SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (8-6) is kicking off the next two games here in The Thunderdome. They will first take on the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners before facing Long Beach State on ESPNU.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos made the trip north as they took on the Mustangs of Cal Poly for the first leg of the Blue-Green Rivalry. With the help from
Cole Anderson from the three-point line, the Gauchos pulled out their first Big West win with a score of 61-52.
Ajay Mitchell also finished with double-digit points, racking up 13.
TAKING ON THE ROADRUNNERS
Cal State Bakersfield is starting conference play 0-3, taking losses to UC San Diego, UC Irvine and Hawai'i. They also went 5-6 in non-conference play, securing wins against Southern Utah, Saint Katherine's, Sacramento State, Whittier and South Dakota.
The Roadrunners' bench is one of the strongest in the NCAA. They currently rank 46th in the country when it comes to points scored by bench players as they rack up 27.7 points per game.
Senior Kaleb Higgins is the leading scorer for the Roadrunners. The guard currently has 236 points on the season, averaging out to 16.9 per game. He also leads the team in assists with 50 and steals with 13.
When it comes to shooting from beyond the arc, Marvin McGhee III is their guy. He leads the team in three-pointers with 25.
Modestas Kancleris has been crucial to the team's defense. He put up 77 rebounds on the season with 19 coming on offense and 58 on defense.
BATTLING THE BEACH
Long Beach State comes into the weekend with a 3-1 Big West record, only dropping a game to CSUN while securing wins over Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly and UC Riverside. Their overall record is 11-5 after the Beach had a strong non-conference schedule as they took down tough teams like Michigan, DePaul and USC.
The Beach rank highly in multiple stat categories nationally. They rank the highest in made free throws per game as they are currently 21st in the NCAA. They are also 31st in steals per game and 32nd in rebounds per game.
Marcus Tsohonis is the leading scorer for the Beach as he is averaging 17.6 points per game. Following up close behind him is Aboubacar Traore and Lassina Traore, who are both averaging 12.6 points per game. Lassina is also the only player on the team to average a double-double as he is also averaging 10.8 rebounds per game.
WHEREABOUTS
The first of these two games will be against the Roadrunners on Thursday, Jan. 11. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. with a live stream available through ESPN+. Then, the Gauchos will return to The Thunderdome against the Beach on Saturday, Jan. 13 starting at 7 p.m. This game will be live on ESPNU.
