Anteaters try to take initial dance step

If it was time on the drawing board the UC Irvine men’s basketball team needed, then the Anteaters should be primed for their Big West Conference Tournament debut in tonight’s semifinals at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Coach Pat Douglass’ Anteaters have played just one game in the last 15 days, a 93-73 loss to Long Beach State.

The Anteaters (16-12), the No. 2 seed in the eight-team event, and No. 3-seeded 49ers (17-11) match up again tonight at 9.

Long Beach rallied from a 21-point first-half deficit to rout the Anteaters on Saturday at the Bren Events Center. This time, Douglass is hoping his team can match the performance it posted in a 73-67 win at Long Beach State on Jan. 28.

Douglass said he planned to use this week to emphasize defense.

“We need to return to what we do when we’re playing well,” Douglass said. “That is sharing the ball and playing with more passion and effort. If we can get that back in the minds of [our players] then I think we can take a positive step in the tournament.”

The Anteaters, who received a bye into the semifinals by virtue of finishing second to the University of the Pacific, need two victories to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time as a Division I program.

UCI is 2-8 in conference tournament semifinals, including consecutive losses under Douglass in 2003, ’02 and ’01.

UCI last played in the tournament championship game in 1994, when, as the No. 10 seed, it lost to New Mexico State, 70-64.

The ‘Eaters also lost in the 1988 title game to Utah State, 86-79.

UCI has had a roller-coaster season. It entered conference play 4-8, on a five-game losing streak, only to win its first eight conference games.

It lost three of its last four Big West games to allow Pacific to claim its third straight regular-season title.

“It has been an interesting year,” Douglass said. “We’ve had our ups and downs. But the postseason is a new season and this is an exciting time.”

The Anteaters are led by senior point guard Aaron Fitzgerald, a first-team all-conference honoree who led the Big West and ranks sixth in the nation with 6.4 assists per game. Fitzgerald also averaged 12 points.

Senior guard Ross Schraeder leads the team in scoring (13 ppg), and his 71 three-pointers this season give him 230 for his career, a school record. Schraeder is shooting 47% from three-point range to help the Anteaters rank second in the nation in that category (42.3%, trailing only Southern Utah at 42.9%).

Junior Nic Campbell (10.6 ppg), sophomore Darren Fells (9.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game) and sophomore Patrick Sanders (8.6 ppg) round out the UCI starting lineup.

Senior guard Shamar Armstrong (5.9 ppg) and Adam Templeton (4.5 ppg), named to the conference’s All-Freshmen team, are key reserves.

Long Beach State is led by senior guard Jibril Hodges, a first-team all-conference performer who averaged 14.5 points and entered the tournament with 244 career three-pointers.

Shawn Hawkins and Dejuan Johnson were second-team all-conference for the 49ers.