PCAA Basketball Tournament : Irvine-Fullerton Game Is Match of Opposites

A UC Irvine-Cal State Fullerton basketball game is more than just a natural rivalry. It’s a matchup of opposites.

Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan is Mr. Mellow. Fullerton Coach George McQuarn is Mr. Intense. The Titans win with defense. The Anteaters win by shooting before opponents get a chance to set up. Irvine’s tallest player is 6-10, and the shortest is 5-11. Fullerton’s tallest is 6-8 (and he plays outside), and the shortest is 6-3.

All of which leads to some strange matchups for tonight’s first-round game of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament between the two schools at 9 p.m. at the Forum.

Fullerton (15-15 overall and 8-10 in the PCAA) has beaten Irvine in their last five games and in nine of the last 11. The last five games have been decided by between nine and 12 points. The two Anteater wins, both of which came in 1984, were by one point and three points.

The slower-but-better-shooting Anteaters (16-11, 12-6) have trouble matching up with the Titans’ quicker players, but both coaches insist Fullerton’s dominance is more complicated than that. After all, Irvine beat 13th-ranked Nevada Las Vegas twice this season, and the Rebels are not exactly slow afoot; UNLV ran all over Fullerton in two games.

“It’s emotion,” McQuarn said. “I think our attitude against UCI is more the reason for our success than any physical matchups or because we have better athletes.”

One thing is certain. Titan-Anteater games bring out the best in Fullerton . . . and the worst in UCI. And the Titans have an edge in the intimidation category.

Irvine guard Mike Hess was marveling at the Titans’ quickness and jumping ability after Fullerton blocked seven UCI shots in a 78-68 win in the regular-season finale Saturday at Crawford Hall.

“They don’t just block shots, they block ‘em,” he said, shaking his head. “You have to inbound the ball after they block shots . . . but first you have to go over (he points up at an imaginary crowd) and say, ‘Could you please throw that back down here.’ ”

Fullerton has 18 blocked shots in the last five games; UCI has just five. That may be one reason why the Anteaters, the conference’s best field-goal shooting team at .502, have shot just 40% from the floor against the Titans this season.

Irvine’s top scorer is Johnny Rogers, a 6-10 senior who has scored in double figures 50 straight games and is averaging 21 points. He’s shooting 53% from the field but just 43% against Fullerton. Rogers, who scored 73 points in Irvine’s two upsets of Las Vegas, had only 32 in the two losses to Fullerton.

The other first-round Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. Tournament games at a glance:

No. 4-seeded San Jose State (16-11, 9-9) vs. No. 5 University of the Pacific (16-13, 9-9) at 2 p.m.--Considering their play against each other this season, this game should go four or five overtimes. San Jose State beat the Tigers, 64-60, in the first game at Pacific, and UOP won the second, 65-61, at San Jose. They had to flip a coin to see which team got to wear home jerseys. (The Spartans won.) The 9-9 finish is a disappointment for San Jose State and a big accomplishment for UOP. The Spartans were picked to finish second in preseason polls, and Pacific was picked to end up ninth. San Jose Coach Bill Berry has used 14 different starting lineups. All of them play pretty good defense. Rich Anema, a 6-foot 8-inch forward, leads UOP in scoring, averaging 15 points a game. Ricky Berry, the coach’s son, leads the Spartans at 19 a game.

No. 3-seeded New Mexico State (16-11, 10-8) vs. No. 6 Utah State (12-15, 8-10) at 4 p.m.-- New Mexico State got off to a 14-4 start under first-year coach Neil McCarthy and was 8-1 in conference, but the Aggies have struggled lately. Six of those first nine PCAA games were at home in the Pan American Center. Utah State has had a different kind of season. It has won six of the last nine and got to the tournament on Jeff Anderson’s 35-footer at the buzzer that beat New Mexico State at Las Cruces Saturday. Utah State also beat New Mexico State in the first Aggie-Aggie matchup, 63-55. Both teams have dominant offensive players. Utah State senior Greg Grant, the conference’s all-time top scorer, leads the PCAA in scoring this season (23). Grant is six rebounds short of becoming one of only 48 players in the history of college basketball to score 2,000 points and get 1,000 rebounds. Last season’s most prolific scorer, New Mexico State’s Gilbert Wilburn, is down to 19 a game this year, but his next point will be his 1,000th in less than two seasons.

No. 1-seeded Nevada Las Vegas (28-4, 16-2) vs. No. 8 Fresno State (15-14, 8-10) at 7 p.m.-- This one used to be for all the marbles, and there would be about 15,000 red-clad fanatics from both sides rocking The Forum on Saturday afternoon. But Fresno State, which has the best record (11-5) in PCAA tournament history, has fallen on lean times. And things got considerably worse Feb. 22 when senior forward Jos Kuipers injured his knee in the second regular-season loss to Las Vegas and was lost for the year. He was averaging 11 points and six rebounds per game. Las Vegas, ranked 13th in the country, is 64-6 in regular-season play since joining the conference. UC Irvine has beaten UNLV three times and Fresno State twice, but these Bulldogs have lost by 15 and 16 points this season and just don’t have the horses to keep up with the Runnin’ Rebels. Center Brian Salone leads Fresno State in scoring (13 points per game). Guard Freddie Banks (19) and forwards Anthony Jones (17) and Armon Gilliam (15) have combined to score 1,626 of UNLV’s 2,562 points (64%).