by By Sarah Zetlmeisl, ucirvinesports.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – UC Irvine faltered against San Diego State, dropping an 86-72 decision Friday afternoon at Viejas Arena.
UCI drops to 0-2 on the season while SDSU improves to 2-0.
The Anteaters committed 25 turnovers allowing the Aztecs to score 26 points off of the mishaps. UCI shot 47.9 percent (23-48) from the floor overall and held the Aztecs to 40.3 percent (25-62) overall but the Aztecs made 13 three’s (13-32) while the ‘Eaters were 5-18 (.278) from long range.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Brad Greene (Paiute/Shoshone) led the ‘Eaters in scoring for the second game in a row, finishing with 11 points on 5-8 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and had two blocks
> Collin Welp and Dawson Baker each had 10 points while JC Butler finished with eight and a game-high four assists
> UCI outrebounded SDSU 38-31 and outscored the Aztecs 22-18 in the paint. SDSU held advantages in bench points (41-29) and second chance points (17-6)
> SDSU was led by Keshad Johnson with 14 points
FIRST HALF
> A jumper from Butler, followed by layups from Greene and Welp put UCI up early, 6-4, (16:48)
> Back-to-back jumpers from Baker followed by a three-pointer from Welp gave the ‘Eaters a three-point lead, 13-10, at 11:37
> The game would tie four times with neither team leading by more than three points as a Butler layup at 3:59 put UCI up, 25-23. Greene had four points in that frame.
> The Aztecs responded with an 11-0 run down the stretch to go up by nine, 34-25, at the half
> Butler and Welp each had seven points in the half as the ‘Eaters shot 45.8 percent (11-24) from the floor
SECOND HALF
> Welp made a free throw to keep UCI within single digits, 34-25, with 18:30 remaining
> SDSU used a 19-3 run to break open the lead and go up, 53-29, with14:04 to play
> Austin Johnson made a layup followed by a three-pointer from DJ Davis to make it 56-34 at 13:04
> The Aztecs went on a 10-4 run to maintain the lead, 68-40, with 8:18 left to play
> UCI responded with a 10-3 run which included three’s from freshmen Baker and Davis to make it 71-52 (3:16)
> Davis hit his second three of the night with under a minute to play as SDSU would earn the 77-58 win
Quote from Head Coach Russell Turner
“I saw improvement tonight from my team on the defensive end and with our rebounding. I thought our fight and spirit was improved as well. I thought we did dictate defensively for most of the first half like I have seen our program do so many times before. I don’t think our conditioning and physicality is good enough yet to sustain the type of defense we play for the entire game and especially against the type of strong and deep team that San Diego State is. I give them a lot of credit and their ability to force turnovers against us. We are a long way from where we want to be but I do see it as an improvement.”
Notes:Brad Greene became the 24th Anteater to reach 500 career rebounds … Baker scored in double-digits for the second game in a row … UCI falls to 7-11 all-time against SDSU
