UC Irvine Gives the Aggies More Agony : Even 21 Turnovers by Anteaters Don’t Help Lowly Utah State, 89-79

LOGAN, Utah —  Utah State Coach Rod Tueller shook his head and told reporters how misleading Greg Grant’s statistics were in UC Irvine’s 89-79 victory over the Aggies Thursday night in The Spectrum.

Grant, Utah State’s senior forward, had 22 points and 9 rebounds in 33 minutes. But Tueller said the numbers didn’t tell the story. Grant, he said, played worse than the stat sheet would indicate.

It has come to that here, where Aggie Agony is reaching new lows with each game. Not even Grant, who will likely leave Utah State as the school’s all-time scoring leader, is immune.

Grant, who came into the game as the fifth-leading scorer in the NCAA, was 9 of 21 from the field, including 3 of 11 in a miserable first half.

Tueller’s review: “It’s not what you’d consider a good game for Greg Grant. The 22 points weren’t indicative of his very poor performance. He was uncharacteristically gun-shy.”

Grant’s off night, combined with some generally poor shooting from his teammates, prevented Utah State from taking advantage of 21 UCI turnovers as the Anteaters played well enough to beat a team that has been enduring more than its share of criticism lately.

“It was a good win because it came on the road,” UCI Coach Bill Mulligan said, “but I don’t think it was very artistic.”

Irvine is 6-3 in Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. play, 10-8 overall. Utah State is 2-6, 6-11, and falling fast. The Aggies, in fact, are in danger of falling right out of the PCAA Tournament. The Aggies are struggling, and their struggles have been well-chronicled.

Thursday’s edition of The Salt Lake Tribune carried a column in which the Aggies were referred to as “passive PCAA pretenders,” and that was in the headline. The article went on to suggest that Utah’s taxpayers, who contribute indirectly to athletic scholarships, are being short-changed by the Aggies and that timid play is the reason for the team’s troubles. The Aggies, the article said, are “getting knocked around the PCAA like second-class citizens.”

Tueller’s reaction: “Guilty as charged. “I’d like more consistency. Consistency and intensity.

“I’ve started five different lineups. I’m just looking for someone to come forth and play consistently.”

It’s clear the Anteaters picked a good time to come here and try to improve on a modest 2-6 road record. They did it by shooting 56% from the floor and generally having their way inside, as they did when these teams met earlier this season at Crawford Hall. In that game, forwards Tod Murphy and Johnny Rogers combined for 50 points and 16 rebounds in UCI’s 96-82 victory.

In the rematch, Murphy and Rogers combined for 40 points and 20 rebounds despite second-half foul trouble. As was the case in the first game, the Aggies did little to deny Murphy the ball down low, and Rogers opened things up by hitting consistently from 15 to 20 feet out.

Troy Carmon had a season-high 14 points and Joe Buchanan 10 for the Anteaters, who went to the free-throw line to hold off a late Utah State run. UCI made six straight free throws to take a 77-63 lead with 6:07 to play, but nearly collapsed with a string of four straight turnovers to allow the Aggies to get back in the game. The last turnover led to a tip-in by Grant with 3:22 remaining, cutting UCI’s lead to 77-70.

Not surprisingly, the Anteaters went inside to Murphy to put an end to the Utah State outburst. Guard Scott Brooks lobbed an alley-oop pass to Murphy, who grabbed it and slammed it for a 79-70 lead. UCI had run a similar play in the middle of the first half to hold off another Utah State run.

“Those things are psychologically deflating,” Tueller said. “We’re out there trying to put pressure on them defensively, and he gets free down there with a blind pick.”

After Murphy’s second slam, the Anteaters made 10 of 12 free throws in the final two minutes to frustrate the Aggies’ late comeback effort. UCI, third in the nation in free-throw percentage, was 32 of 39 (82.1%) from the line. Carmon was 8 of 8, and Brooks, third in the nation entering the game, was 6 of 6.

“We were turning the ball over a little,” Murphy said, understating things a lot. “But every time they made a run, we seemed to have something to hold them off with.”

Rogers tried to be as diplomatic as possible in his post-game assessment of the Aggies’ style of play.

“They play a loose style,” he said. “They seem to be all easy-going guys. They just go out there and have fun.”

But these nice guys are in danger of finishing last.