The Anteaters won four straight in the Big West Conference before losing in an OT thriller to Hawaii
Up until Saturday night, UC Irvine Men’s Basketball was undefeated in Big West Conference play. Hawaii changed that in an OT thriller, handing the Anteaters their first loss in conference.
The Anteaters outscored their opponents, 262-216, in those first four games which included wins over Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, and Cal State Northridge.
The combined record of UCI’s first 4 opponents is 9-13 in conference play – nothing to write home about. Only Long Beach State has a record over .500 (3-2).
Facing Hawaii turned into a battle that went deep into OT. UCI was not able to keep the magic going against the 14-5 Rainbow Warriors, dropping the 90-86 contest. Isaac Fotu dominated in the game for Hawaii, scoring 30 points. The top scorer on UCI was Alex Young with 14 points.
Success for UCI has resulted from their balanced attack from their starters. Chris McNealy prior to Saturday night scored almost 16 ppg, and recorded 12 against Hawaii. Facing Cal State Northridge, four of the five starters had 10 points or more.
The true measuring tool for Irvine will soon come, as their next 2 games are against top Big West opponents. The list includes Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. Irvine still sits in first place even with the loss to Hawaii, as both Cal Poly and Santa Barbara lost as well.
With only 11 games left in the regular season for Irvine, wins will become crucial especially against the best teams in the Big West.
Copyright 2013 SportSpeak LLC, all rights reserved. For more coverage, follow @SportSpeakLA and @SportSpeakOC on Twitter.
