EL PASO, Texas – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (0-1) made the trip to El Paso, Texas for their first road game of the season, taking on the UTEP Miners. The score was tied at the half, but by the end of the night, it was UTEP who was on top as the Gauchos dropped this game with a score of 76-89.
 
FROM HEAD COACH JOE PASTERNACK
"I thought we did some good things tonight. Unfortunately, turnovers are haunting us. It's hard to win games when you're turning the ball over 17 times. It fuels the other team's fast breaks. We need to fix that and take care of the basketball for us to be successful moving forward."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a slow start for the Gauchos in the Don Haskins Center as the Miners took the early lead. However, the Gauchos cleaned up their game quickly, going on a 10-0 run while preventing UTEP from scoring for over four minutes. That scoring run was led by the offensive efforts of Yohan Traore, who already had 10 points before it was even halfway through the first half. However, UTEP rallied back from the deficit as these two teams went to the locker room at halftime tied with a score of 44-44 at halftime.
 
At the start of the second half, the Miners went on a hot start, scoring eight points in two minutes, causing the Gauchos to play from behind. That was until a three-point field goal from Cole Anderson stopped the Miners' 8-0 run. Even with breaking up the scoring run, the Gauchos could not find an answer for the Miners. UTEP's second half shooting percentage and the Gauchos' turnovers resulted in UC Santa Barbara dropping this game 76-89.
 
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Yohan Traore had a great night for the Gauchos, putting up 23 points for a new career-high. To go along with that, he made seven of his 12 attempted shots while grabbing six rebounds.
• Josh Pierre-Louis had his second double-digit performance in as many games, securing 17 points while going 7-12 from the field. He also led the team in assists with five while adding on two steals.  
• Ariel Bland made an impact on the court again tonight for the Gauchos. He tallied 13 points to go along with six rebounds.
• Jason Fontenet II had the first double-digit performance of his young career. His night in El Paso ended with 10 points, making all five of his shots from the charity stripe. He also contributed six rebounds and four assists.  

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will return to The Thunderdome on Sunday, Nov. 19, as they take on the Le Moyne College Dolphins. Tip off will be at 7 p.m. with a live stream available through ESPN+.