Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara vs Pacific

The Thunderdome - Santa Barbara, Calif.

All-Time Record vs. the Tigers: 51-19

Last Meeting: Dec. 8, 2018; at Pacific 69, UCSB 53

 

Thursday night marks the Gauchos' holiday toy drive. Fans get in free when donating a toy at the general admission entrance to the Thunderdome.

 

UCSBGauchos.com will offer a live video stream of Thursday night's game, produced by Fall Productions and broadcast via BigWest.TV. The "Voice of the Gauchos" Gerry Fall will deliver the play-by-play, and former UCSB men's basketball assistant coach Louis Reynaud will provide color commentary. The broadcast links are available above or on the women's basketball schedule page.

 

G7: Stephen F. Austin 67, UCSB 56 (Nugget Classic) - UCSB was outmatched against a tough Ladyjacks team that has won 25+ games in three consecutive seasons. The game was tight throughout the first 20 minutes, but Stephen F. Austin pulled away after the Gauchos went cold and SFA started to heat up from beyond the arc.

 

G6: UCSB 96, Chicago State 65 (Nugget Classic) - Outdoing her performance against San Diego State, Tal Sahar scored a career-high 22 points and Ila Lane added 20 more en route to her fifth double-double of the season (10 rebs) as UCSB blew out the winless Cougars in the third-place game at the Nugget Classic. Santa Barbara's 96 points are the most since 2017, (11/10/17: 96-93 at Northern Arizona) and second-most since 2002 (1/2/02: 105-60 vs CSUN).

 

The Tigers are 5-1 on the season so far. The only loss of the early campaign came in the second game of the season at No. 6/7 Oregon State, in which Pacific lost by 12. Since then, head coach Bradley Davis has led his squad to four-straight wins, wrapping up the preseason WNIT with a win against Drexel, then rattling off three consecutive home wins against Weber State, Indiana State, and SMU. The Tigers sport a very tall lineup, and UCSB will have to find a way to slow down Brooklyn McDavid, who enters Thursday averaging 21.2 points per game. Valerie Higgins leads the way with 7.7 rebounds per matchup.

 

Freshman center Ila Lane has made a statement to start her Division I career. She put together four-straight games with a double-double from Nov. 15 against San Jose State to Nov. 26 vs. San Diego State. She fell just one rebound short of making it five in a row against Stephen F. Austin, but she bounced back with yet another big 20 point, 10 rebound statline in UCSB's win against Chicago State. Her success earned her her first Big West Player of the Week award on Dec. 2. With her 20-rebound performance at Cal Baptist on Nov. 23, she set the record for most rebounds in a single-game by a freshman and landed in a tie for seventh place on the program's individual single-game rebounds list.

 

Redshirt senior guard Tal Sahar has picked up steam as of late, flourishing to the tune of tying her career-high of 21 points at home against San Diego State on Nov. 26, and then setting a new mark of 22 points just two games later on Dec. 1 against Chicago State in the Nugget Classic. Sahar is third on the team in scoring, averaging 10 points per game.

 

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.

 

December brings with it just two home games to the Thunderdome. The Gauchos played their Dec. 1 game against Chicago State in Reno, Nev., and they come home on Dec. 5 to play Pacific. Then, the team gets a well-earned rest, with nine days between that game and their matchup away at CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 14. Prior to the Christmas break, UCSB travels to Arizona for duels with Grand Canyon and Arizona. On the 30th of the month, Ottawa University of Arizona visits to test the Gauchos in what will be Santa Barbara's final pre-Big West tuneup.

 

Through the first games of the season, the Gauchos are right up there with the rest of the Big West's teams in finding success in its non-conference portion of the schedule. As things stood entering the week, the Gauchos are tied with both Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i in owning the best overall record amongst conference teams. Among that group, Santa Barbara and Hawai'i own wins over Power Five schools.

Season tickets for the 2019-20 season are still available. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here, visiting the ticket office, or by calling (805) 893-UCSB.

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