Overview:
Cole Anderson makes 4-of-6 three-pointers and leads UCSB victory with 16 points
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Coach Joe Pasternack pulled a UConn job on his UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team on Saturday.
He used a recounting of Connecticut’s run to last year’s NCAA championship to lift the spirit and energy of his slumping Gauchos before their game at Cal Poly.
“I told them that we may have dug ourselves a really deep hole, and it is what it is, but UConn lost six of eight in January before winning the national championship,” Pasternack said. “A season is a marathon.”
UCSB took the first step on the comeback trail with a 61-52 victory at Cal Poly’s Mott Gym.
The victory was the Gauchos’ first in Big West Conference play after three defeats. They are now 8-6 overall while the Mustangs, 4-8, dropped to 0-4 in league play.
It was more gritty than pretty. The Gauchos’ 50% shooting night was marred by 17 turnovers.
But they held the Mustangs to just 30.4% shooting — a season low for any UCSB opponent this season — while harrying them into missing 17 of their 22 three-point attempts.
“I think this was our best defensive performance of the year,” Pasternack said. “We watched a lot of film and got a lot better defensively in the last 24 hours.
“The guys really competed hard. I’m really, really proud of them.”
The victory was UCSB’s 13th straight over Cal Poly and 20th in their last 21 meetings.
The Mustangs made their first three shots, including a three-pointer by Quentin Jones, to take an 8-2 lead.
Josh Pierre-Louis ignited a 10-0 Gaucho response with a driving basket and a fast-break layup off Ajay Mitchell’s pass.
Cole Anderson’s jump shot capped the spree to put UCSB ahead, 12-8.
But the junior guard wasn’t done, sinking a trio of threes during a seven-minute span to keep the Gauchos ahead, 25-21. He also assisted a three by Pierre-Louis to trigger a 7-0 run just before halftime.
Anderson, who had made just 6-of-25 shots in UCSB’s first three league games, scored a team-high 16 points by going 4-for-6 from the three-point line and 5-for-10 overall.
“Cole did an excellent job tonight on both ends,” Pasternack said. “He really competed defensively and obviously he shot the ball really well.
“We needed every last one of those threes.”
Mitchell, who missed five of his first six shots, scored a running bank shot to give UCSB a 32-24 lead at the break. He made four of his last five attempts to finish with 13 points.
Kobe Sanders kept Cal Poly close by scoring 10 of his game-high 22 points during the first 7½ minutes of the second half. The Mustangs made 7-of-12 shots in the period to that point, with Sanders’ three-point play drawing them to within 43-41.
But UCSB’s defense tightened up the rest of the game. Cal Poly missed its next 14 shots, making only five free throws in nine attempts, during the next 11 minutes.
Pasternack kept bringing in fresh defenders by expanding his rotation to 10 Gauchos.
“Earlier in the year we were playing guys way too many minutes,” he said. “What was happening was our defense was suffering.
“Having depth is really, really important for us to get our minutes down so they can defend and compete at the level we need to be successful.”
Jason Fontenet, a 6-foot-5 freshman guard from Arizona, came off the bench to play a post position with good effect in both his rebounding and defending.
“He’s physical, he’s long, and he plays hard,” Pasternack said. “He had 10 rebounds and did a great defensive job on No. 3 (Sanders).
“He cares about things other than scoring. We need guys who care about defense and rebounding, and that’s why Jason Fontenet is going to play.”
Twelve turnovers in the second half kept the Gauchos from routing Cal Poly. They had as many shots as turnovers during the first eight minutes of the period, but made all five of them.
They included Anderson’s final three of the night. Ariel Bland followed with consecutive baskets — the first a layup off his own steal and the second on a dunk off Mitchell’s pass.
UCSB finally got some separation with a modest 8-1 run. Fontenet’s defense got it started when he scored off his own steal. Mitchell added a pair of runners to improve the lead to 53-44 with 6:23 to go.
The Gauchos didn’t score another basket the rest of the night, but 8-for-10 foul shooting in the last two minutes kept the Mustangs at bay.
The Gauchos, who’ve played on the road for three of their first four Big West games, will return home next week to face Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday and Long Beach State on Saturday.
“I’ll stay with what I‘ve been saying all along: Because of our inexperience with all but a couple of players like Ajay and Josh, we’re going to get better and better and better as the year unfolds,” Pasternack said.