Nevada Las Vegas Runs Right By UC Irvine

LAS VEGAS —  The rag-tag UC Irvine Anteaters hit the big time Thursday night, facing ninth-ranked Nevada Las Vegas before 18,632 at Thomas and Mack Center.

Predictably, the big time hit back hard as Irvine fell with a thud, 103-67, losing for the ninth consecutive time.

As bad as it was, it didn’t come close to the 72-point loss Irvine suffered to UNLV on Dec. 16, 1975, but it was brutal enough.

UNLV led, 82-33, with 10:26 left.

“Vegas is a great team, but we were pathetic,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said.

UNLV started slowly, allowing Irvine to hang close for the first eight minutes.

Then the Runnin’ Rebels buried Irvine under an avalanche of dunks and three-pointers (14 for the game) that better teams would not have recovered from.

As it was, the Anteaters were throughly beaten in every sense of the word.

By halftime, UNLV led, 48-17. Irvine’s point total was the second-lowest total UNLV had given up in a half.

The Rebels outscored the Anteaters, 40-9, over the final 15 minutes of the first half.

“Billy’s team is just a mystery,” UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian said. “Our pressure defense really bothered them in the first half.”

Said Mulligan: “I thought Tarkanian was nice to us. I don’t know what else he could have done to keep the score down.”

Irvine was within, 12-10, when the Rebels suddenly awoke.

David Butler’s inside move and a free throw got the Rebels started. A steal and a dunk by Greg Anthony a moment later set the stage for some impressive three-point shooting.

Barry Young, Anderson Hunt and Travis Bice made three-pointers for UNLV. Justin Anderson interrupted the Rebels’ long-range shooting with a driving layup.

But Stacey Cvijanovich added yet another three-pointer and suddenly, UNLV led, 29-12.

It got worse, and when Stacey Augmon dropped in a lob pass from Anthony, the Rebels led by 20 points, 35-15.

The lead swelled to 31 after Chris Jeter slammed home a miss by Augmon just before halftime.

Irvine shot 19.2% from the field in the first half, 39% for the game. UNLV, which pressured Irvine into 19 turnovers, shot 54.8%.

Larry Johnson had a game-high 20 points to lead UNLV (12-3 overall, 6-1 in Big West Conference play).

Johnson, who made eight of 12 shots from the field and grabbed nine rebounds, was one of six Rebels to score in double figures.

Butler had 17 on seven of 11 from the field, Young had 13 on three of five three-pointers, Hunt had 11 and Augmon and Bice added 10 each.

Rod Palmer led Irvine (2-14, 0-7) with 16 points. Reserve Elgin Rogers had 15 points to keep Irvine’s deficit from topping 50 points in the second half. An 82-33 deficit was as bad as it got for Irvine.

Ricky Butler added 10 and wondered afterward what had happened to the Anteaters.

“We played well, they just hammered us,” Butler said. “They even took it easy on us in the second half, playing all their second stringers.”

All 12 players that UNLV suited up played and 10 scored.

“It’s not like we’re coming in figuring we going to knock them off,” Mulligan said. “But at least it could have been a game.”

Once UNLV took control, there seemed little Irvine could do to counteract the Rebels’ outside shooting and chest-to-chest pressure defense.

Only when Tarkanian moved the Rebels into a zone in the second half were the Anteaters able to breath offensively.

A 50-point second half allowed Irvine to save a little face.

“UNLV just has to many weapons,” Mulligan said.

Anteater Notes

The loss tied Coach Bill Mulligan’s worst defeat at Irvine. The Anteaters lost to Iowa, 124-88, Dec. 5, 1987. . . . More streaks: The loss dropped Irvine’s road record to 0-7. It was Irvine’s 11th consecutive Big West Conference defeat, dating back to last February. . . . Irvine plays host to UC Santa Barbara at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.