The Long Beach State men’s basketball team could have drawn a couple of other more advantageous opponents for its Big West Conference semifinal at 6:30 in the Anaheim Convention Center tonight.
The 49ers split their regular-season games with the UC Irvine Anteaters.
They fell behind by 25 points in the Bren Center before falling, 88-84, on Jan. 25.
And then, eight days ago, they trailed the Anteaters by 10 points with about 10 minutes to play in the Walter Pyramid Aaron Nixon (20 points in the second half) led them to an 85-80.
The bottom line is this: The 49ers struggled to guard UCI, both in the half court and in transition.
The Anteaters were a combined 55 of 111 (barely less than 50 percent) from the field, including 17 of 36 behind the arc.
And Long Beach’s defense has made UCI center Mark Kelley (34 points and 18 rebounds in the two games) look like a future NBA forward.
If Coach Larry Reynolds’ team doesn’t play much better on the defensive side of things tonight, then 49ers aren’t going to be in Anaheim Saturday night.
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