The UCI Men’s Basketball team (7-3) lost 66-80 to Fresno State (3-5) at the Bren Events Center on Saturday, Dec. 3.
Irvine led the game with a strong start, jumping to a 13-9 lead with seven points from junior guard DJ Davis. Davis, who leads the Anteaters in scoring this season with 16 points per game, came off a great showing in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic where he was named the tournament MVP.
Graduate forward Isaih Moore was the lead man for the Bulldogs on the night, scoring 22 points and adding nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks. The Fresno defense caused all kinds of trouble for the Anteaters, forcing the shot clock down and holding the ‘Eaters to just 44.3% from the field — a stark contrast to the much more efficient 53.3% shooting from Fresno State.
Halfway into the first half, junior guard Andre Henry received the ball off a fast break in the corner and pump-faked, sending his defender flying by him. He recollected himself and drained the corner three. The Bulldogs responded on the other end with an alley-oop finished off by Moore. This was the night’s first of three successful alley-oops for the Bulldogs.
The Anteaters experienced their first cold streak of the night near the end of the first half. They had trouble finding open shots because Fresno was always quick to close down their man. The Bulldogs kept up their efficient shooting to stretch their lead to 47-41 at the half.
Despite seeing the first shot of the second half go in through a floater from senior guard Pierre Crockrell II, UCI continued to struggle. Head coach Russell Turner tried making wholesale changes quickly, subbing out four of the starting five players just four minutes into the second half. Redshirt junior Justin Hohn broke the scoreless drought with a pull-up jumper five minutes into the second half.
Things started looking up for the ‘Eaters soon after with two quick buckets in the paint from sophomore center Bent Leuchten, but each bucket was overshadowed as the Bulldogs answered back with quick twos of their own on the other end.
The Bulldogs then went to showtime with alley-oops, huge blocks and no-look passes as the time dwindled down. The Anteaters only scored 25 points in the second half as the clock hit all zeros and the game ended 66-80 in favor of Fresno.
UCI bounced back at South Dakota (5-6) on Saturday, Dec. 10 taking the victory 83-71. Next, the ‘Eaters will face off against Santa Clara (8-2) on Thursday, Dec. 15. Stream the match here.
Miguel Rodriguez is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. He can be reached at miguer9@uci.edu.