A gimpy ankle kept UC Santa Barbara’s Cole Anderson out of last year’s season-opening basketball rout over San Francisco State.
But the injury boots were on the other feet for Monday’s redux.
The sophomore guard filled in for two injured starters by filling up the basket with a career-high 25 points in a 75-59 victory over the Gators before a near-sellout crowd at the Thunderdome.
“I definitely had a lot of nerves with it being the first game and all the first-start stuff,” Anderson said. “But I felt that once the game started, I wasn’t that nervous. Once it started going, it was all-good.”
Anderson was all-good from the start, hitting a pair of three-pointers and a runner in the first 2:40 to stake UCSB to a 14-4 lead. He shot 9-for-14 for the game and made 5-of-10 threes.
Fifth-year senior Miles Norris, a 6-foot-10 forward, added 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting. He was 2-for-3 from the three-point line, but it was his five dunks which stirred the loudest reactions from UCSB’s packed student section.
“I was excited, this being my last first game in college,” he said. “I wanted to have some fun out there and ultimately just win the game. I just want to do whatever it takes to get the team to win.”
Caught Off-Guard With Injuries
It was a different game for UCSB than last year’s season-opening, 119-65 slaughter of San Francisco State. Starting guards Ajare Sanni and Josh Pierre-Louis — both of whom scored 25 points in last year’s opener — were sidelined with ankle injuries.
Zach Harvey, who missed last year after undergoing surgeries on his ankle and knee, was also held out of Monday’s game.
“I feel like all three are day-to-day, and that they’ll be back with us shortly,” coach Joe Pasternack said. “They’ll be practicing tomorrow.
“They have minor injuries and we were advised by our medical staff to not risk it tonight. I thought it was good to get minutes for other guys, and that was important to get their feet wet.”
He felt especially compelled to give Anderson 34 minutes of playing time, and not just because of his shooting prowess.
“Everybody is going to look at his threes, but what he’s done is work unbelievably hard this summer and fall on his defense,” Pasternack said. “He’s as hard of a worker as we have. He’s in the gym, he loves the game, and he’s a gym rat.
“He’s really come a long way in defending the ball and being where he’s supposed to be, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
UCSB outshot the Gators 50.9 to 35% and out-rebounded them 41-33. Its lead dwindled to as little as three points, however, with barely eight minutes remaining. The Gauchos committed 17 turnovers, missed 12 free throws in 24 attempts, and allowed San Francisco State to penetrate deep enough to score 26 points from point-blank range.
“I’m so proud of our students and the fact that they all showed up in force,” Pasternack said. “It was a great, great student environment.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t play at our best to give them a great game.”
Gauchos’ Startling Start
The first three minutes for the Gauchos were as good as it gets. Cal transfer Andre Kelly needed just 21 seconds to score his first basket for his new school, flipping in a hook shot after Norris shoveled a pass from under the basket.
Kelly, a 6-foot-9 graduate student, was limited to six points by a defense which double-teamed him for most of the game. He did grab 14 rebounds, however.
“Everybody knows he can score — he averaged double figures in the Pac-12,” Pasternack said. “But for him to get what he wants, ultimately to play professional basketball, he has to prove that he can be a great rebounder. That’s what we preach to him.”
Norris, his running mate on the Gaucho front line, was jamming from the start. He dunked a basket in the first minute of play on an alley-oop lob from Ajay Mitchell.
“I was excited,” he said. “It’s always fun to see a big crowd. It gets us going, especially early in the game.”
Although Mitchell struggled with his shot, making just 3-of-10, he still finished with a double-double of 10 points and a career-high 10 assists. His scoring drive was followed by three more baskets by Anderson — two from three-point range — as UCSB took a 14-4 lead with 17:19 still left in the first half.
The rest of the period, however, was a struggle. The Gauchos went scoreless for the next five minutes with five straight misses and three turnovers. They were just 3-of-14 over a span of more than 11 minutes in the first half.
The Gators pulled to within 20-17 after a dunk and two free throws by Eche Okeke.
“The first four minutes I felt we played dominating,” Pasternack said. “Unfortunately, we played the score after the first four minutes and didn’t defend and rebound and compete at a championship level tonight. We just didn’t.
“They did a great job in preparing for us this second time. I thought their coach did a really good job. From our standpoint, we didn’t play very well.”
Going the Extra Miles
Norris put UCSB back on track by dunking an offensive rebound. The Gauchos pulled ahead by as many as nine points, 31-22, on another three by Anderson.
But San Francisco’s Toby Okwuokei beat the halftime buzzer with a three of his own to draw the Gators to within 32-27.
UCSB got off to another good start after halftime by making six of eight shots. Norris, Mitchell and Anderson all hit threes during the outburst to give the Gauchos a double-digit lead of 47-36.
A three and a fast-break layup by Okwuokei, however, rallied San Francisco to within three points again at 54-51 with 11:38 to go. He scored a team-high 20 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three.
“We have to go back and look at the tape, but I thought they got to the rim too easily in the second half,” Pasternack said. “Our positioning wasn’t very good.
“We gave up 20 points to (Okwoukei) and 18 to (Jalen Flanagan). Kudos to them — they did a really good job — but we’ve got to be much better defensively. Our defense has to be like it was in the first four minutes of the game.”
A three by Norris, however, kept the Gators at bay. Anderson followed with a scoring runner and a three off Calvin Wishart’s kickout pass — his sixth assist of the game — to give UCSB some breathing room at 65-56 with 6:05 remaining.
“Thank goodness for Cole Anderson and Miles Norris — they hit some big, big shots and really competed on the offensive end,” Pasternack said. “But we’re a work in progress. We have a long way to go to get better.
“The good news is that we have this week to practice and honor our process and improve.”
The Gauchos will next play Fresno State on Friday at 2 p.m. at the arena used by the Golden State Warriors’ G League team in Santa Cruz. They will also travel to Northern Arizona for a 6 p.m. PST game on Nov. 18 before returning home to play Hampton on Nov. 21.
