Two UC schools were playing two vastly different games with each other in Thursday’s Big West Conference men’s basketball opener.
UC San Diego was playing keep-away, rebounding 15 of its own misses.
UC Santa Barbara was playing give-away, turning over the basketball 18 times.
And not even 14 three-pointers could save the Gauchos from an 84-76 loss at the Thunderdome.
“It’s strictly about taking care of the ball and blocking out,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “Nothing else matters.”
San Diego (7-2), which has completed its transition to NCAA Division 1 to become playoff-eligible this season, is seizing the opportunity with thieving hands. Thursday’s win was its fifth in a row.
“UC San Diego deserves a lot of credit,” Pasternack said. “They’re a really, really good team. A talented team. Older team. Experienced with those players coming back.
“I think they probably have two or three all-conference players.”
The Gauchos (6-2) shot even better than their nationally ranked season percentages (14th in field goal shooting at 50.5%, and 27th in three-point shooting at 39.1%). They made 51% overall and 48.3% from three on Thursday.
But they continued to self-destruct with turnovers, surpassing their per-game average of 13.4. Their only other loss this season came at home to Texas-El Paso when they gave the ball away 16.
San Diego point guard Hayden Gray, the nation’s leader in steals with 3.9 per game, made easy pickings of UCSB with four thefts to go with his 13 points. The Tritons had 10 steals and committed just seven turnovers.
“Hayden set the tone early with a couple and we were really disruptive, which we really needed to be because they’re much more efficient than us,” Tritons coach Eric Olen said. “We needed all those extra possessions tonight.”
They got a whopping 20 extra possessions.
UCSB’s Stephan Swenson, Gray’s counterpart, torched him from outside by making 7-of-9 three-pointers for a team-high 21 points.
But Gray also forced Swenson into a season-high five turnovers and out-rebounded him 8-4. He crashed the backboards for four offensive rebounds.
“(Swenson) shot the ball unbelievably well and did some great things, but you can’t turn the ball over as your point guard five times,” Pasternack said.
“We didn’t do a good job of blocking out,” he continued. “And that’s for our point guard, our two, three, four … everybody.”
UCSB relied on the three-point shot almost exclusively to stay with the Tritons through the first half. Eight of its nine baskets in the first 20 minutes came from beyond the three-point arc.
The Gauchos were hot at the outset, making 6-of-10 threes — three by Swenson — in the first eight minutes.
Colin Smith came off the bench to make a pair. His two free throws gave the Gauchos their largest lead of 20-14. He finished with 13 points.
But San Diego’s ability to drive and rebound at will soon took its toll.
Nordin Kapic scored a runner and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones’ put-back cleaned up his miss the next time downcourt to rally the Tritons to a 21-20 lead. Jones led all scorers with 22 points while Kapic matched his season-high with 19.
UCSB pushed back ahead, 24-21, on another three by Swenson and a free throw by Jason Fontenet II. Fontenet recorded a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
But San Diego outscored the Gauchos 21-9 the rest of the half to take a 42-33 lead. The Gauchos committed four turnovers in the last three minutes of the period.
“We knew they were going to go for steals,” Fontenet said. “We knew they packed the paint, and they reach and go for steals a lot.
“That’s just a matter of us taking care of the ball and being strong with it.”
The Tritons got 11 offensive rebounds to UCSB’s 11 defensive rebounds during the first 20 minutes. They out-rebounded the Gauchos for the game, 35-31.
The rebounds and 9-3 turnover differential enabled San Diego to take 36 field-goal attempts to UCSB’s 23 in the first half.
“They really shocked us with their offensive rebounds,” Pasternack said. “We corrected it in the second half, but you’ll beat nobody giving up 15 offensive rebounds and turning the ball over 18 times.
“That was the game.”
The Gauchos rallied to within a point in the first nine minutes of the second half. A pair of jumpers by Smith and threes by Ben Shtolzberg and Deuce Turner got them to within 50-49 with 11:08 to go.
Turner scored all 14 of his points in the second half while making a trio of threes.
“When we cut it to one, we had the energy, were playing defense, getting rebounds and pushing,” Fontenet said. “When we do that, we’re going to be successful.
“We’ve just got to sustain that throughout the game.”
But San Diego’s drivers bore gaping holes through the Gauchos’ man-to-man defense in the final 10 minutes. The Tritons made 10 of their last 14 shots.
Tait-Jones, who fouled out Max Murrell in 11 minutes and drew four fouls on Smith, scored 15 of his 22 points in that final 10.
“I think our guys’ composure when they were making runs and making shots were a big part of it,” Olen said. “We’ve played in some tough games so we felt prepared for it.”
UCSB will get another Big West test from a UC school on Saturday at 5 p.m. when it travels to UC Davis.
“We’re going to be way better and fix some things down the line,” Fontenet said. “Fix the mistakes and perform better, for sure.”