UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Johnson Finds Niche on Basketball Court

For a guy who rarely shoots anything beyond a seven-foot jumper, a trip to the free-throw line can be as frustrating as trying to tie your sneakers with one hand.

Just ask Irvine forward Khari Johnson.

At one point this season, Johnson was shooting only 28% from the line.

“My biggest problem was confidence,” he said. “I was at the line hoping it would go in instead of knowing it.”

But after working on his concentration and shooting form, Johnson has improved to 53.7%. Not exactly great, he said, but he’s “getting there.”

He has made 29 of his last 39 attempts, including seven in a row during a 78-65 victory over San Jose State last Thursday. He finished with 17 points, the second-highest total of his career.

Johnson, a 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore from El Toro, has begun to find his range, and a role, after a frustrating freshman season with the Anteaters.

He nearly quit the team last year after watching his playing time diminish under then-coach Bill Mulligan.

Johnson fit into the Anteaters’ running offense early in the season, scoring a season-high 12 against Siena in November. But when Mulligan decided to slow it down after 10 games, Johnson’s playing time, and productivity, dwindled.

“If Mulligan would have stayed, I would have been gone,” said Johnson, who averaged only two points in 20 games. “I had already redshirted (1989-90), and transferring at that point would have hurt me academically and athletically. I probably would have gone to one of the community colleges.”

Instead, he decided to stay and play for new Coach Rod Baker, a former assistant at Seton Hall.

“Now, I’m glad that I didn’t leave,” said Johnson, who’s averaging 5.2 points and about 16 minutes per game. “A lot of people I trust, even some of the community college coaches I talked to, said Coach Baker was a good coach, and that I should stay.

“And I’ve learned more this year with Baker than the last three years combined.”

His biggest lessons came on defense and at the free-throw line.

“Defensively, Baker taught me different stances, and how to defend a guy who’s curling to the basket and how to get through a back screen,” Johnson said. “Those were things I had never worked on before.

“We did some reconstruction on my free-throw shooting. He had me take my off-hand (left) off the ball.”

Johnson made five of seven shots from the field against San Jose. He is shooting 72.2% from the field in his last four games, and 57% for the season.

“The biggest thing for me has been a change of roles this season,” Johnson said. “Early, my job was to shut my man down defensively and rebound. But they’re looking at me more as a scorer now, and that has helped my confidence.”

Charity stripes: Johnson wasn’t the only Anteater to surprise at the free-throw line Thursday night.

Geanine Hobbs, shooting 43.6% from the line this season, sank two free throws with 3.4 seconds left as the women’s team ended a 20-game conference losing streak with a 72-68 victory over San Jose State.

Hobbs, a senior who finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, made only eight of 15 free throws against the Spartans. She missed the front end of a one-and-one with Irvine leading, 70-68, with 16.5 seconds remaining.

But Hobbs made up for the mistake, rebounding Pam Pember’s missed layup and getting fouled. She sank the free throws to seal the victory.

Olympic tryout: Annette Smith Greene, a first-year assistant coach with the women’s basketball team, believes in getting second chances. And she’ll get one this May in Colorado Springs, when she tries out as a player for the U.S. Olympic team.

Smith Greene had planned to try out for the 1984 team when she was a junior at the University of Texas. But she missed the opportunity because of a knee injury.

After recovering from surgery, Smith Greene finished her playing career at Texas in 1986 as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,523 points. An All-American and a two-time Southwest Conference MVP, she played on Texas’ 1986 NCAA championship team that finished 36-0.

“I could have tried out for the Olympic team again in 1988, but I didn’t have a lot of the moves after the surgery,” she said.

Smith Greene has been working out with the Irvine players, and Anteater Coach Colleen Matsuhara encouraged her assistant to give the Olympic team another shot.

“Colleen told me, ‘You’ve still got it. Go ahead and try out,’ ” Smith Greene said. “So I’m training harder and I’ll see if my knee holds up. At least I’ll be able to say I gave it a try.”

Anteater Notes

The Irvine crew opens its season at 8 a.m. Saturday, playing host UC San Diego and the University of San Diego at North Lido Channel. Duvall Hecht, who founded the crew program in 1965, returns as coach after leaving in 1969. . . . The men’s tennis team, ranked 21st nationally, defeated Fresno State, 5-4, but lost to third-ranked Stanford, 7-2, last weekend. The Anteaters play host to 14th-ranked California Thursday and top-ranked UCLA Saturday. . . . The women’s basketball team shot 39.1% from the field in the victory over San Jose, then sank to 29.4% in a 65-47 loss to Pacific on Saturday night. . . . The Eastbluff summer basketball camp for boys and girls, sponsored by former Irvine and Mission Viejo High standout Jeff Herdman, will be held June 22-26 at the Eastbluff Boys’ Club. The camp is open to first- through seventh-graders, and the entry fee is $85 before May 1 and $100 after May 1. For more information, call 640-6650.