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Printer-friendly format Email this article Pat Douglass has a school-record 171 wins in 11 seasons at UCI.

Anteaters Record Most Wins in 5 Years With 18-16 Mark

UCI makes title run that falls just short

March 18, 2008

UCI MAKES RUN AT TITLE : UC Irvine, seeded fifth, won three consecutive games at the Big West Conference Tournament to gain a berth in the championship game where the Anteaters were downed by Cal State Fullerton, 81-66.

UCI opened with a 77-63 win over No. 8 seed Long Beach State, defeated fourth-seeded Pacific 57-56 in a thriller, and topped No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara 55-50 in a defensive struggle.

The championship-game appearance was the program's third all-time and the first since 1994. UCI, which has never won the conference tourney, is 20-26 in 26 Big West Tournament appearances.

Senior center Darren Fells was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 16.3 points and 9.8 rebounds in UCI's four games.

Sophomore guard Michael Hunter averaged 12.3 points in the tournament and shot 53.1 percent from the field on 17 of 32.

Senior guard Marcus McIntosh, who started the season's final 14 games, averaged 11.3 points in the tourney and hit 16 of 29 field goals for 55.2 percent.

Senior forward Patrick Sanders, the team's leading scorer on the season at 15.1 points per game, averaged 10.3 points in the tournament and freshman guard Patrick Rembert averaged 6.8 points, scoring a career-high 12 in the win over UC Santa Barbara.

The Anteaters, who won seven of their last nine games and nine of their last 12, finished with an overall record of 18-16 for the program's most wins since the 2002-03 squad finished 20-9. UCI was 9-7 in Big West games

UCI ranked second in the Big West in scoring defense with a 65.8 average.

SANDERS NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG WEST: Senior forward Patrick Sanders was named to the 2008 All-Big West Conference first team and senior center Darren Fells was selected to the second team.

The 6-6 Sanders led the Anteaters in scoring at 15.1 points per game, which ranked sixth in the Big West. He was sixth in free-throw percentage (.831), and eighth in field-goal percentage (.459) and three-point field-goal percentage (.408).

He scored in double figures 28 times this season.

Sanders ranks 16th all-time at UCI with 1,136 points plus he had 478 career rebounds and 119 blocked shots.

FELLS RECEIVES SECOND-TEAM NOD: The 6-7 Fells led the Big West in field-goal percentage (.569) and offensive rebounds at 2.78 per game. He was third in the league in rebounding (7.2), fourth in steals (1.59) and ninth in scoring (14.4).

He ranks third in career rebounds at UCI with 780, seventh in steals (103) and 10th in scoring with 1,252 points.

He became just the fifth player in the 43-year history of the UCI program to record 1,000 points and 700 rebounds in a career.

Fells had seven double-doubles this season and 16 in his career. He had a total of 23 double-figure rebounding games in his career.

IN THE NATIONAL STATS: In the NCAA statistics released March 17, Darren Fells ranked 30th in the nation in field-goal percentage at .569.

Patrick Sanders was 72nd in free-throw percentage at .831.

UCI ranked 26th (of 328 teams) in free-throw percentage at .745 and 60th in fewest turnovers per game with a 12.9 average.

THE McINTOSH IMPACT: Senior guard Marcus McIntosh started the last 14 games, averaging 9.6 points as UCI went 10-4 in those games. He had 27 assists and 18 steals in that span.

HUNTER FINDS SCORING TOUCH: Sophomore guard Michael Hunter averaged 12.3 points over the last 10 games of the season. He tied his career high with 18 points in the 82-66 win over Cal State Northridge Mar. 1, converting a big four-point play with 4:36 remaining after the Matadors had closed to within three points.

Hunter recorded a career-high six steals in the Feb. 20 loss at UC Riverside.

He ranked seventh in the Big West with a .426 three-point field goal percentage in league games and was ninth in all games at .397.

BLAND LEADS UCI IN STEALS: Junior forward Kevin Bland led UCI with 53 steals to rank fifth in the Big West at 1.56 per game. He was 10th in the league in rebounding at 5.4 per contest.

LAUER 10TH IN BIG WEST THREES: Junior guard Brett Lauer ranked 10th in the Big West with a .397 three-point field goal percentage for all games.

He scored a career-high 25 points, including 23 in the second half, at UC Riverside Feb. 20. He also hit a career-high seven threes in 10 attempts.

The last UCI player to make at least seven triples in a game was Ross Schraeder, who was 8 of 13 in a 76-55 win at San Jose State Dec. 17, 2004.

REMBERT EMERGES: Freshman guard Patrick Rembert started the last three games of the season and averaged 7.0 points in those starts.

He scored a career-high 12 points in the 55-50 win over top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in Big West semifinals, hitting 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1:04.

SOLID `D': In 12 of the 16 Big West Conference games this season, UCI held the opposition to less than 70 points.

The Anteaters had a 62.5 defensive average in the four Big West Tournament games.

IN THE BREN: UC Irvine was 11-1 this season in the Bren Events Center and is 161-120 all-time. The Anteaters have won 79 of their last 102 games (.775) in the Bren dating back to February 2000.

BIG TIPPERS: The Anteaters won the opening tip in 26 of the team's 34 games this season.

TEAM AWARD WINNERS: Several awards were announced at UCI's men's basketball banquet March 9 at the Bren Center Berry Terrace.

Darren Fells and Patrick Sanders were named co-Most Valuable Players, Marcus McIntosh received the Most Inspirational Award, and Chad McDaniel was recipient of the Anteater Award, given to the individual regarded as the consummate team player.

Sanders and McIntosh were recognized for serving as team captains this season.

COACH DOUGLASS LEADS UCI IN CAREER WINS: Pat Douglass, who completed his 11th season as head coach at UC Irvine, passed Bill Mulligan Feb. 14 in the 74-59 win over Pacific for the most wins in Anteater men's basketball coaching history. Douglass ended his 11th season with a UCI record of 171-154 while Mulligan posted a 163-156 mark in 11 seasons.

Douglass has led the UCI program to a Big West Conference finish of first or second four times in the last seven years, with back-to-back league titles in 2001 and 2002 and runner-up showings in 2003 and 2006.

Over the past eight seasons, his Anteater teams have won 77 percent (80-24) of their home games and compiled a total of 142 wins for an average of 17.8 per season.

Douglass leads all Big West Conference coaches with 547 victories at the four-year collegiate level. In his 27th season in the four-year ranks, he is 547-273.