RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara men's basketball team hits the road for two games this week against UC Riverside and Cal Poly. After their strong performance against UC Irvine, the Gauchos sit just a half game back of first place in The Big West standings.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Gauchos faced UC Davis and UC Irvine in Big West matchups, splitting last week's games losing on the road at Davis and earning a victory at home against Irvine. Gauchos trailed most of the game against Davis due to strong shooting night from the Aggies, who finished the night shooting 55 percent from beyond the arc while the Gauchos shot it at 31 percent, resulting in a 10-point loss.
The Gauchos then bounced back at home in the Thunderdome against the top-seeded Big West team Irvine in a tightly contested game. The Gauchos played a well rounded game to knock off Irvine and relied on free throws down the stretch after building up a 21 point lead in the 2nd half before the Anteaters stormed back to make it a two possession game with under one minute to play. Aidan Mahaney led the Gauchos offensively with 21 points with Colin Smith and CJ Shaw right behind him with 17 and 15 points themselves. Zion Sensley picked up his 5th double double of the season as he anchored the Gauchos on the glass.
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
The Highlanders enter this matchup with an 8-17 overall record and 3-10 in conference play, having lost their last 3 straight games. This is the first of two matchups this season as the Highlanders will come to the Thunderdome later this month.
Offensively, the Highlanders average 71 points per game with three players scoring in double figures. Leading the way is graduate student Andrew Henderson, who averages 17 points per game, followed by junior Marqui Worth Jr. at 15.8 points and junior Grady Osiris at 11.2 points. As a team, the Highlanders are shooting 43 percent as a team, ranking ninth in Big West, making it difficult to compete against stronger Big West opponents, contributing to their position in second last place in conference.
Gus Argenal, in his first season as coach of the Highlanders, is looking to finish the season strong as he looks to build momentum into year two. Argenal brings 21 years of coaching experience, beginning as a graduate assistant at Arizona State and most recently serving as the head coach at Cal State Bernardino. During his time there, he led the program to back to back NCAA Division 2 Tournament appearances, a Final Fourth berth, and a CCAA regular season title. Argenal aims to carry over some of that success to UC Riverside as the Highlanders program looks for their first NCAA tournament berth since entering division one.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly is coming off back-to-back losses last week as they fell to CSUN and UC Davis in close games, dropping to a 9-16 overall record and 5-8 in conference play. The Mustangs sit in eighth in the Big West and are looking to build momentum to close out head coach Mike DeGeorge's second season. The Gauchos and the Mustangs will meet for the second time this year, where the Gauchos beat the Mustangs 107-67 in the Thunderdome. DeGeorge will look to get their offense going early in this matchup, as the Mustangs scored 14 points below their season average in the previous meeting.
The Mustangs are averaging 81.1 points per game, ranking third in the Big West, but struggle defensively allowing 86 points per game, which ranks last in the conference. Cal Poly averages 10.9 three pointers a game, leading the Big West, while they shoot 33.6 percent from beyond the arc. Sophomore Hamad Mousa leads and ranks first in the Big West, averaging 20.8 points per game. His teammates also rank among the top 15 in the Big West, with Cayden Ward averaging 13.9 points per game and Peter Bandelj close behind at 13.8 points per game. Mousa and Ward also rank in the top 11 in rebounds in the Big West, with Mousa averaging 5.9 and Ward 5.7.
FOLLOW ALONG
UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside will tip off at 7 p.m. inside SRC Arena on Thursday, Feb 12. UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will tip off at 4 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center on Saturday, Feb. 14. Thursday's game against Riverside can be streamed on ESPN+ and Saturday's game against Cal Poly can be streamed on Spectrum SportsNet. Live stats will be available for both for those unable to attend in person.
