C.J. Shaw got into the gift-giving, holiday spirit on Monday.
The UC Santa Barbara freshman handed out a career-high 11 assists while filling in for injured point guard Miro Little in a 79-61, nonleague basketball victory over Portland at the Thunderdome.
“Just learning the one position, day-by-day,” Shaw said. “I played the one in high school, but it’s completely different in college.”
The rookie from Las Vegas’ Mojave High school earned his first collegiate double-double by adding 10 points to his day’s work.
He was one of five players to reach double-figure scoring for UCSB (9-4, 2-0 Big West Conference), which snapped a two-game losing streak in its final nonleague game.
Guard Aidan Mahaney led the Gauchos with 15 points while making 4-of-7 three-point shots.
Center Hosana Kitenge, a graduate transfer from the University of Louisiana, added a season-best 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting. His baskets included his first three-pointer of the season.
“A two-game losing streak sucks, but a three-game losing streak is even worse,” Kitenge said. “We came out here hungrier than they were today.
“I know from the practices that we had this week that we are definitely the hungrier team compared to any other team in the country, so we’re ready to go.”
He missed all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon.
“I believe in him because I know who he is on a daily basis,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “I know who he is as a basketball player … his talent.
“We recruited him to be our big guy, and Hosana is only going to get better and better.
“He’s had one year off from playing and practicing. One year. You don’t just come back and everything’s OK. It doesn’t work like that.”
UCSB out-shot Portland 53.6% to 45.5%. The Pilots (7-6) came into the game ranked 26th nationally with a field-goal percentage of 50.3%.
“Portland is a very good WCC team, and Shantay Legans is a really good coach,” Pasternack said. “They beat Kent State, who’s a very good team. They battled Stanford and Oregon.
“We showed we can defend against the best.”
Legans, a former Dos Pueblos High star, had coached the Pilots to victories over their previous three Big West opponents: UC Davis, Long Beach State, and Cal State Fullerton.
Forward James O’Donnell led Portland with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Gauchos had been allowing a three-point percentage of 38.9%, which ranked as the sixth worst among the NCAA’s 361 Division 1 schools. But they limited the Pilots to just 4-of-17 shooting from three-point distance on Monday.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that we’re working really, really hard on defense,” Pasternack said. “Our first-half intensity on defense was the best we’ve had all year.
“Our biggest struggle has been, ‘Can we put two halves together?’ Our second half the past two games has been awesome, but we were down 15, 20 points, and it was too late.”
Portland’s Joel Foxwell made the game’s first three, but the Pilots missed all seven of the long shots they attempted the rest of the half.
The Gauchos heated up during the next 75 seconds with consecutive threes by Colin Smith, Shaw and Mahaney while taking their first lead, 9-7.
Smith added two more threes to keep UCSB ahead 15-13 with 11:10 left in the first half. He finished with 12 points.
Evans Kipruto came off the bench to add another 12 points and lead UCSB with eight rebounds. His dunk off Shaw’s pick-and-roll pass ignited a 19-4 run that put the Gauchos ahead at halftime, 36-23.
Shaw’s 11 assists tied for the 10th most in a game in school history.
“C.J. Shaw is a terrific player,” Pasternack said. “He’s wise beyond his years.
“When Miro went out in the game two or three Thursdays ago, he went to the point guard position for the first time. Not one possession in practice — in the spring or summer or fall — had he played the point guard position for us.
“We put him there, and for him to be able to do what he’s doing, and be so poised on the road in college basketball, and at home, is awesome.”
Little, who injured his foot in UCSB’s December 4th game against Long Beach State, received a positive prognosis from doctors on Friday.
“They took him out of the boot and he’s progressing now,” Pasternack said. “We think he’ll be back sooner than later … We don’t have an exact date.
“He’s on the court now, working out.
“Miro has been the leader of our team in the games that he’s been able to play. Taking him off our team was devastating, and so getting him back is something our team needs.”
Shaw helped provide the highlight of the game in the second half during a 17-4 run in which UCSB turned a 44-30 lead into a 61-34 blowout.
Zion Sensley poked the ball away from a Portland ballhandler and raced the length of the court before leaping to catch Shaw’s fast-break, alley-oop pass and throw down a reverse dunk.
Shaw said he passed on making that same pass earlier in the game.
“First half I saw him cut, and he told me to throw it, but I didn’t want to risk it because, you know … turnover,” Shaw said. “I threw it the next time, he caught it, and it just went on from there.”
Shaw had only one turnover to go with his 11 assists — a fact that prompted some mock indignation from Pasternack during the post-game press conference.
“I’ll be honest, I’m upset about the turnover,” he said. “We went through this, and he knew they were going to double the ball screen, and he threw it away.
“And so what I’m worried about is how did that happen?”
Pasternack then smirked and added, “Now, when I see he had 11 assists and just the one turnover … I’ll give that to him as a Christmas gift.”
The Gauchos will be off for the holidays until resuming Big West play on New Year’s Day with a 7 p.m. game at Cal State Fullerton.