‘Eaters blanket Gauchos

SANTA BARBARA — With 10:49 left in the game Saturday, UC Santa Barbara’s Thunderdome was overcome by an oppressive, collective cloud of defense.

The defense applied by the UC Irvine men’s basketball team blocked all manner of light, and points for the host Gauchos, and allowed the Anteaters to run away with a 61-52 Big West Conference victory. With the win, UCI (15-5, 4-0 in conference), ranked No. 14 in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll, retains its spot atop the Big West standings. The ‘Eaters have also won five straight games and eight of their last nine.

The first win at UCSB in Coach Russell Turner’s six seasons at the UCI helm also added to a trend of increasingly less improbable road comebacks that included erasing a 13-point first-half deficit at Long Beach State on Thursday.

After a three-pointer by sophomore guard Gabe Vincent put the Gauchos (7-9, 1-2) ahead, 52-44, with 10:49 left, the hosts went zero for 11 from the field, missed all three of their free-throw attempts, and committed five of their 15 turnovers as UCI closed the game on a 17-0 run.

A three-pointer out of a timeout by junior guard Luke Nelson, who was two for 12 from the field to that point, put UCI ahead for good, 54-52, with 3:50 left.

In addition to the energized defensive surge, UCI made eight free throws down the stretch to finish 19 for 32 from the foul line.

UCSB, which struggled against UCI’s superior inside size, made just one of five free-throw attempts in the game and committed 24 fouls, nearly double UCI’s 13.

“We shut them down,” said Turner, whose team led, 8-0, before surrendering five three-pointers to incur a 15-8 deficit that it eventually pared to 30-28 by halftime.

“The turning point in my mind was returning my captains [seniors Alex Young and Dominique Dunning, as well as Nelson] to the game, with about eight or maybe nine minutes left,” Turner said. “After that, we were terrific defensively and we forced a bunch of tough shots. We didn’t get every rebound, but we did what we needed to do.

“Offensively, we had a couple play calls that we knew we could get good shots with and we knocked enough of those down to come back and beat a good team.”

The win continues to solidify a mindset with this team, begun last season, that has fostered confidence that it can overcome any obstacle.

“This team has the belief that we can win and come from behind and that’s a belief that can’t be given; it has to be earned,” Turner said. “We’ve done enough to earn that at this stage and that’s something I feel good about.”

Junior Mike Best had 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half, single-handedly keeping UCI in the game, as UCSB netted eight of its eventual 11 three-pointers before intermission.

The 6-foot-10-Best, who had a favorable mismatch against 6-7 freshman Maxwell Kupchak, made seven of 10 field-goal tries in the opening half. He was the only Anteater with a two-point field goal in the first half.

“We knew coming in that Best playing well equals UCI winning,” UCSB Coach Bob Williams said. “In games they have won, Best has averaged 10.5 points, which got better tonight. He averages 3.5 points in losses. So we felt he was a key guy, but we didn’t think he would physically punk us that bad. Best is a fifth-year senior who was too strong for [Kupchak] and he went to work at the rim. Best was impossible for [Kupchak] to guard, so we had to try some other guys.”

Best, who was just two points shy of matching his career-best output, finished eight for 13 from the field and made four of five from the foul line. He had eight rebounds and did not commit a turnover in 28 minutes.

Mamadou Ndiaye, UCI’s 7-6 junior, had 11 points and 13 rebounds, despite dealing with flailing hands and arms against his face and torso inside. Ndiaye made just one of three field-goal tries, but was nine for 16 from the free-throw line, including four of six in the final 8:03.

Nelson wound up with 10 points, including half of his team’s four three-pointers, while Young had eight points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot. Young, UCI’s career assist leader, now has 501, making him just the 12th player in Big West history to surpass 500.

Vincent (14 points), Michael Bryson (13) and Eric Childress (12) were a combined 10 for 20 from threedom for UCSB. But they were a collective four for 17 inside the arc, where UCSB was a mere nine for 31 as a team (29%).

UCSB shot 35.1% from the field, but 42.3% from three-point territory, while UCI shot 35.2% from the field and 23.5% from threedom.

UCI committed just eight turnovers.

‘[The Gauchos] were not able to get what they got early in the game, because we adjusted and took some more things away,” Turner said. “That’s what smart teams can do, and we’ve got smart players.”

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Big West Conference

UC Irvine 61, UC Santa Barbara 52

UCI – Best 20, Smith 0, Ndiaye 11, Nelson 10, Young 8, Martin 7, Galloway 3, Dimakopoulos 2.

3-pt. goals – Nelson 2, Martin 1, Young 1.

Fouled out – None.

Techncials – None.

UCSB – Bryson 13, Beeler 6, Kupchak 0, Vincent 14, Childress 12, Brewe 4, Hart 3.

3-pt. goals – Childress 4, Vincent 4, Bryson 2, Hart 1.

Fouled out – Beeler.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 30-28, UCSB.