GREEN BAY, Wis. — UC Santa Barbara showed up late for another nonconference men’s basketball tipoff on Wednesday.
The Gauchos surrendered a double-digit lead in the opening minutes for the second-straight game and lost 67-64 at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
“College basketball, unfortunately, is 40 minutes, and our team doesn’t play 40 minutes right now,” UCSB coach Joe Pasternack said. “I wish I could tell you the reason … I wish I had an answer.
“Our urgency just waits until we get down, spotting them points.”
UCSB (8-4, 2-0 Big West Conference) trailed by as many as 14 points before rallying to within just one, 63-62, on freshman C.J. Shaw’s three-pointer with 50.8 seconds remaining.
But Green Bay (6-7, 1-2 Horizon Conference), who gave the Gauchos an opening by missing 11 of 23 foul shots, got two makes from Preston Ruedinger with 7.3 seconds left.
The Phoenix then prevented UCSB from shooting a potential game-tying three-pointer before the final buzzer.
“Our start to conference wasn’t what we wanted it to be,” said Green Bay forward Marcus Hall, the game’s leading scorer with 25 points. “I feel this was the kind of game to reset who we are and show how we play.”
Gaucho point guard Miro Little has yet to reset from his foot injury. His playmaking and perimeter defense were sorely missed for the second-straight game.
“He was our most important player — his leadership, his defense,” Pasternack said. “Miro is seeing a doctor on Friday and we’re hoping he gets cleared.
“We’ll see … We don’t know.”
UCSB appears less likely of getting co-captain Jason Fontenet II back in the near future. He’s missed the last seven games with a hip injury.
“He’s banged up pretty good,” Pasternack said.
Hall rubbed salt in those Gaucho wounds by making 9-of-11 shots which included 5-of-7 three-pointers.
UCSB, whose three-point percentage defense of 37.6% ranks 343rd out of 361 Division 1 schools, allowed 52.4% three-point shooting (11-of-21) to the Phoenix.
“We’re very soft defensively,” Pasternack said. “We’re a soft team.”
The Gauchos out-shot Green Bay overall, 56.5% to 51.2%, and dominated the rebounding, 30-20. But they were also outscored in free throws 12-5 and in three throws 11-7.
The Phoenix made its first five shots including a trio of three-pointers to take a 15-4 lead after just four minutes.
“Our emphasis tonight was getting into the paint and then taking it out, and I feel like it worked,” Hall said.
Ruedinger set up most of those threes while finishing with 13 assists and just one turnover.
The dominating start put the shoe on the other foot for Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb.
“We’ve gotten off to bad starts pretty much every game,” he said. “Marcus hitting shots to open us up, and Ruedy hitting shots to open us up, made them play catch-up.
“They did not lead for a second of the game.”
UCSB also never led against Utah Valley last week, falling behind 12-2 in a game it wound up losing 68-53.
Hall made four straight threes before finally missing just before halftime. He scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half.
He gave Green Bay its biggest lead of the period, 27-13, with back-to-back bombs with just over seven minutes left in the first half.
“Credit to them, they really, really played well in the first half,” Pasternack said. “I thought it was their best half of the season.
“They beat UMass and Iona, but I’d say this was the best they’ve shot.”
UCSB’s seven turnovers in the first half included three consecutive illegal screens, each set by a different player.
The Gauchos took five of their first eight shots from three and missed them all to fall behind 18-6 after 7½ minutes.
UCSB finally found the range midway through the period. Colin Smith, Aidan Mahaney, Marvin McGhee IV and Zachiah Clark all made threes to keep the hot-shooting Phoenix within reach, 42-30, by halftime.
Mahaney bounced back from a 1-for-12 shooting performance against Utah Valley to make 7-of-12 for 18 points at Green Bay.
“He was banged up the last two weeks, and I think he’s getting healthy right now,” Pasternack said.
Smith, Shaw and Hosana Kitenge added 10 points apiece, while McGhee had a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Gauchos made seven of their first 11 shots of the second half. Mahaney’s three reduced Green Bay’s margin to 51-45.
A five-point possession got UCSB as close as 52-50. Kitenge scored and was fouled after catching Mahaney’s dump-off pass. He also rebounded his own missed throw after McGhee tipped it back out. That led to Smith’s driving three-point play with 7:18 to go.
But Green Bay, which made just 2-of-11 shots and 6-of-12 free throws in the first 13 minutes of the second half, recovered by making its next four field-goal attempts.
Hall’s fifth three was followed by layups from Justin Allen and Caden Wilkins during a 9-2 run that put their team ahead 61-52 with 4:25 remaining.
A pair of threes by Shaw served as the bookends to a 10-2 run for the Gauchos, rallying them to within 63-62 with 50.8 seconds left.
Shaw and Clark, both freshmen, filled in for Little at point guard.
“C.J. is a freshman, and he’s playing like an older guy while thrust into a role that he hasn’t played at all,” Pasternack said. “He’s played the point guard position now for only one week since Miro went down, so kudos to him.
“He’s doing the best he can do.
“But some of our older guys are playing like freshmen, and that’s a problem.”
Hall was fouled while making a baseline runner with 29.4 seconds left.
“I thought he had a wide-open three, and I thought he was going to rip it and we were going to be up four,” Gottlieb said. “He shot-faked and then drove it … which is a great basketball play.”
He missed the free throw and Mahaney scored a fadeaway jumper on the other end to get UCSB back within a point with 9.6 seconds to go.
But Mahaney had to foul Ruedinger on the inbounds pass, and the Phoenix point guard made both free throws with 7.3 seconds remaining.
The Gauchos tried to work the ball to Mahaney for a game-tying three, but the pass got to him just after the final buzzer.
UCSB will return home to face Portland on Monday in a 2 p.m. game. All first responders will receive free admission to the game.