Ready or not, here comes conference play for UC Santa Barbara basketball.
The Big West Conference’s “Bold Week” — a two-game, early-bird start to interleague competition — begins Thursday with 6 p.m. games for both the Gaucho men and women.
UCSB’s men will play host to longtime rival Long Beach State while the women’s team will open at Long Beach’s Pyramid.
They’ll follow that up on Saturday with games against Cal State Bakersfield before resuming nonconference play for the rest of December.
At least both Gaucho teams will enter conference play on the crest of winning streaks, championships at their respective Thanksgiving tournaments, and national rankings in this week’s CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Polls.
UCSB men’s coach Joe Pasternack admitted that he’s no fan of Big West’s Bold Week, but added that, “The games are on the schedule and you’ve got to play them, so let’s go do it.”
“It’s so early that it just comes and hits you like a ton of bricks because the consequences are so great,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing — it’s a conference game and you’re playing for a double-bye in the conference tournament.
“But I’ve never been a guy to complain about stuff you can’t control.”
He’s looking for the Thunderdome to give his Gauchos a jolt of support on “Blue Out” night. He’s encouraging local fans to wear blue on Thursday to match the free T-shirts that will be handed out to all UCSB students in attendance.
“It’s the earliest home conference game in the history of UCSB basketball,” Pasternack said. “We’re really looking to pack the Thunderdome, and I think we’re going to have an awesome crowd.”
The Gauchos (6-2) have won three in a row since their consecutive defeats to Loyola Marymount at home and to Nevada on the road.
Saturday’s victory over Seattle in the championship game of the Resorts World Las Vegas Classic was enough to keep them in the Mid-Major rankings at No. 22.
“I thought we got better last week, but we have a long way to go,” Pasternack said. This team will hopefully get better and better and better, especially all these new guys like (freshman guard) C.J. Shaw and (Cal State Bakersfield transfer) Marvin McGhee.
“Our two NCAA Tournament teams (of 2021 and 2023) had a big group of returners — guys like Ajay Mitchell, Amadou Sow, Miles Norris, JaQuori McLaughlin, Devearl Ramsey.
“It just takes so much time to get acclimated to the system when you’re a new player. Everybody is going through it, not just us. But I think in our system, our best days will be ahead of us.”
UC San Diego, last year’s Big West champion, hasn’t missed a beat despite replacing its entire starting lineup. The Tritons (7-1) were ranked 11th in the Mid-Major poll and were at No. 43 in the national NET computer power rankings before suffering their first defeat at Nevada on Tuesday, 76-70.
UCSB’s situation wasn’t helped when junior co-captain Jason Fontenet II, a third-year veteran, suffered a hip injury two weeks ago. He toughed it out in the Loyola and Nevada losses but hasn’t played since.
Another co-captain, forward Colin Smith (12.9 points, 48.5% three-point shooting, and 4.6 rebounds), also missed a game.
One of the Gaucho newcomers, point guard transfer Miro Little from Utah, leads UCSB with averages of 13.0 points, 4.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game. UConn transfer Aidan Mahaney is close behind at 12.5 points on 39% three-point shooting and 2.6 assists.
The Gauchos have also received a boost from such young players as Shaw (10.3 points, 50% three-point shooting) and 6-foot-8 sophomore Zion Sensley (10.9 points, 41.4% three-point shooting, 7.5 rebounds).
“All these guys — Marvin and Zion and C.J. Shaw — they just have to step up right now,” Pasternack said.
The problems have been more on the defensive end. UCSB’s field-goal percentage defense (46.9%) ranks 10th out of 11 Big West teams. Its defense against three-pointers (36.6%) is the league’s worst.
But McGhee’s recent return from a foot injury and the imminent availability of 6-10 redshirt junior Koat Keat Tong give Pasternack two defensive reinforcements. Tong was medically cleared on Monday and took part in his first full practice on Tuesday.
“We need size and rebounding, and K.K. brings great energy and rebounding,” Pasternack said. “He was doing so great before he broke his hand.”
Women’s Win Streak
The UCSB women’s team surges into Long Beach with a five-game winning streak. Its 6-1 record represents its best start since it opened at 7-1 during its 21-12 season of 2022-23.
“We have great momentum,” second-year coach Renee Jimenez said. “I think we’re starting to figure out who we are.”
The rest of the country has noticed. Last week’s 74-49 rout of previously unbeaten Cal Baptist (6-1) in the first round of the Lancers’ own CBU Classic vaulted the Gauchos into this week’s CollegeInsider Mid-Major poll at No. 15. Cal Baptist is now at No. 22.
UCSB pulled out a 66-64 win over Tennessee Chattanooga in the next day’s championship game.
“To grind that one out … that was just a gutsy win by our kids,” Jimenez said. “We don’t get rattled.”
UCSB’s NET ranking of No. 58 is its best since the NCAA began using it for women’s basketball during the 2020-21 season.
Junior forward Zoe Borter is averaging a team-high 14.0 points on 47.3% shooting for the UCSB women’s basketball team this season. Credit: Jeff Liang / UCSB Athletics Photo
The Gauchos are small, with no starter taller than 6-foot-1. But what that has cost them on the backboards — a minus-4.4 rebound margin, which ranks ninth in the Big West — UCSB has made up for with a fast pace and deadly shooting.
UCSB’s scoring average of 72.3 points per game ranks second in the Big West.
The Gauchos lead the conference in field-goal shooting at 45%, and their Big West-best three-point shooting of 39.5% ranks ninth nationally.
UCSB is led in scoring by a pair of returning forwards. Junior Zoe Borter is at 14.0 points per game on 47.3% shooting. Sophomore Olivia Bradley, the Gauchos’ rebound leader at 5.3, is averaging 13.9 points on 56.3% shooting.
A pair of transfers has added firepower to a backcourt that returned two seniors: starter Skylar Burke and reserve Jessica Grant, the nation’s No. 7 three-point shooter at 54.3%.
Maddie Naro, a junior from Santa Clara, is averaging 10.0 points on 46.2% three-point shooting and a team-high 3.7 assists. Zoe Shaw, a sophomore from St. Bonaventure, also has a 10.0-point average on 41.2% shooting from three.
“It’s like every night, it’s been somebody different,” Jimenez said. “I think they’ve accepted that whoever’s turn it is, that’s whose turn it is.
“Sometimes it’s just a moment, too. That’s the really cool part.”
