SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (4-3) will be back in The Thunderdome as they take on a non-divisional opponent in Bethesda University. These two teams only played each other twice before, with the Gauchos winning in both meetings. The last time Santa Barbara played Bethesda was in 2020, when the Blue and Gold took down the visitors 123-52.
 
The last game for the Gauchos was on the road as they made the trip to Albuquerque to face the New Mexico Lobos. Despite the Gauchos only being down by seven at the half, they could not rally back for the win as UC Santa Barbara dropped this road contest to the Lobos 61-84. Ajay Mitchell led the team in points with 22. He set a new career-high in made free throws, making all 14 of his shots from the charity stripe. Yohan Traore also finished the game with double-digit points with 18.
 
Bethesda has yet to win a game this season, starting off the year with a 0-12 record. They have played numerous Division I opponents in San Francisco, San Jose State, and two Big West institutions in UC Riverside and CSUN. Bethesda also played another opponent the Gauchos already saw this season in Westmont, where they lost 61-118. The best player for Bethesda against NCAA opponents has been Jonathan Ileleji. He has registered 97 points in those five games, coming out to 19.4 points per game.
 
Fans can watch this game between UC Santa Barbara and Bethesda on Saturday, Dec. 9 in The Thunderdome with tip-off at 1 p.m. The team will also be hosting a toy drive during this game. Any fan that brings an unwrapped present will receive a ticket for a future UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball game. For those who can't make it in person, they can watch through the live stream on ESPN+.