Overview:
A victory over the second-place Anteaters would give UCSB a two-game lead in conference race
UC Santa Barbara could take a big step toward a Big West Conference men’s basketball championship with a win on Wednesday, but it will have to move forward without its center.
The first-place Gauchos (20-4, 11-2 Big West) will be without starting center Andre Kelly when second-place UC Irvine (17-8, 10-3) visits the Thunderdome at 7 p.m. for their annual “Blue Out” game.
The first 1,000 students will receive free blue T-shirts. All other fans are also encouraged to wear the color.
Kelly and UC Davis point guard Ty Johnson both received automatic, one-game suspensions after they were ejected for fighting during Saturday’s game at UCSB.
The Gauchos’ top front-line reserve, freshman Koat Keat Tong, also missed the second half of the Davis game after injuring his knee.
Coach Joe Pasternack said he was still “going back-and-forth” about who to start in Kelly’s place. But he is counting on his “sixth man” — the increasingly boisterous crowds at the Thunderdome — to pick up the slack for his team.
“The other night, it was packed to the top,” he said of the student section. “It’s always like that when we played Cal Poly but not for any other games. To have that happening now is a great thing.
“The best college basketball programs in America, the ones on the West Coast that everyone admires like San Diego State and Gonzaga, have great, dominating home crowds.”
Saturday’s melee began with shoves which escalated into a wrestling match. Johnson grabbed Kelly in a bear hug and then fell backwards with him onto the court.
Two fans sitting courtside along UCSB’s “Thunder Row” were knocked backwards when a surge of players, coaches, referees and security officials rushed in to separate the two players.
Game officials reviewed video of the altercation before ejecting both Kelly and Johnson with flagrant-2 technical fouls. That decision also automatically suspended them for their next games, according to NCAA Rule 10, Section 5, Article 11.
Johnson will have to sit out UC Davis’ Wednesday night contest against Cal State Northridge.
Game officials also issued an administrative technical foul to UC Davis for the involvement of assistant coach Jonathan Metzger-Jones. Video replays show Metzger-Jones, who served as an assistant coach at UCSB from 2007 to 2011, grabbing Kelly’s head as he tried to pull him away from Johnson.
UC Davis athletic director Rocko DeLuca said in a prepared statement that, “pending further review,” Metzger-Jones would be suspended from Wednesday’s game against CSUN.
“We have high expectations for our coaches and student-athletes, and we will hold accountable those who fail to meet our expectations,” he said in the statement.
UC Irvine dealt with its own suspension last week when Big West officials sanctioned head coach Russell Turner for confronting referees after the Anteaters’ overtime defeat at Long Beach State. Turner had to sit out UCI’s Thursday game against Cal Poly.
He was back on the sidelines, however, for Saturday’s 83-64, homecoming victory over UC Riverside.
Wednesday’s contest will be a battle between two of the most prolific backcourts in the Big West.
UCI’s three-headed monster is led by guard Dawson Baker. He ranks seventh in the Big West in scoring (15.1 points per game) and fourth in field-goal percentage (.482). Fellow guard D.J. Davis is scoring at a 14.1-point clip after having made 4-of-5 threes against Riverside. His 2.4 threes per game lead the Big West.
Anteaters’ point guard Pierre Crockrell II leads the conference in assists per game (5.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7) after setting up 11 baskets in the Riverside game.
“We’ve had tremendous respect for their program, their coaching staff, their system of play ever since we got here six years ago,” Pasternack said. “It’s been a challenge to play them every time.
“This will be one of our biggest challenges … They’re really, really good.”
Kelly led UCSB to a 73-65 victory at Irvine on Jan. 16 by scoring 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds. He averages 9.2 points on 56.9% shooting and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.
The Anteaters’ top front-line player, Bent Leuchten, sat out the Jan. 16 game with an injury. He recently returned to UCI’s lineup, however, and scored 10 points with four rebounds against Riverside.
The Gauchos’ Josh Pierre-Louis, a 6-foot-4 guard, missed the last Irvine game with food poisoning. He had a big game on Saturday with 18 points, eight assists and seven turnovers, and even played power forward at one point of the game. It’s a situation that could repeat itself on Thursday.
“Absolutely, we’re going to play small,” Pasternack said.
UCSB point guard Ajay Mitchell was named Big West Player of the Week on Monday. He scored 24 points in the 84-74 win over Davis and had a double-double of 17 points and 10 assists in a 75-72 victory at Long Beach State.
He leads the Gauchos with averages of 15.9 points and 4.8 assists per game.