Argonaut Online Sports

TUES, 11 MAR 2003

UI men try for upset

By Nathan Jerke
Assistant Sports Editor

The University of Idaho men’s basketball team is looking to make a little history Thursday by winning its first postseason game since joining the Big West in 1996, but the Vandals will have to defy the odds and beat Cal Poly a third time to accomplish that.

UI (13-14 overall, 9-9 Big West) pulled out a close victory both times over the Mustangs, 66-50 at home and 68-65 in San Louis Obispo, but Cal Poly (14-3, 10-8) has won five of its last seven and is looking to keep the Vandals winless.

“They play hard. They’re physical,” Perry said. “They’re good in every sense of the word. They play hard and execute.”

The biggest challenge for the Vandals will be to contain all-conference team forward Varnie Dennis. The 6-foot-8 junior is averaging 17.4 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Mustangs.

The Vandals held Dennis to an inept eight points in the game in Moscow, but he wasn’t kept back in the second meeting, scoring 20.

“He has his ups and downs,” UI forward Tyrone Hayes said. “Some games he plays hard and some, when he ain’t touching the ball, he plays real soft. Hopefully we get one of those days from him.”

The Vandals finished the season with more wins than UI has seen since the 1998-1999 season, despite finishing in the middle of the pack this year. The conference has tremendous parity; Perry said anybody can beat anybody at anytime. And that is no different for the Vandals.

From the beginning of the year Perry has said the Vandals have an opportunity to do something special, but that will hinge on how UI comes out in the first round.

“I don’t think there’s a question about it; our kids have played hard. They’ve stayed the course,” Perry said. “Understand what we have to do to give us our best chance to win.”

The Vandals know that it can be done, and it doesn’t matter if the chances are improbable.

“We more intense than them. We want to win more than them,” Hayes said. “We go out there and plan on winning every game anyway. It seems like when we need big plays we come up with them. Hopefully that pays off in tourney time.”

The Vandals will have the first opportunity to play as well, taking on the Mustangs in the first game of the tournament noon Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.

“We feel very confident,” Hayes said. “You can look in people’s eyes and they very intense, but you never know how you feel in your heart. If you ain’t got it in your heart then you got to turn it.”

Sports Editor: Rolfe Daus Petersen Webmistress: Amanda J Hundt
UI Argonaut, 301 Student Union, Moscow, Idaho 83843 208.885.7845

UCSB’s Fullove named Player of the Year

UC Santa Barbara junior Branduinn Fullove garnered Big West Player of the Year honors and headlined the 2002-03 men’s basketball All-Conference Team, announced Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell. The postseason awards, as selected by the 10 head coaches, also include UC Riverside’s Nate Carter and UC Santa Barbara’s Bob Williams as the Big West Freshman and Coach of the Year, respectively.

Fullove, a 6-4 guard, joined former Gauchos Brian Shaw (1988) and Lucius Davis (1992) as recipients of the conference’s top individual honor. He averaged 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game during the regular season. Fullove ranked among the conference leaders in five statistical categories, including sixth in scoring, fifth in field goal percentage (.482) and fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.421). The native of Simi Valley, Calif., led the Gauchos in scoring 16 times in 27 games and moved to 14th on the UCSB career scoring list with 1,140 points.

Carter was a unanimous pick for Freshman of the Year honors and also grabbed All-Big West Second Team acclaim. A 6-7 forward, Carter led the Highlanders with 16.4 points per game and led the team in scoring 16 times. He ranked third in the Big West in scoring and registered eight games with at least 20 points. In addition, Carter was among the league’s most accurate shooters, ranking third in field goal percentage (.491). The native of San Diego, Calif., pulled down 5.4 rebounds per game to place 12th in the conference.