UC Irvine-San Jose St.: Match of Strugglers

There probably won’t be much nationwide interest in tonight’s UC Irvine-San Jose State basketball game at San Jose’s Civic Auditorium, but a victory for either team would be a definite boost in morale for a struggling program.

Irvine, 3-8 overall and 0-2 in the Big West Conference, has been a major disappointment, but once the Anteaters get through the next 3 weeks--when they play 7 of 9 games on the road--they will have the advantage of finishing Big West play with 7 of the last 9 games at home.

San Jose (5-9, 1-4) was humiliated by Stanford, 89-39, in early December, and that loss sort of set the tone for its season so far. The Spartans’ only Big West victory was at home against University of the Pacific, which is winless in conference play. Since then, San Jose has lost 3 in a row.