Overview:
UCSB out-rebounded the Redhawks 33-20, made 8-of-21 three-pointers and shot 22-for-25 from the free-throw line to notch third-straight victory
LAS VEGAS — UC Santa Barbara went back for second helpings during its Thanksgiving weekend of men’s college basketball.
The Gauchos feasted on 13 offensive rebounds to score 14 second-chance points and beat Seattle University 74-71 in Saturday’s championship game of the Resorts World Las Vegas Classic.
“It was a very hungry group of guys we had today, and it was great to see,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “Our guys really came in here with one thought of just dominating the boards.
“The last two games we’ve done that. It’s about getting extra possessions.”
The Gauchos (6-2), who had 15 offensive rebounds in Friday’s tournament-opening win over Lehigh, out-rebounded Seattle 33-18.
The Redhawks (5-2) had won their previous four games which included a 77-69 victory at Stanford last week.
“I think they’ll be right there in the WCC race, behind Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s in the next tier with Loyola Marymount and Oregon State and Washington State,” Pasternack said. “They’re very well coached.
“They’ve got a lot of talent, but our guys really competed at an incredible level.”
The Redhawks out-shot UCSB 56.3% to 46.8% overall, but the Gauchos outscored them 8-3 from the three-point line and 22-14 from the free-throw line.
Seattle had come into the game ranked 11th nationally in three-point accuracy at 41.2%, but it connected on just 27% of its long shots on Saturday.
Zion Sensley made 4-of-6 threes for UCSB to go with 6-of-6 foul shooting while scoring a team-high 20 points. The 6-foot-8 sophomore also grabbed six rebounds to share the team lead with center Hosana Kitenge.
“He’s really, really transformed his game of not just settling for threes, but being a complete player,” Pasternack said. “His crashing the glass relentlessly has been awesome to see, and competing on the defensive end, as well.
“We’ve really tried to get these guys to understand that to increase their value, they have to be a multi-dimensional player and not just a one-trick pony.
“To Zion’s credit, he’s been unbelievably coachable and added a huge motor to his game.”
Sensley played a career-high 30 minutes while starting in place of Jason Fontenet for the third-straight game. Fontenet, an All-Big West Conference Preseason selection, has been sidelined with a hip injury.
“We’re going to revisit everything with him on Monday,” Pasternack said. “It’s a tough deal.”
The Gauchos made their first four shots, with Sensley and Colin Smith both sinking three-pointers.
The Redhawks came out red hot, as well, making seven of their first 11. A three by Jun Seok Yeo put them on top, 17-14, after just eight minutes of play.
He finished with 18 points while Will Heimbrodt scored 16 in the second half to finish with a team-high 20 on 9-of-10 shooting. Seattle’s 56.3% field-goal accuracy was a difficult morsel for Pasternack to digest.
“We’re really blocking out and crashing for rebounds, but the other half of that is we have to be able to get stops, and multiple stops,” he said. “It’s still our Achilles heel.
“If we don’t fix that, we’ll be OK, but we just won’t be a great team. That’s what we hope to improve as we move forward.”
Sensley shot UCSB back ahead 23-19, making back-to back threes off driving kickout passes from Miro Little.
Little led the Gauchos to their biggest first-half lead of 30-22, popping in a three from the top and then assisting C.J. Shaw’s three-point play. He got five of his game-high six assists in the first half and also finished with 12 points and four steals.
Aidan Mahaney’s 14 points included a pair of runners that kept UCSB ahead by halftime, 36-32.
The Gauchos stumbled to start the second half, committing four of their 17 turnovers in the first four minutes. They also missed their first three shots, getting only Sensley’s two free throws out of their first eight possessions.
Seattle made five of its first six shots of the second half and added a trio of free throws in a 13-2 run that put it ahead 45-38.
A three by Marvin McGhee IV, however, put UCSB back on track.
Freshman Michael Simcoe added a pair of free throws and a reverse layup after twice keeping the ball alive on a key, lengthy possession. The Gauchos rebounded four of their misses during the sequence.
“I thought Mike Simcoe gave us a huge lift in the second half with his offensive rebounding,” Pasternack said.
Sensley banked in a three and Smith added a jumper that put UCSB back on top, 52-50, with 8:38 to go.
Shaw, another freshman who was playing before a hometown crowd, helped keep the Gauchos ahead with a three-plus-minute outburst of energy.
The 6-3 guard took an intercepted pass in for a layup, soared high for a putback, and knifed through heavy traffic to score a runner to increase UCSB’s margin to 66-58. He finished with nine points.
“He’s an unbelievable finisher and very quick to the rim,” Pasternack said. “He’s just going to get better and better.
“His biggest weakness is his inexperience. We just need to get him minutes. Hopefully he’ll have gotten even better by midyear.
“We need him … We need him right now.”
Kitenge got two of his four assists during that stretch, finding Mahaney open for a three and then making a high-post pass to Little as he flashed to the basket for a three-point play.
Seattle got as close as three points three times in the final 65 seconds. The Gauchos held them off each time with Little’s baseline fadeaway jumper and two free throws apiece by Sensley and Mahaney.
UCSB went 22-for-25 from the foul line to go 50-for-57 (88%) for the tournament. Little increased his streak of consecutive makes to 18 before finally missing one on Saturday.
The Gauchos will take a three-game winning streak into their “Big West Bold Week,” early start to conference play, with home games on Thursday against Long Beach State and Saturday against Cal State Bakersfield. Both contests will tip off at 6 p.m.
“We’re having a blue out for Long Beach,” Pasternack said. “We’re going to give blue T-shirts to the students, but we need our community to show up and wear blue, too.
“This is the first time in UCSB basketball history that we’re able to have a home conference game as early as December 4, so we need a dominating home court.”