on Dec. 22.

5. Cal State Northridge (3-9, 2-1)

The Matadors are young and struggled in the preseason. They have had a

difficult schedule, according to Coach Bobby Braswell.

“To have a young team play so many experienced teams like San Diego

and Wyoming, that was tough on us, but I’m proud of the guys,” Braswell

said. “We talked about starting the season fresh and have played with a

lot of intensity and enthusiasm.”

So far, the Matadors lost to Utah and picked up wins over Idaho and

the University of Pacific in conference action.

“Everything that happened in the preseason doesn’t matter now,”

Braswell said. “The main thing we have to try to do is have enoguh

discipline to forget your losses and keep focus and perspective. I just

want our team to get better after each game.”

6. UC Riverside (5-7, 2-2)

The Highlanders had some road troubles recently. They were on the

losing end of a blowout at UC Irvine and fell dangerously behind at Long

Beach State on Jan. 3 before coming back to win, 73-67.

“We are looking for consistency and need to understand what we need to

do on the road,” Coach John Masi said. “We didn’t show up in the last

half against Irvine.”

Riverside trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half against

the Anteaters. Vili Morton’s performance has been a bright spot for the

Highlanders. He is averaging a team-leading 12.4 points per game as a

sophomore.

7. University of Pacific (9-4, 1-2)

The Tigers started conference play on the road against Idaho with a

win, but fell to hosts Utah and Cal State Northridge.

“We haven’t played that well on the road in league,” Coach Bob

Thomason said. “In this league, which is always tough, we haven’t played

super well. Other teams have done a great job against us.”

While the Tigers have had their problems on the road, Thomason

realizes home games are just as important. The Tigers have two home games

this week.

“To do well in our conference, you have to win games at home,”

Thomason said. “Utah has done that and Irvine has started to do that. It

well be a great stand to see if we can do that. We are just trying to

improve our team. We have to get a little more consistent on how we

perform.”

8. Long Beach State (5-9, 1-2)

The 49ers posted their only win of the season against Cal State

Fullerton on Saturday. They lost to UC Irvine and UC Riverside to open

conference play.

“It was a dissappointing loss to Riverside,” Long Beach Coach Wayne

Morgan said. “They did continue to fight and showed character. We did not

answer the call.”

Morgan said the team’s win over Fullerton was a critical one and he is

focusing on helping his team make improvements.

“We’ve improved and we are improving,” Morgan said. “I don’t know if

we have improved by leaps and bounds, but we have been improving little

by little.”

9. Cal State Fullerton (3-10, 0-4)

It’s been tough for the Titans so far. They have fallen to Cal Poly,

UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Long Beach State.

“That’s how it goes sometimes,” Coach Donny Daniels said. “We just

have to find a way to overcome some of our deficiencys. I think our guys

are playing hard, we just have to do things at the end of the game that

will help us win the game.”

Daniels admits his squad is feeling the blues after a poor start.

“Everybody is down,” Daniels said. “The biggest thing is you have to

stay the course. We have to continue to play hard and do the little

things. We have to stay positive no matter what the situation.”

10. Idaho (3-10, 0-4)

Things have not been pretty for the Vandals. They have lost to

Pacific, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.

“We knew it would be difficult,” Coach Leonard Perry said. “We are

llimited in size and numbers. We have been in a few ball games, with the

exception of Santa Barbara. We’ve been in games and had our opportunities

to chip away.”

Perry said his team’s guards are logging major minutes. Justin Logan

leads the pack with 481 minutes in 13 games.

“I am cautiously concerned about minutes because we want to play our

best basketball toward the end of the year,” Perry said. “I think our

kids are tough enough. They are getting better on the court. Those are

the cards we were dealt and we just have to deal with them. Our kids are

just going to have to suck it up.”

This week’s Big West Conference schedule

* Thursday, January 10

UC Irvine at Utah State, 8:05 pm (ESPN2)

Long Beach St. at Idaho, 7:05 pm

Cal Poly at Pacific, 7:00 pm

UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Northridge, 7:05 pm

* Saturday, January 12

UC Irvine at Idaho, 7:05 pm

Long Beach St. at Utah State, 7:05 pm

Cal St. Fullerton at UC Riverside, 7:10 pm

Cal Poly at Cal State Northridge, 7:05 pm

UC Santa Barbara at Pacific, 7:00 pm