• The Schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 at 12:00 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara vs. Utah Valley (0-0)
The Thunderdome – Santa Barbara, Calif.
All-Time Record vs. the Wolverines: 1-1
Last Meeting: at Utah Valley 63, UCSB 54 (11/6/18)
Friday, Nov. 9, 2019 at 6:30 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara at St. Mary's (0-0)
McKeon Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
All-Time Record vs. the Gaels: 7-7
Last Meeting: St. Mary's 80, at UCSB 55 (11/29/18)
• Live Stream Available vs Utah Valley
A live broadcast of the Gauchos' season opener vs Utah Valley, produced by Fall Productions, will be available on BigWest.TV. The "Voice of the Gauchos" Gerry Fall will have the play-by-play, and former UCSB men's basketball assistant coach Louis Reynaud will deliver the color commentary.
• Audio Stream Available for UCSB at St. Mary's
Additionally, an audio-only broadcast of UCSB's trip up north to face the St. Mary's Gaels will be available on UCSBGauchos.com. The broadcast features pregame and postgame interviews with Head Coach Bonnie Henrickson, as well as interviews with the program's assistant coaches and players over the course of the season. Sports Information Director Arthur Wilkie will have the play-by-play.
• Season Opener is School Day
The Thunderdome will welcome students from several local schools on Tuesday afternoon. Throughout the week, the team made several trips to schools to surprise students with tickets and invite them to the game. After the game, students are invited to take part in postgame autographs and meet the players. School Day is part of the Gauchos Give initiative in which UCSB Athletics seeks to give back to the community through sport.
• Tweet Tweet!
Follow the @UCSB_WBB account on Twitter for highlights and more from this week's games.
• New Season, New Expectations
The Gauchos lost just one player from last season and have added five new names in
Nyalam Thabach, Ryanne Walters,
Ila Lane,
Johnni Gonzalez, and Houston transfer
Doris Jones. All-Big West second teamers
Coco Miller and
Danae Miller return for the Gauchos to lead the charge into what fifth-year head coach Bonnie Henrickson hopes to be a successful season, building upon the continual improvement that the team showed at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
• Scouting the Opposition: Utah Valley
First-year head coach Dan Nielson begins his reign at the helm of the Wolverines on Tuesday afternoon. The team returns eight letterwinners from last year, including senior Jordan Holland, a second-team All-WAC selection in the previous season. Utah Valley finished with a 14-16 record overall, and an 8-8 record in their conference.
• Scouting the Opposition: St. Mary's
The Gaels see 10 players return to their roster. Sophomore Sam Simons played for the Australian Gems in the FIBA U19 World Cup and is one of the players that the team expects to be key in this upcoming season. Alongside her are sophomore Taycee Wedlin and junior Madeline Holland, the other two pieces of the trio that played 2,101 minutes last year, totaling 776 points, 241 rebounds, and 60 steals.
• Gauchos Picked to Finish Sixth in the Big West
In the Big West coaches' preseason poll released in mid-October, Santa Barbara was picked to finish in sixth place, garnering one less vote than Cal Poly for the fifth spot. UC Irvine led the way with 77 votes and six first-place selections. Defending Big West champions UC Davis earned 70 points, with two coaches voting it as the top team in the conference. Riverside had 60 points to finish in third along with one first-place nod, and Hawai'i received 52 points. Just two points separated Cal Poly, UCSB, and CSUN, with the teams receiving 35, 34, and 33 points, respectively. Long Beach State's 29 points and Cal State Fullerton's 15 rounded out the list.
Redshirt senior guard
Coco Miller was selected to the Preseason All-Big West team in October. In 30 contests last season, Miller averaged 12.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. In conference play, she played 35.6 minutes per game, third amongst preseason all-conference nominees behind teammate
Danae Miller (37.3) and Marina Ewodo of UC Riverside (36.5). At the conclusion of last year's campaign, she was named to the All-Big West second team alongside
Danae Miller.
• 2018-19 in Review
After losing a large group of players from the 2017-18 campaign, the 2018-19 season gave the Gauchos a chance to rebuild. A roster that featured seven new players managed just three wins in its non-conference slate, but picked up steam late in the season. Though it was still a scrappy battle for the final seed in the Big West Tournament that the Gauchos eventually earned with a 44-42 win over Cal Poly at home, the team made great strides across the board from the beginning of the season to the end. The season ended in the opening round of the conference tournament against fifth-seeded UC Irvine.
