SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Bold Week for Big West Conference men’s basketball descended into Cold Week for UC Santa Barbara in its resumption of nonconference play on Saturday.
The Gauchos made just four baskets in the first half as Utah Valley delivered an early knockout, 68-53, in their neutral site matchup at the Delta Center.
“We weren’t ready to go here … didn’t play well in the first half, unfortunately,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “That’s on me as the coach.
“For whatever reason, we were flat.”
They were also without injured starters Miro Little and Jason Fontenet II.
Little’s absence at point guard for the second-straight game with a leg injury was the most telling. UCSB (8-3) finished with 19 turnovers and just seven assists to bring its five-game winning streak to a screeching stop.
Pasternack had no timetable for Little’s return.
“We’re still waiting for the doctors to tell us,” he said. “It’s on them.”
UCSB compounded its 4-for-21 shooting in the first half by committing 14 of its turnovers.
Utah Valley took a 37-15 lead into halftime while scoring 14 of its points off Gaucho miscues.
UCSB’s 15 points tied for the eighth lowest, first-half total in school history. It was the fewest number of points for the Gauchos in a first half since they were held to 14 by UC Riverside on Jan. 4, 2010.
The Gauchos cleaned up their game in the second half, shooting 46.9% while making 3-of-6 threes and committing just five turnovers.
“Just totally, totally out of sync in the first half,” Pasternack said. “Then in the second half, I thought we started to have a little energy and pop, shared the ball, weren’t selfish, and played better.”
UCSB missed its first seven shots and committed five turnovers in the first 7½ minutes to fall behind 9-0.
Hosana Kitenge’s layup finally got the Gauchos on the scoreboard with 12:33 left in the first half.
UCSB’s second basket didn’t come until just 8:10 remained in the period, and that was on Koat Keat Tong’s putback of a Zion Sensley miss.
Tong, a 6-foot-10 junior, came off the injured list to make his season debut while coming off a hand injury.
Two of the Gauchos’ four baskets in the first half came on the rebound of a teammate’s miss.
The Wolverines (8-3) made 6-of-10 three-pointers in the first half to UCSB’s 0-for-7.
“We were taking threes from the NBA line, and that’s on me,” Pasternack said (the Delta Center is the home of the Utah Jazz, where the NBA’s three-point line is 23 feet, 9 inches before tapering off to 22 feet in the corners … The NCAA line is at 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches before dropping off to 21 feet, 7 7/8 inches in the corners).
“We should’ve practiced with an NBA line there — I think it confused our guys.
“Our preparation wasn’t very good this week … This is on me. I take full responsibility for how we came out today.”
The Wolverines cooled off in the second half but still out-shot the Gauchos 40.4% to 35.8% overall and 36.4% to 23.1% from the three-point line. Wayden Welling led Utah Valley with 18 points.
The Gauchos scored more points in the first six minutes of the second half than they did during the entire first half, going on a 17-7 run to trim their deficit to 12 points.
Colin Smith and Marvin McGhee IV both made a three and Aidan Mahaney added a three-point play while banking in a running bank shot.
Sensley’s step-back jumper got UCSB to within 32-44 with 14:04 remaining.
But Mahaney, who won the Lou Henson National Player of the Week Award after scoring 56 points in two games combined last week, missed the 11 other shots he attempted on Saturday and finished with just five points.
He was also called for a technical foul in the closing minutes after protesting the lack of fouls called against the Wolverines’ physical defense.
“Aidan didn’t have it today,” Pasternack said.
Evans Kipruto’s basket drew the Gauchos to within 58-47 with 7:09 left. But they went scoreless for the next four minutes and never threatened again.
Smith led UCSB with 10 points while Sensley and McGhee were next highest with just eight each.