IRVINE — Pierre Crockrell II has made the best – the very best – out of what at the time was a bad situation.
Crockrell, UC Irvine’s point guard, is a fifth-year player, one of those granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA after COVID-19 terminated the 2019-20 season a week before March Madness was to begin. He is the Anteaters’ soul, and his influence was on display Saturday night at the Bren Events Center when his team moved closer to the regular-season Big West title and sewed up the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and a bye into the semifinals.
His stat line in the Anteaters’ 82-61 victory over Long Beach State probably seemed ho-hum just by looking at the box score: 12 points, 6-of-12 shooting, 11 assists in 30 minutes. But you had to be there (or at least watching on ESPN2). You had to see the pinpoint – and more than occasional no-look – passes to teammates for scoring opportunities, his control of the pace and especially the way he stepped up when his team was threatened.
Long Beach had chipped away at what once was an 18-point UCI lead, and it was 61-51 Anteaters just inside the 10-minute mark of the second half. In a 5½-minute span, Crockrell made a leaning jumper in the lane, whipped a pass to 7-foot-1 junior Bent Leuchten for a lay-in, knocked down a jumper from the corner of the key, scored on a drive, and two possessions later found fellow fifth-year guy Dean Keeler for a jump hook and his ninth assist of the game. UCI had a 74-58 lead with 5½ minutes left, and it was just a matter of time.
“That dude’s a special competitor, Pierre,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “… He’s so great to play with because he creates tempo and pace, and he creates opportunities to score for every guy. And so that gives the group energy. That’s what a high-level point guard’s supposed to do, is dictate the tempo and the personality of the team.”
Crockrell’s scoring average (7.7 ppg) doesn’t jump out at you. But…
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