Tournament Gives Chance for UCSB Men’s Basketball to Rebound

One of the thrilling aspects of college basketball is the chaotic and unpredictable nature of conference tournaments.

For the UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball team, the Big West Conference Championships offer an opportunity to turn a disappointing end to the regular season into a memorable postseason run.

“Our one word is ‘attitude.’ How do you respond? Our team has self-awareness of what has gone wrong the last couple games,” said UCSB head coach Joe Pasternack. “This is about 50-50 balls, blocking out, and competing.”

The Gauchos have tumbled down the Big West Conference standings after losing five of their last six games. Two of those losses came in overtime, the Gauchos dropped a nailbiter at first-place UC Irvine, and the loss in the regular season finale to UC San Diego came on a buzzer beater.

If those results were flipped, UCSB would be the top seed in the tournament and receive a double-bye into the semifinals, but instead the Gauchos are the seventh seed and will take on sixth-seed UC Davis in the first round on Wednesday night.

“This is a team that can do special things, and Long Beach State did it a couple years ago,” said Pasternack of winning four games in four days to capture the Big West Conference tournament. “We are in a one-game season now. We control our own destiny.”

UCSB dropped both matchups with the Aggies during the regular season, which included a 93-86 home loss on January 8 in which the Gauchos surrendered an 18-point lead. Both teams finished with identical 18-13 overall records and 11-9 records in Big West play.

“I was in a kind of similar situation this summer playing with my national team. Going into the playoffs, one game decides everything in the round of 16 playing against Serbia,” said UCSB guard Miro Little, who helped Finland pull off a monumental upset of a Serbian team led by NBA superstar Nikola Jokic at EuroBasket. “Somebody said we didn’t have any chance of winning; somebody said we had a one percent chance or a two percent chance, but it’s all about whoever is in the locker room, and this team reminds me a lot of that team I have back home.”

UC Santa Barbara will be the No. 7 seed in the Big West Championships and take on the No. 6–seed UC Davis Aggies on Wednesday, March 11. The Gauchos and Aggies will tip off at 8:30 p.m. at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada.

UCSB Women’s Basketball Opens Big West Championships Against UC Riverside

The UCSB women’s basketball team dropped its regular season finale to UC San Diego, 72-65, and will be sixth seed in the Big West Tournament.

The Gauchos will take on No. 7–seed UC Riverside in a first-round matchup on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. UCSB split its two matchups with the Highlanders this season, including a 61-57 victory at Riverside on February 26.

UCSB will look to recapture their early season magic, especially in close games after opening the season with a 13-2 overall record.

Zoe Borter has expanded her role as a key contributor this season, averaging a team-high 15.3 points per game and shooting 41.3 percentage on three-pointers on high volume (155 attempts). She has scored at least 20 points in each of the last eight games.