SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball program has signed five transfers and two freshmen to their 2026-27 roster, as announced by Head Coach Joe Pasternack on Monday, July 27.
 
Jordan Charles, a Scarborough, Ontario, Canada native, played at Bella Vista College Prep in Arizona during high school after coming up through the Canadian basketball system. Charles represented Team Canada at the FIBA U19 World Cup. The 6-0 guard averaged 13.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. Against Slovenia, he put up 27 points, six boards and five assists and nearly had another 20-point performance against the United States, putting up 19 points and five assists. He finished among the tournament leaders in assists.
 
Antonio Chol, an incoming Redshirt Senior, comes to the Blue and Gold after stops at Rutgers, Garden City Community College and New Mexico. After limited playing time at Rutgers, Chol transferred to Garden City where he earned First Team All-Conference honors and Second Team All-American honors. In his lone season with the Broncbusters, he averaged 19.5 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc. Last season at New Mexico, Chol made 32 starts while averaging 7.7 points and 2.9 rebounds. He finished second on the team with 60 three-pointers and recorded 12 double-digit scoring outings.
 
Eric Dibami comes to Santa Barbara after spending his rookie season at Florida International (FIU). The Cameroon native had one of the best freshman seasons in Panther program history. The 6-10 forward started in all 30 games while averaging 9.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Following the season, he was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team and All-Defense Team. Throughout the season, he was named Conference USA Freshman of the Week three separate times. Dibami recorded 18 double-digit scoring outings and six double-doubles.
 
Declan Duru Jr. comes to the Gauchos after spending one season and appearing in 12 games at the University of Texas. Prior to Texas, Duru Jr. spent five years with Real Madrid (Spain) in the program's youth development system. The 6-8 forward helped his native Germany post a 6-1 record and earn a silver medal at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup. He reached double figures in scoring in six of the seven games and averaged 11.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in nearly 27 minutes per contest, while shooting 52 percent from the floor.
 
RJ Smith comes to Santa Barbara after stints at Colorado and DePaul. The Chino, California native comes back to the West Coast after appearing in all 32 games and making 23 starts a season ago for DePaul. Smith averaged 6.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He recorded eight double-digit scoring outings and eight games where he recorded four or more assists.
 
Viljami Vartiainen comes to Santa Barbara following a three-year stint at Weber State. The 6-foot 6-inch three-point specialist has shot 40.4 percent from beyond the arc on 441 attempts over his first three years in collegiate basketball. Last season, he ranked top 40 in the country in three-point percentage and three-pointers per game. The Helsinki, Finland native earned All-Big Sky Honorable Mention honors and will leave Weber State with the eighth most three-pointers in career.
 
The second incoming freshman in the class is 6-foot 11-inch Marco John Wuol. The German averaged 12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocks last year for International Basketball Academy Munich in Germany's premier U19 league.
 
The seven newcomers will join a Gaucho program that has recorded nine straight winning seasons under Head Coach Joe Pasternack while recording six 20-plus win seasons in that span. The 2025-26 squad finished 18-14 overall and 11-9 in Big West play.