BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team (14-8, 6-5 Big West) is coming off of a split week of play following last week's matchups. The Gauchos will continue conference play with one matchup on the road and one at home this week, visiting the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (10-13, 4-7 Big West) this Thursday before welcoming the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (13-9, 5-6 Big West) at home on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara split the last week of Big West play, narrowly falling to the CSUN Matadors before bouncing back to dominate over Long Beach State. In their latest matchup against the Beach, the Gauchos were eager to prove themselves and did so comfortably in the 85-54 win at home. In the dominant performance,
Stephan Swenson led the charge with 20 points, with
Cole Anderson following closely posting an impressive 100 percent 3-point field goal percentage with 15 points on the night.
Max Murrell and
Koat Keat Tong had season-best defensive performances, with Murrell grabbing six rebounds on the night and Keat Tong adding eight.
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
Cal State Bakersfield comes into Thursday night's game on a three game skid. They dropped both games a week ago to Cal Poly and CSUN. The Roadrunners currently sit 10-13 overall and 4-7 in The Big West holding on to the eighth and final spot that would qualify for The Big West Championships.
The Gauchos will need to guard the three point line well, Cal State currently ranks ninth in all of Divison I in three point percentage. Bakersfield also crashes the offensive glass extremely well averaging nearly 13 offensive rebounds per game. They also force another 13 turnovers on the defensive end, on average giving them 26 extra possessions a game. One player to keep an eye on will be Jemel Jones who is currently top 70 in all of Division I in points per game, averaging 18.1. He ranks fifth in the conference in points per game.
The Roadrunners have lost their last 10 games against the Gauchos which dates back to the 2016-17 season.
SCOUTING THE RAINBOW WARRIORS
Hawai'i comes into this week 13-9 overall and 5-6 in conference action. The first meeting between the two teams took place on Jan. 2 where the Gauchos travel to the islands and beat the Rainbow Warriors 64-61. Over the last 10 meetings between the two teams, the Gauchos are 10-1 against Hawai'i. Additionally, Under Head Coach
Joe Pasternack, the Gauchos have never lost at home to the Warriors.
The Rainbow Warriors find most of their success defensively, ranking first in the conference in combined opponent rebounds, and second in rebounding margin. Because UC Santa Barbara finds so much offensive success, they will need to continue to shoot at a high clip to account for Hawaii's ability to rebound at a high level.
Gytis Nemeikša and Tanner Christensen are the standouts in the Rainbow Warriors success so far this season. Nemeikša ranks first on the team in points and field goals averaging 12.5 and 4.1 respectively, while positioning himself as second in free throws, rebounds, blocks, and steals. Tanner Christensen ranks fifth in the conference and leads his team in rebounding, averaging 7.2 boards per game. Christensen also adds to both the team's offensive and defensive success in other categories as well, leading the team in free throws and blocked shots while ranking second in points and field goals. Both individuals are key players that need to be addressed for the Gauchos to notch the win over Hawai'i.
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos and Roadrunners will tip off at 6:30 p.m. from the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, California on Thursday, Feb. 6. UC Santa Barbara will then host Hawaii back at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, California, tipping off against the Rainbow Warriors at 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 8. Both games will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/MBBLiveStats.
