Overview:
The Gauchos open their season with some long-sought rim protection after dipping into the NCAA Transfer Portal to obtain 6-foot-10, 240-pound sophomore Eric Dibami from Florida International University
UC Santa Barbara’s Old Guard is giving it the old college retry in men’s basketball.
Backcourt veterans Miro Little and Aidan Mahaney are back at the Thunderdome after a summer of rubbing elbows with the sport’s professional elite.
Little, 22, started for Finland alongside Utah Jazz All-Star Lauri Markkanen barely two months ago in FIBA World Cup qualifying games.
Mahaney, 23, played for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA 2K Summer League in Las Vegas.
But they’ll both be in UCSB’s lineup for the 6 p.m. Monday home opener against San Francisco State.
The homestand will continue with games at 1 p.m. Saturday against Oakland and 1 p.m. Nov. 11 against Mountain West Conference power Nevada.
“We’ve got the kind of experienced depth now that we haven’t had before,” coach Joe Pasternack told Noozhawk.
His Gauchos have finished no better than fifth in the Big West Conference the last three seasons.
But the return of the two veteran guards — both of whom made their UCSB debuts only last season — has brightened the hopes for a redux of the Gauchos’ NCAA tournament seasons of 2021 and 2023.
“Those teams had returning, experienced players,” Pasternack said, noting that future NBA point guards led both of those league champions.
“It’s everything,” he said. “Ajay Mitchell was in his second year here when he got us there.
“JaQuori McLaughlin was in his third.”
McLaughlin made his NBA debut with the Dallas Mavericks a year after guiding the Gauchos to the 2021 Big West championship and their first NCAA tournament berth in a decade.
He’s now playing for the Phoenix Suns’ affiliate in the NBA G League.
Mitchell, an emerging superstar for the Oklahoma City Thunder, played the point for UCSB’s last title and tournament team of 2023.
Little Big Man
Pasternack sees a resemblance between Little and his point-guard predecessors.
“He reminds me as a young man of a JaQuori or an Ajay — young men of the highest character,” he said. “He’s all about winning and all about the right stuff and leadership.
“And he really takes this very, very, very seriously.
“Everything is serious about getting us to where we’re trying to go, and he has the urgency to understand what’s at stake.”
Little, a 6-foot-4 senior, scored at an 11.9-point clip last year on 46% shooting — 34.4% from three-point distance.
He also averaged 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists with just 38 turnovers.
The Gauchos’ seven returning scholarship players include another guard, 6-5 sophomore C.J. Shaw, who received All-Big West honorable mention with a 12.2-point average.
“He’s a very talented young man who has the chance to be really, really special,” Pasternack said.
The other lettermen are 6-10 graduate student Koat Keat Tong, 6-7 senior Marvin McGhee IV, 6-8 sophomore Michael Simcoe, and 6-5 sophomore Luke Zuffelato.
“All this experience helps, 100%,” Little said. “It’s about knowing the habits we need to do right … understanding the certain things we can do and those we shouldn’t be doing.
“And it’s also about putting that example out to the younger guys and new transfers.”
UCSB, which will be playing its final season in the Big West Conference before joining the West Coast Conference, was picked by the league’s coaches to finish third behind UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
The Gauchos posted their ninth-straight winning season last year with an 18-14 record. They fell well short of their predicted runner-up finish in the Big West, however, with a league mark of 11-9.
They were seeded seventh for the conference tournament and got ousted in the first round by No. 6 UC Davis.
UCSB was knocked off stride by Little’s absence during two separate stretches of the season.
An abdominal strain kept him out of six games in December and early January. A hand injury forced him out again for eight league contests.
The Gauchos’ record without him was 3-5 in league and 5-9 overall.
“I feel great!” Little gushed when asked about his health after a recent workout. “Just so excited about this team.
“We’ve got a lot of potential, but now it’s all about grit and grind.
“You could see from today’s practice that we’re really gritty and grimy this year.”
Aidan the Cause
Little and Mahaney kept that mindset with the late heroics that capped a 72-67 comeback victory in last week’s exhibition game at Loyola Marymount.
Mahaney’s diving steal in the final minute led to Little’s two free throws that sealed the win.
“I left Aidan in for the last play and he stole the ball — dove on the floor for the loose ball — and was incredibly gritty,” Pasternack said. “I was so proud of him.”
Mahaney’s craftiness as a scorer earned All-America recognition at Saint Mary’s in 2024 and first-team All-Big West honors with UCSB last year.
He led the Gauchos with a 14.9-point average and 75 three-pointers, making a solid 38.5% of the long shots.
NBA scouts, however, want him to become more impactful on the defensive end.
“He came back to increase his value to be a pro,” Pasternack said.
“Everybody knows he can score,” he continued. “But it was, ‘Don’t come back here just to score … You have to make an adjustment to one part of your game, and that’s defensive toughness and grittiness.’
“It’s the biggest thing he’s committed himself to this season.”
Mahaney has yet to receive a permanent commitment from the court of law, however.
He is one of more than 70 members of the high school graduating class of 2022 who have challenged their exclusion from a new NCAA rule that grants athletes five seasons of eligibility within a five-year period.
They became eligible to play — for now, at least — when a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge granted them a temporary injunction on Oct. 20.
The NCAA is expected to appeal that ruling and request an emergency stay from a California appellate court.
“We’ll see what happens,” Pasternack said. “It’s gone back and forth in these court cases, but as of now he’s eligible.
“We’ll take full advantage of that.”
Mahaney has worked out with the team since the first day of practice.
“I think it’s going to go through, for whatever that’s worth,” he said. “But right now, I’m just focused on getting around the guys here, pushing them every day and making them better.
“In turn, they’ll make me better.
“Hopefully everything falls the way that I hope it will and I’ll be playing in a Gaucho uniform this year.”
Center Attraction
The Gauchos got a big addition to their defense, literally, with the transfer of 6-10 and 240-pound sophomore Eric Dibami from Florida International University.
He became the first FIU player to make both the Conference USA All-Defense and All-Freshman teams last year. He blocked 1.4 shots per game while averaging 9.3 points and 7.4 rebounds.
Dibami, a native of Cameroon, scored 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting in UCSB’s exhibition game at LMU.
“We haven’t had anybody like him with that kind of size,” Pasternack said. “Amadou (Sow of the Gauchos’ 2021 NCAA team) would be the closest, but he didn’t have this kid’s size and length.
“Eric is such a wonderful kid, too.”
Two graduate transfers — 6-6 Viljami Vartiainen from Weber State and 6-3 R.J. Smith from DePaul — also got significant minutes in last week’s exhibition game.
Vartiainen, the Big Sky Conference leader in three-pointers last year with 2.9 per game, previously played with Little on Finland’s 18U National Team.
“Ain’t nothing better than having another Finn on the team,” Little said. “We played against each other since we were like 13, 12 years old.
“We also played on the same high school team for a little bit and on the same national team.
“He’s one of the best shooters in the country, and you’re going to see that this season.”
UCSB also picked up 6-9 graduate student Antonio Chol from New Mexico and 6-8 sophomore Declan Duru Jr. from Texas.
McGhee got the start at forward in the LMU exhibition, however, and acquitted himself well with seven rebounds. Tong and Simcoe got five apiece while getting the bulk of backup minutes on the front line.
The Gauchos out-rebounded the Lions 42-30, affirming a point of emphasis for Pasternack this season.
“It’s called system wisdom,” he said. “You always have an advantage if you’ve been here before, like a KK, a Marvin McGhee or a Mike Simcoe.
“Antonio and Declan both have tremendous upside, it’s just going to take them time to learn the system.
“Their best days are ahead this year.”
He’s also high on the futures of Zuffelato, a sophomore from Santa Barbara High; freshman Jordan Charles, a lightning-quick point guard from Canada, and freshman Marco John Wuol, a 6-11 center from Germany.
“I’m really excited about them, and they didn’t even play (against LMU),” Pasternack said. “I’m really looking forward to having this kind of depth this year.”
The roster has forced him into some deep thinking.
“There are going to be a lot of people mad at me,” he said.
“When I was a freshman at Indiana, coach (Bobby) Knight told us in his basketball coaching class that, ‘If anybody in here wants to be liked — if that’s really important to you — then don’t go into coaching.’
“As a leader, unfortunately, you have to make tough decisions for the good of the group, and it’s not always in everybody’s best interests.
“Our job is to figure out who the best five players are to put on the court at the same time.”
Defense has become a big part of that equation.
Opponents shot 46.2% against the Gauchos last year — the highest percentage they’ve allowed since the 1997-1998 season.
UCSB also ranked 10th out of 11 Big West schools in both blocked shots and steals last year.
But an old Gaucho says it’s a new day at the Thunderdome.
“This year’s team is way more athletic,” Little said. “It’s faster at every position and better on the defensive end.
“That’s our biggest focus.”
And they’re looking to put three years of frustration behind them.
