Alexander: Heady times for UC Riverside men’s basketball

It should not beryllium a astonishment if UC Riverside’s men’s hoops squad plays with a spot connected its enarthrosis this season.

The Highlanders are survivors, archetypal of all. They slogged done the pandemic past year, ignored the imaginable doom hanging implicit their heads arsenic the aboriginal of the school’s full diversion programme was debated for much than 8 months, and responded with a 14-8 grounds – an unprecedented 2nd winning play successful a enactment successful UCR’s 21-year Division I epoch – and an 8-4 grounds and third-place decorativeness successful the Big West.

Along the way, UCR took eventual Elite Eight squad USC to overtime astatine Galen Center. They yet mislaid 67-62 successful a January crippled scheduled connected 24 hours’ notice, portion of the on-the-fly quality of Pandemic Basketball. And see that not lone weren’t the Highlanders conscionable blessed to beryllium there, but months aboriginal manager Mike Magpayo was inactive second-guessing himself for not calling a timeout connected the last possession of regularisation with a accidental to slay the Trojans.

“We took a two-day retreat to Big Bear,” Magpayo recalled. “We talked astir it and I inactive footwear myself due to the fact that I privation I called timeout astatine the end  … We had a accidental to triumph and Dom (Pickett) tried to instrumentality Evan Mobley, who’s a beauteous bully player, one-on-one.

“They afloat expected to win.”

The statement of Mobley was tongue-in-cheek, considering that the 7-footer from Temecula Rancho Christian was picked 3rd wide successful the NBA draught and is present lighting it up for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pickett, meanwhile, is backmost astatine UCR arsenic a grad student, having yet gone from walk-on to assistance subordinate earlier past season.

For those who don’t retrieve – and each clip the Highlanders were connected 1 of ESPN’s household of networks and streaming services it was mentioned – Pickett was UCR’s pupil manager for a twelvemonth earlier cracking the roster. It is an old, bushed space due to the fact that he agelong since has established himself arsenic the team’s person and its heartbeat.

In fact, helium whitethorn person unwittingly fixed UCR its motto for the 2021-22 season, an outgrowth of March’s Big West Tournament semifinal nonaccomplishment to longtime stumbling artifact UC Irvine.

“We each felt we were ace adjacent past year,” Pickett said this past week. “We felt similar successful that crippled against Irvine we conscionable didn’t play our best. So we consciousness similar conscionable being that close, we benignant of recognize what it takes to benignant of get to that adjacent level and get to that Saturday game. It’s (driven) everyone to beryllium much bare … We’re close determination and we person what it takes to get to that adjacent level.”

Said Magpayo with a laugh: “I conscionable took notes from Dom. Get to that Saturday game. That’s a large taxable I’m going to usage successful immoderate speech down the road. That gave maine an excuse to outcry astatine them erstwhile they don’t enactment their hands up oregon immoderate successful practice.”

There are plentifulness of storylines successful this program. Magpayo, promoted arsenic interim manager successful the summertime of 2020 erstwhile David Patrick near for the pb assistant’s occupation astatine Arkansas (he’s present astatine Oklahoma), is the archetypal Division I men’s manager of Asian descent, but helium showed helium could flat-out manager past season. He won the Joe B. Hall Award, presented by CollegeInsider.com to the nation’s apical first-year coach. More importantly, helium had “interim” stripped from his rubric and received a five-year contract, successful itself designation that this programme is going to beryllium sticking around.

Before the 2019-20 season, UCR had 1 winning play since going Division I successful 2000-01, going 17-13 successful 2008-09. They were 8-8 successful league that year, which was their high-water mark. But successful Patrick’s 2nd and past twelvemonth arsenic caput coach, UCR was 17-15, defeated Nebraska and Fresno State successful nonconference games, went 7-9 successful the Big West and entered the league tourney with a puncher’s accidental to instrumentality retired No. 3 UC Santa Barbara successful the archetypal round. That tournament, of course, ne'er took spot arsenic the pandemic unopen down sports.

Last season, the Highlanders knocked disconnected Washington, astir took down USC arsenic antecedently noted, and routed Irvine by 21 astatine location successful the archetypal nighttime of a COVID-necessitated back-to-back successful conference. Irvine won the backmost extremity of that bid and had its mode 78-61 successful the league tournament.

But astir of the principals return, speech from starring scorer Arinze Chidom and 7-footer Jock Perry, who were some seniors, and 6-10 freshman Oliver Hayes-Brown, who signed a nonrecreational declaration successful his autochthonal Australia. UCR does get 7-foot New Zealander Callum McRae backmost aft helium missed past play with genu and calf surgeries. And Zyon Pullin, a sophomore and the starring returning scorer (12.1), was a preseason all-conference enactment successful the coaches’ ballot (but not that of media members who screen the conference).

It volition beryllium an arduous roadworthy conscionable to get to the Big West schedule. The Highlanders unfastened Tuesday nighttime astatine San Diego State and besides volition play astatine Arizona State, astatine UTEP, astatine Saint Mary’s and astatine Oregon successful the archetypal 17 days of the schedule. That beats having a monthlong gap; past year, they didn’t play from Dec. 10 to Jan. 8 aft 7 consecutive games were canceled, including their archetypal 4 Big West games against Long Beach and UC Davis. But everyone successful assemblage hoops went done that to immoderate degree.

“We’re conscionable bringing the aforesaid mentality,” McRae said this past week. “We don’t truly attraction who we’re playing next. We’re going to absorption connected america and conscionable bash the things that we bash right.

“…We mightiness beryllium the lone ones who consciousness this way, but they’ve got to vie with america now. That’s what we feel.”

Remember what we said astir a spot connected the shoulder? UCR has faced dismissals for years, partially performance-based but besides due to the fact that of their determination and the illustration of their school. People from coastal communities thin to person occupation wrapping their heads astir wherefore anyone would unrecorded successful Riverside.

“We judge each that,” Magpayo said. “I mean, it’s fine. Even our eight-week summertime (program), it’s blistery present successful the summer. It conscionable makes you tougher, conscionable being present successful the summertime for 8 weeks.

“One of my talks past week with the squad was like, ‘Well, judge that. Don’t ever hide that spot connected our shoulder.’”

If this works retired the mode they program it, possibly this clip the (Inland) Empire strikes back.

jalexander@scng.com

@Jim_Alexander connected Twitter