Even with senior guard Luke Nelson out at the time, it was reasonable to believe UC Irvine would defeat visiting Cal Poly on Jan. 26 in a Big West Conference basketball game.
The Anteaters were 6-0 in the Big West and riding an eight-game winning streak. The Mustangs were 0-5 in conference and had lost 10 consecutive games.
Cal Poly won by 13.
Defending conference tournament champion Hawaii was supposed to be down, but the Rainbow Warriors are 5-4 in conference and on Saturday won at CSUN, which is now 6-4. Santa Barbara, 1-8 in the Big West, nearly handed Irvine its first conference loss Jan. 12, but the visiting Anteaters emerged victorious 66-62.
The examples go on, and they spell one thing – parity. It might be more prevalent than usual in the Big West.
“Last year, we had four really good teams and there was parity at the top,” seventh-year Irvine coach Russ Turner said. “Now there’s parity everywhere because there’s no dominant team.”
Turner said it’s normal in every conference that, on any given night, an inferior team can rise to victory.
“Some people were acting early on like we were significantly better than everybody,” he said. “Even if that were true, that would not at all ever mean that any team in our league couldn’t beat us. That’s been true every year I’ve been in the league.”
Long Beach State coach Dan Monson, in his 10th season, said he’s always been of the mind that any team can beat another in the Big West. But it’s more so this season.
“Last year was, I think, one of the highest our league has finished as far as strength of leagues,” said Monson, whose team plays at UC Riverside at 7 p.m. Thursday. “I think this year its’s a little bit of a rebuilding year, and with that comes a lot of parity.”
UC Davis is in first at 6-2, Irvine is second at 6-3, CSUN is third at 6-4. Hawaii, Long Beach and Riverside are all 5-4. Another contender is Cal State Fullerton, at 4-4. Only Cal Poly (2-7) and Santa Barbara (1-8) have sub-.500 conference records.
Injuries could be playing a role. Nelson has missed two of the three Big West games Irvine has lost. Preseason favorite Long Beach State has been without junior forward Gabe Levin for all of conference play.
SEARCHING FOR A WIN
The Anteaters have lost three consecutive games, during which they have not shot well – especially from deep. They shot 25 percent (5 of 20), 26.7 percent (4 of 15) and 28.6 percent (6 of 21) from 3-point range in losses to Cal Poly, UC Davis and Long Beach State, respectively.
“Yeah, we have concern,” said Turner, whose team lost 72-63 on Saturday at Long Beach. “I don’t think that we’ve shot well from the perimeter or around the interior, or from the free-throw line, for that matter.
“When you go through those periods, you have to rely on other things to win and our defense hasn’t been good enough to carry us. That has been the reason we dropped three in a row.”
Irvine shot 36.2 percent overall in the loss at UC Davis, 68.6 percent from the free-throw line. The Anteaters shot 36.5 percent at Long Beach, 64.7 from the free-throw line.
Nelson, who missed the previous three games with a hamstring issue, shot 6 of 15 at Long Beach – 1 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Irvine hosts Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Senior forward Noah Allen of Hawaii (11-11, 5-4) was tabbed men’s Player of the Week. He averaged 20.5 points and 4.7 rebounds in road victories over UC Riverside (72-63) and CSUN (76-72).
Sophomore center Channon Fluker of CSUN (11-11, 4-4) won her third Big West award this season by averaging 21.5 points, 17 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in home victories over Long Beach State (63-56) and Hawaii (67-56).
Contact the writer: rmorales@scng.com
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