SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team defeated Oakland 90-67 on Saturday at The Thunderdome, using a program-tying 18 three-pointers. UC Santa Barbara went 18 of 29 from the 3-point range and finished with 25 assists against six turnovers. The Gauchos also held advantages in rebounds (35-25), bench points (39-32) and fast-break points (16-5).
FROM HEAD COACH JOE PASTERNACK
"Our first half defense was terrific, holding them to 33 percent shooting," said Pasternack. "Coach Kampe is one of the best coaches in the country. He does an amazing job. We really competed hard and shared the ball. Our guys followed the game plan and executed well."
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Santa Barbara used a mid-first-half defensive stand to hold the Golden Grizzlies without a point for more than five minutes.
RJ Smith's 3-pointer halfway through the opening half put the Gauchos ahead 18-17. Earlier,
Eric Dibami opened UC Santa Barbara's scoring with two layups, including a putback, and
Aidan Mahaney added a fast-break layup, but the Golden Grizzlies' early 3-point shooting put UC Santa Barbara down 17-13. After the Golden Grizzlies tied it at 18-18,
Viljami Vartiainen hit two 3-pointers in 51 seconds.
CJ Shaw and Smith added baskets, and Mahaney's 3-pointer pushed the lead to 32-25 with 2:41 left. UC Santa Barbara shot 13-for-26 overall and 6-for-10 from 3-point range with 11 assists and four turnovers, then closed the half with
Michael Simcoe's 3-pointer and Vartiainen's layup to take a 38-27 lead into halftime.
UC Santa Barbara's second half was driven by perimeter shooting and ball movement, as it went 12-for-19 from 3-point range with 14 assists and two turnovers while outscoring the Golden Grizzlies 52-40. Earlier,
Miro Little and Shaw hit a couple 3-pointers, and after the Golden Grizzlies scored off a steal to make it cut the deficit to single digits, Vartiainen answered from deep at 14:45. UC Santa Barbara followed with an 8-0 run from 13:57 to 12:39, getting a Dibami layup, an
RJ Smith block, a transition 3 by Little off Vartiainen's assist and another Vartiainen three off Smith's feed to push the score to 58-41. Vartiainen added another three and a free throw to cap off a four-point play. UC Santa Barbara hit five more 3-pointers from 7:31 to 4:17 — one by
Marvin McGhee IV, two by Mahaney and two by
Antonio Chol. Later, they added offensive-rebound points from
Marco John Wuol and free throws from
Jordan Charles in a dominant 90-67 win.
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will take on a stiff test against the Nevada Wolf Pack on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11. The two teams will tipoff at 6 p.m. in The Thunderdome. The game will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats available.
