Records are made to be broken, as the cliché goes, but the one set during Saturday’s Senior Night at UC Santa Barbara broke the Gauchos’ spirit into 67 pieces.
Those were the number of points that UC Irvine scored in the second half — the most ever by a Gaucho basketball opponent — when it turned a 17-point deficit into a 97-88 rout before a stunned crowd at the Thunderdome.
“It’s inexcusable to give up 67 points in a half,” coach Joe Pasternack said after holding a long, post-game meeting with his team.
The record was previously set against the Gauchos by UCLA’s 1967 NCAA championship team.
But while it’s one thing to allow Lou Alcindor and Co. to score 66 points in the first half of a 119-75 beatdown at Pauley Pavilion, it’s quite another to let UC Irvine take over your home court to the tune of 67 second-half points.
“It’s about toughness, it’s about drawing a line in the sand, and we didn’t do that tonight in the second half,” Pasternack said.
The irony was that UCSB (19-12, 11-9 Big West Conference) was playing only for pride and the honor of its seniors on Saturday.
The Gauchos’ No. 5 seeding for the Big West Tournament had already been decided by last Saturday’s 103-77, blowout defeat at Cal State Northridge. UCSB will play No. 8 seed Cal State Bakersfield in Wednesday’s first round at 6 p.m.
But if pride hadn’t already gone by the wayside last week, Irvine trampled it on Saturday.
The Anteaters (27-5, 17-3) held a layup drill in the second half against UCSB’s meek, man-to-man defense, converting 74.2% of their field-goal attempts (23-for-31) while drawing enough fouls to make 17-of-18 free throws.
“We have to determine, and our team has to come together to decide, that we are going to commit to the defensive end,” Pasternack said. “We can score with anybody, but if we don’t defend, we’re going to be out of this tournament really fast.”
UCSB shot 52.5% overall and made 16-of-33 three-pointers, tying for the second-most in school history. The record of 18 threes was set against New Mexico State in 1995.
The Gauchos’ best production came from their bench. Deuce Turner made 5-of-10 threes while scoring a career-high 28 points. Colin Smith was 5-for-7 from three and finished with 18 points.
But Pasternack said his team needed somebody to step up on defense.
“When all you care about is offense, it doesn’t work,” he said. “In college basketball, in any basketball, you have to be a two-way player.
“You have to care about offense and defense and rebounding, and we, tonight, were a one-way team in the second half. You’re not going to out-shoot Irvine.”
The Gauchos actually missed seven of their first eight three-point attempts. The Anteaters had an even colder start. UCSB held them to just two baskets in their first 14 shot attempts while taking a 13-8 lead.
Smith and Turner gave UCSB’s offense some shots in the arm. Smith hit a three before Turner scored three consecutive baskets which included a three of his own.
Stephan Swenson took over from there with three straight baskets. His second three capped a 13-0 run that put the Gauchos ahead 31-15.
Jason Fontenet II hit another to give UCSB its biggest lead of 17 points, 34-17.
The Gauchos led 43-30 by the end of the first half, out-shooting the Anteaters 55.7% to 37.9%.
“This was really a parallel for the entire season,” Pasternack said. “We played incredibly well in the first half — I felt we had a great fight to us.
“And then, in the second half we couldn’t get stops. Consecutive stops.
“We tried to out-shoot them, and you can’t out-shoot UC Irvine.”
Turner used an array of shots to out-score Irvine 9-2 all by himself midway through the second half to give UCSB a 66-52 lead. The margin was at 76-63 with 7:50 remaining after back-to-back threes by Turner and Max Murrell.
Swenson’s fast-break pass set up Murrell’s bomb. He finished with four assists and 13 points with just one turnover during his final game at the Thunderdome.
But he also fouled out just 12 seconds later when Bent Leuchten converted a three-point play with 7:38 remaining.
The Gauchos collapsed without their quarterback, giving up a 20-to-1 run during the next 4½ minutes. Irvine outscored them 34-12 in the last 7½ minutes.
“Steph is the head of our snake, and it was tough to lose him,” Pasternack said.
“We had 20 personal fouls called on us to their 12,” he added.
Irvine scored seven points during one stretch in which four straight turnovers prevented UCSB from even taking a shot.
Jurian Dixon took the most advantage of the Gauchos’ miscues, scoring 16 of his team-high 23 points in the final seven minutes.
The Anteaters also got 21 points from Devin Tillis and 17 from Justin Hohn. Leuchten finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
UCSB will now need to win four Big West Tournament games to gain a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“North Carolina State won five in a row last year to go to the Final Four,” Pasternack pointed out. “Long Beach State won our tournament, I think, by winning three in a row.
“This team is deep, and you play for the conference tournament. That’s all that matters.
“The only thing we’re worried about is going 1-0 versus Bakersfield. There’s nothing else that matters.”