UCI point man settling in fine

Chris Yemma

There’s something different about the UC Irvine men’s basketball team

this season.

For starters, with six wins the team is already more than halfway

to its win total last season, an 11-17 campaign. Secondly, there’s a

new addition to a changing team, who isn’t afraid of change.

Aaron Fitzgerald, a 6-foot-2 junior, is playing hoops for his

fourth school in four years. If you count high school, it would be

his fifth school in five years. From Seattle, to Oregon, to Pullman,

Wash., to Texas, to Southern California, Fitzgerald has traveled the

distance and made the basketball rounds.

Now, it appears, his walking shoes have been shelved for more

permanent basketball sneakers.

“One thing I really like is the [UCI] players aren’t like other

players,” Fitzgerald said. “They don’t have egos -- everybody is

involved and it’s all about teamwork and working together.”

After graduating from John F. Kennedy High in Seattle in 2001,

Fitzgerald went on to play for Portland State, starting the first 21

games of the season.

He averaged 10 points and 4.5 assists as a freshman for the

Vikings and scored a season-high 28 points in a victory against

Loyola Marymount.

But in April of 2002, Portland State Coach Joel Sobotka resigned,

a coincidental trend Fitzgerald would start to notice. Not liking the

new style of offense, Fitzgerald packed up and moved on to Washington

State, where he sat out the 2002-03 season as a redshirt.

And then it happened again. Then-Washington State Coach Paul

Graham was released in March 2003 after the Cougars compiled a 7-20

record and finished last in the Pac-10 at 2-16. Dick Bennett was

hired as the new coach and immediately instated a half-court offense

-- something Fitzgerald knew he wouldn’t like or succeed at.

“When I was there with Graham it worked out well,” Fitzgerald

said. “But when Coach Bennett came in, I knew the offense wasn’t

going to be something I liked. It didn’t suit me, so my only option

was [junior college].”

Off to Texas Fitzgerald went, to attend Jacksonville College,

where he earned All-Region XIV second-team honors, averaged 16 points

a game and scored 35 points against Angelina College. He was also

named All-Texas Eastern Athletic Conference.

“Jacksonville was a really relaxing town of 14,000 people,”

Fitzgerald said. “It was different. Washington State was a pretty big

party school and I had a lot of free time since I was a redshirt.”

Jacksonville was different. It had a small-town atmosphere where

Fitzgerald could flourish. The town was almost in slow motion. There

was only one problem, though. It was a junior college with a

relatively small basketball program.

Then came UCI Associate Coach Todd Lee. According to Fitzgerald,

Lee noticed him when he was in Texas scouting Adam Melelski -- who

now plays center at UCI, but played for Grayson County College in

Texas then. Long story short, Fitzgerald signed with the Anteaters in

the spring of 2004.

“It’s working out great,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s kind of like all

of the schools put into one. The coaches are really nice, they let me

play and it’s a good environment.”

Now, in his first season, Fitzgerald is third in scoring for the

Anteaters at 13.7 points per game. He is extremely productive at

creating opportunities, by far leading the team in assists with 48

for a 5.3 per-game average. His 4.2 rebounds per contest rank third

on the team and he leads the team in minutes played (32.4 per

contest).

In UCI’s Big West Conference-opening win Tuesday at Cal Poly San

Luis Obispo, Fitzgerald had a career-high seven rebounds and tied a

career-high with nine assists as the Anteaters won their first road

conference game in nine tries.

UCI had won five straight games, until falling at UC Santa Barbara

Thursday. And Fitzgerald is fitting into a system that suits him just

fine.

“I’d like to think I’m a key player,” he said. “I see myself

scoring when needed and creating for other players when needed.”

Skeptics might look at Fitzgerald’s history and think he might be

going somewhere after the season. But in this atmosphere, he said he

is here to stay.

“I definitely want to stay at UCI,” he said. “I think this team

has a big future. We’re only losing one senior, so next year we also

should be pretty good.”