Overview:
UCSB has its guards up with the return of Ajay Mitchell, Josh Pierre-Louis and Cole Anderson
Joe Pasternack coaches like a cat on a hot, tin Thunderdome roof.
He thinks of ways to land on his feet even before the threat of a fall.
Pasternack, the meticulously impassioned lion king of UC Santa Barbara basketball, assembled one of the most talented teams in Gaucho history for last week’s start of summer workouts.
And yet, he’s still as jumpy as Josh Pierre-Louis, his pogo stick of a wing guard.
“They’re great, great young men … It’s a talented team,” he began.
And then some fur-rising anxiety grabbed him by the collar.
“Unfortunately, the experience … We only have three returning players who have played much college basketball,” he continued. “Seriously played, I mean … Ajay (Mitchell), Josh and Cole (Anderson) are the only three, so that’s scary.”
That trio does combine, however, for one sweet melody.
Point of Return
Point guard Ajay Mitchell pulls the strings as UCSB’s playmaker. The 6-foot-5 junior won Big West Conference Player of the Year honors last season, averaging 16.1 points and 5.2 assists per game.
He led the Gauchos to a record of 27-8 and their second NCAA Tournament berth in the last three years.
ESPN.com projects him to be a second-round pick in next June’s NBA Draft.
His stock could rise even higher if his career three-point percentage of 28% does the same.
“Ajay keeps getting bigger and stronger, and he really is a good shooter,” Pasternack said. “His percentages weren’t good last year, but that’s not who he is.
“I see it every day in practice — 130 practices last year — that he can really shoot the ball. That’s the least of our concerns.”
His biggest concern was losing Mitchell to a power-conference school.
“People tried to get him,” Pasternack explained. “He could’ve gone anywhere in America, but he stayed.
“He figured, ‘Why take a chance of what you don’t know at another place?’”
Rising On Their Wings
Pierre-Louis is the high-leaping senior who hits the high notes for the trio. The kinetic, 6-4 senior coupled his fervent defense with acrobatic offense last year to average 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
And he’s been using his first real offseason to refine his outside shot.
“Year one was COVID, and he wasn’t here,” Pasternack said. “Year two, he got hurt in the (2021) NCAA Tournament and was out for that spring and summer.
“Year three, he got hurt against UC Irvine in the Big West Tournament and was out again for spring and summer. So this is the first time he’s been actually healthy enough to work on his game.”
Anderson is an evolving junior whose three-point harmony — a team-best 40.5% (51-for-126) from beyond the arc — proved the perfect complement to the base of UCSB’s offense last season.
“He’s the best shooter in the conference, and the improvement of his defense from freshman to sophomore year was the best of any player I’ve ever seen,” Pasternack said. “He’s been expanding his game this spring and summer with his development.
“Cole, Josh and Ajay also make up our leadership council. They’re in charge because they’ve been through the wars with us. They know our culture.
“It’s all about teaching the new guys about our culture and how we do things.”
Stoking the Campfire
Pasternack put all the Gauchos to the test last week at their summer youth camp.
“We’re having the whole team coach the camp,” he said. “They’ll become better players from having seen what it’s like to coach.”
Most coaches would be thrilled, not chilled, to reload the way Pasternack has for next season.
He plucked a pair of impact sophomores from nationally ranked programs out of the NCAA transfer portal: 6-foot-10 forward Yohan Traore from Auburn and 6-4 guard Ben Shtolzberg from Creighton.
Two years ago, Traore was the nation’s No. 24 recruit according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Shtolzberg polled at No. 161.
Pasternack also signed one of his top high school targets from this year, 6-6 guard Jason Fontenet Jr. from Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as JC All-State 7-footer Mezziah Oakman from the City College of San Francisco.
“It’s so early to tell, but I’m really, really happy with all of them,” he said. “Fontenet comes in with a college-ready body and he can really shoot the ball. He’s an amazing young man.
“Oakman has a 7-5 wingspan and a great, soft touch. He loves the game and is getting better every day.
“And the two transfers, Shtolzberg and Traore, are both going to be really, really big for us this year at their respective positions.”
Pasternack went overseas to sign his most recent prospect — 6-10 forward Killian Brockhoff — right off Germany’s U20 National Team.
He joins two other foreign imports, 6-7 sophomore Matija Belic of Serbia and 6-8 junior Evans Kipruto of Kenya. They both performed admirably down the stretch of their rookie seasons last year when injuries pressed them into prime-time duty.
Ariel Bland, a 6-7 sophomore who sat out last year as a redshirt, is also back in the Gaucho fold.
And Gage Gomez, a 6-3 walk-on guard from Arroyo Grande, earned a scholarship for his senior season at UCSB after getting the call in several close games last year.
A Canada-Do Spirit
Pasternack plans to venture out of the country one more time next month. He intends to adjoin the new pieces with the old during a five-day, two-game tour of British Columbia, Canada.
The Gauchos will play the University of British Columbia in Vancouver on Aug. 7 and Trinity Western University in Langley on Aug. 8.
“British Columbia beat UNLV on their summer tour last year, so it should be a good test,” he said. “We’re going to Vancouver to give all these new guys as much experience as possible with the rest of the team.”
The tour will allow UCSB to expand its summer practices from just four hours per week to full workouts beginning on Tuesday.
“We get 10 days of real practice leading up to Canada,” Pasternack pointed out.
Belic and Brockhoff were the only Gauchos to miss the start of summer drills. They were both in Greece the last few weeks to represent their countries at the U20 European Championships.
They ended up facing each other on the final day. Belic nearly recorded a double-double (11 points, nine rebounds) in Serbia’s 82-78 victory.
Brockhoff contributed seven points, four rebounds and four assists to Germany’s totals.
“Killian is 6-10, 225, and he can really shoot … which is what we need,” Pasternack said.
He’ll help fill the temporary void left by sophomore Koat Keat Tong. The 6-10 forward had his freshman season ended prematurely by a leg injury last year.
“KK had to have a second surgery, so we won’t have him for a while,” Pasternack said. “He is rehabbing really hard right now.
“Ryan Yamada, our physical therapist and someone who treats all the NBA guys who come to town, has done an amazing job with him and feels good about his progress. But we just don’t know when we’ll get him back.”
Gabe Vincent returned in time from his knee surgery to begin Pasternack’s first Gaucho season of 2017-2018.
He helped the Miami Heat reach this year’s NBA Finals as its starting point guard and has since been lured away by the Los Angeles Lakers with a three-year contract worth $33 million.
“Gabe is coming to work out in Santa Barbara on Monday,” Pasternack said. “It’s amazing, especially after having gone through an ACL.
“JaQuori McLaughlin is back with the Golden State Warriors, on their G-League team (in Santa Cruz). He did great in New Zealand a few months ago and this will be his year, I believe, to make the jump to the NBA.”
Miles Norris, who completed his third season as a starting forward at UCSB last march, will join Vincent in the NBA this year after signing a two-way contract with the Atlanta Hawks.
“Drew Timme, an All-American from Gonzaga, got an exhibit-10 contract for $75,000, and Miles got a two-way for $500,000,” Pasternack pointed out.
“When we go out recruiting, we tell people, ‘It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s about the opportunity you get.”
The newest batch of Gauchos will start getting them next month in Canada.