Men's Basketball:

Nov. 6, 2009

UC Irvine men's basketball release

UCI HOSTS EAGLES MONDAY NIGHT: UC Irvine opens its 2009-10 schedule Monday (Nov. 9) night hosting Concordia University in an exhibition game at 7:05 in the Bren Events Center.

Coach Pat Douglass' squad opens the regular season Nov. 13 facing the University of La Verne in the Bren Center at 7:35 p.m. before playing at No. 3 Texas Sunday, Nov. 15, at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time). That game will be carried on ESPNU.

RADIO COVERAGE: All UCI games this season will be carried live on KUCI/88.9 FM with Mark Roberts returning for his 16th season as the voice of the Anteaters.

LOOKING AHEAD: The `Eaters open the regular season Friday, Nov. 13, hosting the University of La Verne in the Bren Center at 7:35 p.m.

UCI travels to No. 3 Texas Sunday, Nov. 15, for an 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) game on ESPNU.

WISE, HUNTER LEAD `EATERS: Sophomore post Eric Wise led the Anteaters in scoring as a freshman last season with a 14.0 average. He was named to the All-Big West Conference second and freshman teams, and was the top-scoring frosh in the league and UCI's highest-scoring freshman in 14 years. He ranked ninth in the Big West with a 6.0 rebounding average.

Wise has been selected to the six-player All-Big West preseason team by the media.

Senior guard Michel Hunter averaged 11.9 points as junior. An All-Big West honorable mention selection last season, he led UCI with 67 threes and ranks fifth all-time at the university with 156 treys. He ranked second in the Big West last season with an average of 1.50 steals per game and he was third in three-point field goals made per game at 2.23.

Junior point guard Patrick Rembert led UCI with 85 assists last year and he ranked fourth in the Big West with a 3.50 average for league games.

Sophomore swingman Derrick Strings shot 39 percent from three-point range last season, senior center Zack Atkinson averaged one rebound every 4.3 minutes of action and sophomore forward Adam Folker pulled down 64 rebounds, 36 of them off the offensive glass.

Junior guard Darren Moore received a medical hardship (knee) for last season. He averaged 5.7 points in the six early-season games he played in.

"I think we obviously have more depth this season at all positions but more importantly, we have more seasoning than we had going into last year as far as minutes played," 13th-year head coach Pat Douglass said.

"We have seven players who started games at some point last season and played considerable minutes. You really can't teach that game experience."

Two Slovakian natives, juniors Pavol Losonsky and Peter Simek, join the UCI front line this season out of Butte College.

The 6-8 Losonsky, who played for the Slovakian National Team this past summer, averaged 14 points and 7.2 rebounds at Butte while the 6-9 Simek averaged 11.5 points and 8.4 boards.

"The four and five offer probably our stiffest competition and are our two strongest positions. I think we have more versatility at the four and five positions than any of our other positions as these five guys are all upperclassmen," noted Douglass.

Freshman Derick Flowers is a point guard out of Pacific Hills School in Los Angeles where he was the section and league Player of the Year. He averaged 17.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds as a prep senior.

Freshman guard Mike Wilder from Long Beach Wilson High School was Moore League Player of the Year as he averaged 23 points and 10.2 rebounds.

Freshman guard Brandon Scott averaged 17.9 points at Archbishop Mitty High and was first team All-Santa Clara County.

"I like the versatility and like our chances with the players we have in the backcourt," added Douglass.

"Patrick Rembert played well at the point and we would like to move Michael Hunter more to the shooting guard as he shot the ball well in league play last season. Darren Moore, who was injured last year, was starting at the three so looking at their seasoning, those three will most likely be the starters entering the season," Douglass said.

"Derrick Strings was playing well at the end of last season and Derick Flowers is a point guard who gives us a lot of quickness and is used to winning.

"Brandon Scott has played the one and off-guard in high school as he was the point guard as a junior and as a senior he was more of a shooting guard so right now, it's hard to say which position he might be at," said Douglass.

"I like Mike Wilder's toughness and physical maturity so he might be at the wing position."

The Anteaters were 12-19 overall last season but following a 2-10 start, the team was 10-9 after Jan. 1. UCI won four of its final regular-season games and tied for fourth place in the Big West.

UCI ranked seventh nationally last season in three-point field goal percentage at .403, 10th in free-throw percentage (.758) and 19th in fewest turnovers per game (11.5). The `Eaters led the Big West in three-point field goal percentage and ranked second in free-throw percentage.

"We need to improve defensively and show some growth there," Douglass said. "We lost some shooting so we need to demonstrate that we can shoot the ball on a consistent basis.

COACH DOUGLASS: Pat Douglass, who is in his 13th season as head coach at UC Irvine in 2009-10, is the longest-tenured and winningest coach in the 44-year history of the Anteater program.

He has compiled an Anteater record of 183-173 in 12 years. Douglass passed previous UCI leader Bill Mulligan (163 wins) in a 74-59 victory over Pacific Feb. 14, 2008.

Douglass leads all Big West Conference coaches with 559 victories at the four-year collegiate level. In his 28 seasons in the four-year ranks, he is 559-292.

Douglass guided UCI to three consecutive 20-win seasons (2001, 2002 and 2003) and he led the program to two consecutive regular-season Big West Conference titles (2001 & 2002, the school`s first). He also guided UCI to National Invitation Tournament appearances in 2001 and 2002. Douglass led the Anteaters to the program's most successful season in 2000-01 when UCI finished with an overall record of 25-5, setting a new school mark for single-season victories.

Douglass was selected as 2001 Big West Conference Coach of the Year by his peers. The Anteaters advanced to the 2001 NIT, losing 75-71 on the road to Tulsa, the eventual NIT champion. Douglass was selected District 15 Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and also was named the 2000-01 National Coach of the Year for mid-major schools by College Hoops Insider.

ABOUT CONCORDIA: Ninth-year head coach Ken Ammann's Eagles are ranked No. 8 in the NAIA preseason poll.

Concordia was edged 62-61 by UCLA in an exhibition game at Pauley Pavilion Wednesday night. Junior guard Justin Johnson, who previously played at UCI before transferring to Citrus College last season, led the Eagles with 21 points. Junior forward Brandon Hucks added 10 points for the Eagles, who led 31-28 at the half.

Concordia returns eight of 14 lettermen from a 28-7 team last season that reached the NAIA quarterfinals.

Senior point guard Terrence Worthy, the school's career leader in steals (248), has earned a pair of All-Golden State Athletic Conference awards and was named NAIA All-American second team and honorable mention, respectively, over the past two seasons.

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