Say it ain’t so Joe! Another disappointing UCSB season ends on Day 1 of the Big West Championships
Mike Klan
HENDERSON, Nevada. (KEYT) – UCSB is considered to be one of the top men’s basketball programs in the Big West.
But over the past three seasons this has not been the case, far from it.
The Gauchos are just average.
Head coach Joe Pasternack and his Gauchos overpacked for their trip to the Big West Championships in Nevada, losing 79-73 to UC Davis in the first round of the conference tournament.
Carl Doughtery Jr. scored a game-high 24 points for the Aggies who built up a ten point lead with 8:15 left in the game and they were in control the rest of the way.
Freshman CJ Shaw scored a team-high 20 points for UCSB.
The Aggies completed a 3-game sweep over UCSB this year and have won 7 straight overall in the series that is ending as UC Davis leaves for the Mountain West Conference.
The Gauchos were just 5-of-26 from three-point distance against Davis, a fitting end to a season that certainly missed the mark. A preseason pick to finish in the top two in the league, the Gauchos were the #7 seed out of 8 teams in this tournament.
Coaches always want to be playing their best ball in March but Joe Pasternack saw his Gauchos lose six of their last seven games to finish this pedestrian season 18-14.
Injuries to Jason Fontenet II and Miro Little certainly affected this season but this not a one year slide back to the middle of the pack in the Big West.
Over the last three seasons in league, UCSB is 31-29 and 2-3 in the conference tournament.
The Gauchos fancy themselves as a top two program in the Big West but the recent league standings suggest otherwise.