The UC Santa Barbara basketball team controlled the boards, the paint and then Hawaii in Thursday’s 78-61 rout in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 2,729 saw the Gauchos construct a 33-21 rebounding advantage and amass 54 paint points to improve to 12-7 overall and 5-4 in the Big West. The ’Bows fell to 10-10 and 2-6.
“It was a big difference,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of the Gauchos’ inside effectiveness.
“We said we had to dominate inside, and that’s what we did,” UCSB point guard Ajay Mitchell said.
UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said his team was “locked in” during practices following last Saturday’s loss to Cal State Fullerton.
“I thought our response was really, really good,” Pasternack said. “I thought our rebounding was the key to the game.”
Pasternack said the Gauchos also accomplished their game plan.
“We try to drive the ball or post the ball,” Pasternack said. “I thought our guys did a nice job. Yohan Traore (had) 20 points, eight rebounds. Josh Pierre-Louis (had) 10 rebounds, 14 points. The double-double was huge for us.”
It was a doubly painful defeat for the ’Bows, who, two days earlier, lost their most imposing rim protector for the rest of the season. Mor Seck, a 7-foot-1 sophomore who leads the ’Bows with 20 blocks, suffered an ACL injury to his left knee during Tuesday’s practice.
“It sucks seeing him go through that,” said UH point guard Juan Munoz, who has suffered three ACL injuries during his eight-season college career. “I wish nobody has to go through that. … He’s going to get through this. I’m going to be with him through every step.”
On Thursday, the defending Big West champions did what they do best: drive and score.
Mitchell, who was the league’s MVP last season, led the way. Mitchell eased through the ’Bows’ wall of defenders for layups or tosses to cutters.
“I just read the game,” Mitchell said. “We do a great job scouting. We knew they were going to drop, and I was able to make plays, especially at the hoop. That’s what we did. We executed well. I had open lanes.”
Mitchell scored 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting. He also connected on the Gauchos’ lone 3 of the second half. In one sequence, Mitchell blocked Munoz’s driving layup out of bounds. The ’Bows then lost possession on the ensuing inbounds play when Munoz could not find an open teammate in five seconds.
The ’Bows jumped to a 7-2 lead that was written in chalk.
The Gauchos then went on a straight-to-the-gut 26-0 surge to take a 28-7 lead with 7:41 to play in the first half. The ’Bows missed all 15 of their field-goal attempts during that run.
“A big difference was when we were up 7-2 and the way we played,” Ganot said. “We played like rammers, and that ignited them. They fed off that. Our bad shots, we were trying to run the ball over people, penetrate gaps that weren’t there. It’s a shame. It’s disappointing.”
Although the ’Bows scored seven unanswered points near the end of the first half, they could not overcome a 23-point deficit in the second half.
“The second half, when you’re playing from behind 23, 24 points, it was ridiculous,” Ganot said. “I appreciate the way they fought back. … But our defense was nonexistent. We were struggling. We own it. We go back to work. And you keep trying.”
The ’Bows were forced into pick-your-poison situations with few solutions. Forward Traore was able to power his way for layups or elude defenders for open shots. In the first half, 32 of the Gauchos’ points were launched in the paint. In contrast, the ’Bows managed 12 paint points in the first half.
“I think at times we were kind of stagnant with the offense,” Munoz said. “I don’t think we were sharing the ball. We let them bully us around on defense. That’s just not how we’re supposed to play.”
UH guard Noel Coleman said: “They drove the basketball. and scored it, and we didn’t.”
BIG WEST MEN
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
UC Irvine 7 1 .875 — 14 6
UC San Diego 7 1 .875 — 13 7
UC Davis 7 1 .875 — 12 7
UCSB 5 4 .556 2½ 12 7
CS Northridge 4 4 .500 3 13 7
Long Beach St. 4 4 .500 3 12 8
CS Fullerton 3 5 .375 4 10 10
CSU Bakersfield 3 5 .375 4 8 11
UC Riverside 3 6 . 333 4½ 8 13
Hawaii 2 6 .250 5 10 10
Cal Poly 0 8 .000 7 4 16
Thursday
UC Santa Barbara 78, Hawaii 61
Cal State Bakersfield 64, CS Northridge 56
Cal State Fullerton 54, Cal Poly 51
UC Irvine 72, Long Beach State 61
UC San Diego 66, UC Riverside 65
Saturday
Cal Poly at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Long Beach State at UC Riverside
UC San Diego at UC Davis
Cal State Bakersfield at Cal State Fullerton
CS Northridge at UC Irvine
UC SANta barbara 78, HAWAII 61
GAUCHOS (12-7, 5-4)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
Pierre-Louis 32 5-9 4-4 10 3 2 14
Anderson 34 2-4 0-0 1 0 1 5
Mitchell 34 9-16 6-7 4 6 2 25
Traore 28 8-12 4-6 8 1 4 20
Bland 27 6-7 0-0 4 0 4 12
Belic 7 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0
Fontenet II 9 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0 Shtolzberg 14 1-1 0-0 1 0 1 2
Brockhoff 12 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0
TEAM 2
TOTALS 200 31-52 14-17 33 10 17 78
RAINBOW WARRIORS (10-10, 2-6)
MIN FG-A FT-A R A PF PTS
McKoy 31 2-6 1-1 5 1 1 5
McClanahan 23 1-7 2-4 1 2 1 4
Coleman 30 7-12 0-0 2 0 1 19
da Silva 33 5-7 3-9 2 0 4 13
Munoz 29 4-9 4-4 2 3 0 12 Williams 6 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 2
Beattie 7 1-4 0-0 1 0 1 2
Cotton 17 0-2 0-0 2 1 0 0
Rouhliadeff 6 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 0 Jacobs 15 1-4 2-2 1 0 2 4
TEAM 4
TOTALS 200 22-52 12-20 21 7 13 61
Key — min: minutes played; fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; a: assists; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points.
Halftime — UC Santa Barbara 43, Hawaii 27
3-point goals — UC Santa Barbara 2-8 (Mitchell 1-2, Anderson 1-3, Belic 0-1, Fontenet II 0-1, Traore 0-1). Hawaii 5-25 (Coleman 5-9, McClanahan 0-3, McKoy 0-4, Jacobs 0-3, Munoz 0-3, Cotton 0-2, Beattie 0-1). Steals — UC Santa Barbara 7 (Anderson 2, Mitchell 2, Pierre-Louis 2, Traore). Hawaii 5 (Munoz 4, da Silva). Blocked shots — UC Santa Barbara 1 (Mitchell). Hawaii 2 (da Silva 2). Turnovers — UC Santa Barbara 14 (Pierre-Louis 4, Mitchell 3, Brockhoff 2, Anderson, Belic, Bland, Shtolzberg, Traore). Hawaii 11 (Coleman 3, McClanahan 3, Team 2, Beattie, da Silva, Munoz). Technical fouls — UC Santa Barbara 1 (Bland). Officials — Tommy Nunez, Andy Cohn, Matthew Rukasin. A — 4,279.
