Overview:
Junior veterans Jason Fontenet II and UC Conn transfer Aidan Mahaney were both voted by the Big West Conference coaches onto their six-player, preseason all-league team
There are seemingly a thousand points of light brightening the outlook for the UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team this season.
The Gauchos used their depth to score 120 points in last week’s preseason scrimmage against Fresno State.
But coach Joe Pasternack had a point to make, too.
“We have an offensive mindset, which is great,” he told Noozhawk on the eve of this week’s season-opening homestand.
“But to win in conference, you have to rebound and defend … which is what UC Irvine has proven.”
UCSB wants a fast start when it plays home games against San Francisco State at 6 p.m. Tuesday and San José State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Gauchos plan a “white out” for their fans in the matinee against San José. They are also recognizing “Parents Week” that day by admitting parents for free when accompanied by their student.
They’ll see a UCSB team that’s determined to break out quite literally this week.
“We want to be a fast team,” junior co-captain Jason Fontenet II said. “You see that in the NBA all the time.
“OKC (the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder) and the Indiana Pacers, they rebound and go.
“That’s our goal this year.”
An ultra up-tempo approach in UCSB’s two scrimmages came partly from necessity.
All three of UCSB’s veteran centers — graduate students Hosana Kitenge and Evans Kipruto, and redshirt junior Koat Keat Tong — were held out of the first one at the University of Pacific with “nicks and bruises,” Pasternack said.
“Zion Sensley ended up playing the five, that’s how crazy it was for us,” he said.
Sensley, a 6-foot-8 wing player, made more than half of his baskets (15 of 26) from three-point range last year as a freshman.
“It was a great experience for us, though,” Pasternack added. “Very, very physical, and we needed that.”
UCSB, 21-13 overall last season, reached the 20-win milestone for the sixth time in Pasternack’s first eight seasons as head coach.
But the Gauchos faltered with both their defense and rebounding during Big West Conference play to finish in fifth place with an 11-9 mark.
They shot well in league — 46.2% overall and a Big West-best 40.5% in three-pointers — but ranked seventh in both field-goal percentage defense (44.4%) and rebound margin (minus-1.9 per game).
UCSB shot 59.7% overall and 50% from three in last week’s Fresno scrimmage at Westmont College’s Murchison Gym.
“We can definitely play at a really great pace,” Pasternack said. “But at the end of the day, our season will come down to, ‘Can we be an improved defense and rebounding team?’”
UC Irvine has used that recipe to win or share the Big West’s regular-season title seven times in the last 12 seasons. It took second in four of the other five seasons.
Eight of the league’s 11 coaches recently picked the Anteaters to make it eight championships in 13 years.
The other three coaches chose UCSB, which won its last title in 2023 during the sophomore season of current OKC Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell.
Backcourt to the Future
Fontenet, who was voted to this year’s six-player Preseason All-Big West team, likes UCSB’s chances.
“I’ve been here for three years, so I’ve seen multiple teams,” he said. “I know what to expect and what standard to hold to, and I’m really excited about this team.
“We’ve got guys who can run, we’ve got athletic guys, we’ve got guys with skills … So yeah, I’m excited about it.
“I’ve improved a lot this summer and I’m ready to make a big jump with this team and make it to the NCAA tournament.”
Fontenet’s per-game averages last year in scoring (9.9 points), rebounding (6.0) and assists (2.7) top all Gaucho returnees.
“Jason, I believe, is the key to our season because he does everything,” Pasternack said. “It starts with his character, his family … who he is.
“He played 20-plus minutes as a freshman and nearly 30 last year … He has the experience and knows how we do things.
“He defends the best player. He rebounds on offense and defense …And he really can shoot the ball.”
He said Fontenet’s 31.8% accuracy from three-point range last season is “not indicative of how good he’s become as a shooter.”
His toughness at 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds also gives Pasternack many options on a team loaded with quality wing players.
“He is the glue to our team in everything we do,” he said. “He can play the one, two, three and four.
“He was such a huge part of what we did last year — and he’s going to have an increased role this year.”
UConn transfer Aidan Mahaney, one of Fontenet’s new running mates in the backcourt, was also voted to the Preseason All-Big West team.
The 6-foot-3 guard earned All-West Coast Conference First-Team honors during both his freshman and sophomore years at highly ranked Saint Mary’s.
He averaged nearly 14 points per game while making 37.5% of his three-pointers (157-of-419) in those two seasons combined.
Mahaney became one of the nation’s most highly recruited players when he entered the NCAA transfer portal during the spring of 2024.
He opted for UConn, which was coming off its second-straight NCAA championship.
He re-entered the transfer portal last spring, however, after averaging just 12.9 minutes of playing time with the Huskies.
Mahaney quickly asserted himself during the Gauchos’ summer workouts, prompting Pasternack to name him as one of his three captains.
“Aidan is one of the best leaders we’ve ever had,” he said. “I’m talking vocal leader, every day.
“The most important thing he brings to this team is winning championships … his experience of going to the NCAA tournament three years in a row.
“He has that pedigree that when he speaks, everybody listens.”
Little Big Man
Miro Little, a 6-4 and 195-pound junior transfer from the University of Utah, is UCSB’s heir apparent at point guard.
He led the Utes last season with 96 assists but decided to transfer after they fired head coach Craig Smith.
His father, La Trice Little, has both played and officiated professional basketball in Finland. His mother, Kati Packalén, serves as CEO of the Basketball Association of Finland.
Little played a major role for Finland this summer in its advance to the semifinals of the EuroBasket Championships.
He had 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists in his country’s 92-86, Round-of-16 upset over a Serbian team led by three-time NBA most valuable player Nikola Jokić.
Little trained with the Gauchos for three weeks this summer before playing in that tournament.
“Miro went to Baylor and Utah and didn’t have great experiences, and he’s hungry for this role and is now just soaking up all the little details,” Pasternack said.
“To show you who he is, he landed here on a Thursday night at 6 p.m. … and on Friday, was out there shooting with the guys just to prove his leadership.
“Miro is a really, really good passer with the vision and size to make the right reads. That’s his biggest strength.”
He averaged 4.6 assists for Finland, but also figures to help UCSB shore up its rebounding.
“Miro had the same amount of rebounds as Jokić in their game at the Euro championships,” Pasternack pointed out.
“Everybody has to block out and rebound, all game … That’s going to be the key for us this year.”
Backcourt transfer Marvin McGhee IV, who made 47.1% of his three-pointers (40-for-85) for Cal State Bakersfield last year, also has the length to rebound.
“He’s about 6-5 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a plus-five like that before,” Pasternack said. “He’s strong. He’s tough. He’s physical.
“He’s coming off a serious injury, but he’s fully recovered now and practicing.”
Colin’s Calling
Pasternack named Colin Smith, a 6-8 and 220-pound junior forward, as his other captain.
He transferred to UCSB during the spring of 2024 after tearing his Achilles tendon at Vanderbilt.
A series of ankle injuries and other ailments limited him to just half of the Gauchos’ 20 league games last year. He averaged 8.7 points in only 20.2 minutes of playing time.
Pasternack expects a healthier Smith to become more impactful on the backboards after having averaged only 2.8 rebounds per game last year.
“Colin has done a great job on his body,” he said. “He shot over 42% (30-for-69, 43.5%) from three last year, which is always great to have at the forward position.
“He can defend. He can drive the ball. He can score and pass out of the post.
“But the most important thing we’re going to need out of him is rebounding from that forward position.”
Kitenge, a 6-8 graduate transfer from the University of Louisiana, is expected to carry a large share of UCSB’s rebounding.
He received All-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2024, averaging 13.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. A major injury, however, forced him to miss all of last season.
“Hosana tore his Achilles at 275 pounds but has slimmed down to 242,” Pasternack said. “He played in his first game in, I guess, two years in our scrimmage against Fresno.
“He is really skilled with the ball. He can drive it, shoot it — he can shoot the ball from three — and can score in the post.
“But his greatest attribute is that he can really pass the ball.”
The Gauchos expect Tong (6-10, 220 pounds) and Kipruto (6-8, 240) — the only two holdovers from their NCAA tournament team of 2023 — to return from their injuries in time for the Big West’s early bird week.
UCSB will open league with home games against Long Beach State on Dec. 4 and Cal State Bakersfield on Dec. 6 before returning to nonconference play with three more tuneups.
“We just have to survive the month of November and everybody will be back,” Pasternack said. “It’s actually been great for our young guys, getting this experience, and the minutes they’ll get in the games.
“We’ve got some big decisions to make, and that’s why you play in these scrimmages and use these games in November to really evaluate players and prepare for conference.”
Youth Movement
Sensley showed signs of a breakout sophomore season after getting 30 points and seven rebounds in the Fresno scrimmage.
He was a four-star recruit coming out of San Francisco’s Archbishop Riordan High School in 2024, getting ranked among the nation’s top 100 recruits by both ESPN and 247Sports.
Sensley was limited to just 7.1 minutes of playing time in 20 games as a freshman “by injuries and inexperience,” Pasternack said.
Retaining him was the coach’s first task during the hours following their Big West tournament semifinal loss to league champion UC San Diego.
“The first phase of recruiting is retention, and it happened literally when we got off the bus,” he said.
“I brought Zion into my hotel room to convince him to stick with this and not follow the norm of college basketball athletes by jumping into the portal when they don’t like their role.
“He’s talented, and to Zion’s credit and his family’s credit, he went against the naysayers and decided to stay.”
Point guard Zachiah “ZZ” Clark, ranked 30th by 247Sports among guards in the recruiting Class of 2024, also returned after playing in just five games and taking a redshirt season.
“Those two freshmen were really good for us even though they didn’t get a lot of minutes,” Pasternack said.
“We really needed to retain them, especially since they know our system.”
This year’s freshman class — 6-8 forward Michael Simcoe from Phoenix, 6-5 guard C.J. Shaw from Las Vegas and 6-5 guard Luke Zuffelato from Santa Barbara High have already made a big impression at UCSB.
Pasternack has had several impact freshmen during his Gaucho tenure, including Mitchell and four-time all-leaguer Amadou Sow.
But he said these three, as a group, might be his best overall class.
“They’ve done an awesome job both on the court and off the court, (with their) discipline, preparation, maturity factor,” he said. “We feel really good about those three guys.”
Simcoe, a high-energy post player, may be most in need at the start. He took advantage of his playing time during the Fresno State scrimmage to record a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“I knew a little bit about him when he was in high school, and it’s great that we’ve got another Arizona guy,” said Fontenet, who came to UCSB from Phoenix’s Bella Vista Prep. “Actually, all of our big guys have motors.
“They’ve got just huge energy and like running the floor.
“And like I said, we want to run.”
