Montana State-UCSB preview by a Gaucho fan

[Gauchofreg]

Hey Bobcats,

I put together a preview of Montana State for the benefit of my fellow Gaucho fans on our message board and you are welcome to check it out:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ucsbgau ... =1&t=21634

And for your benefit, here is an overview of UCSB:

The 2017-18 season is the start of the Joe Pasternack era for UCSB after Bob Williams was fired after 19 seasons as the Gaucho head coach. Last year was the worst season in UCSB history as the team suffered from a combination of injuries, academic ineligibility and being very young.

Pasternack, the former Associate Head Coach at the University of Arizona, immediately brought in two impact graduate school transfers in combo guard Marcus Jackson from Rice and Leland King of Nevada.
He's also already signed the best recruiting class at UCSB since Ben Howland was our lead recruiter under Jerry Pimm in the late 80s/early 90s.

UCSB is 7-2 for the young season, already surpassing their win total (6) for last year. Their wins have come against a SOS ranked 235th in the country so the improved record is to be taken with a grain of salt. UCSB’s losses were on the road to Pittsburgh, a game the Gauchos led by as many as 10 and by a bucket with two minutes left but sabotaged themselves by shooting only 10-22 from the FT line. They also lost by 18 to Texas A&M, now ranked #7 in the country, and who I think are a legit Final 4 contender. UCSB has won five straight, their RPI now stands at 44 and its DC2 score is 108. You should check out the DC2 which is run by a fellow Gaucho fan and provides an alternative to the RPI in ranking the teams: http://dcindex-choop.blogspot.com/searc ... DC2%20Rank The Gauchos are 2-2 on the road, 1-0 neutral court and 3-0 at home. Their neutral court win was over Montana. You're welcome.
With the two grad transfers, the return of Senior Gabe Vincent from injury and Senior Jalen Canty from academic ineligibility, UCSB has gone from being a very young team to a very experienced one, albeit not necessarily with each other. UCSB is playing primarily man-defense which is a radical departure from last season where we played almost exclusively a match-up zone. The offense is far more up-tempo compared to what was run under Bob Williams. For much of the season the defense has allowed wide open lanes to the hoop and most games were relatively high scoring affairs. But this defense has been a bit better at generating turnovers, about 12 per game. UCSB is averaging 75 ppg and allowing 71. UCSB’s offensive production is extremely starter heavy (93%) as are the total minutes played. All starters are averaging at least 9 ppg, the opponents have to deal with scoring threats across the lineup. Coach Pasternack has been emphasizing the last couple games that the bench needs to have a bigger role and is looking for players to fill out a regular 9 man rotation.
Starting Lineup
Sophomore shooting guard Max Heidegger leads the team with 23.9 ppg at a .464 clip which also puts him at 7th in the nation in scoring. He has the ability to hit the three (22nd in the country in makes at a .433 clip) and slash and get to the line (15th in the country in makes at a .718 clip). He is incredibly transformed from his freshman year when he made only 20% of his threes and shot about 28% overall. He is effective at running the point and bringing the ball up too, something he had to do when our starting PG, Marcus Jackson, was out injured the first three games and when the now-healthy Jackson needs a breather. Earlier this season he won the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Week award. Needless to say, Heidegger is turning out to be a pretty special player for UCSB.
Graduate-transfer, forward Leland King from Nevada, was immediately available for the Gauchos this year and has made a massive impact averaging a double-double; 18.6 ppg and 10.0 rbg . He can drive to the basket and shoot from beyond the arc, making those at a .425 clip. His downside is poor defense.
UCSB Senior F/C Jalen Canty transformed himself over the summer, losing 30 lbs becoming quicker and with more endurance. He is a solid rebounder and has some pretty good post moves and is another double-double threat. He works very hard underneath and is much improved from last year. He is averaging 11 ppg and 8.6 boards. He missed most of last year due to academic issues.
Our starting PG Marcus Jackson, a grad transfer from Rice, set a career record with 11 assists in our last game, against Nebraska Omaha, a team you guys also beat. He is averaging 9.1 ppg, 5.5 apg against 2.7 TO pg and pulls down 2.7 rpg. He shoots .400 from three. He has had some trouble on defense a bit which may be a lingering effect a hip injury early this season.
Senior wing Gabe Vincent was all-Big West his sophomore season, but tore his ACL and missed much of last season. He is back to carrying a full load and is getting his game back. With a greater number of offensive weapons this season he is more of a facilitator and is second on the team in assists. Despite his injury last season, he is the 5th all-time three point shooter in school history and is scoring at 9.9 ppg this season. His 3pt % is down a bit right now, hitting only 11/39. Expect him to improve as the season progresses and his knee gets stronger. We know what he is capable of.

The Bench:
Currently, versatile Christian Terrell is getting the most minutes, about 19 pg off the bench and he has earned that because of his defense and ability to board. He is 6'6" and has played the 2 & 3 but has run the point before. He has yet to contribute on offense significantly and at times shows a real lack of confidence but is showing some progress. He has made 2-6 from three.
F/C Junior Ami Lakoju, like Canty, was an academic casualty last year. He has size, made a high percentage of his shots last season but only has a couple attempts per game this year. He is not yet playing nearly at the level he was at early last season before he became ineligible. He is self-limiting his PT by picking up too many fouls. He has regressed and we’re hoping he can get back to where he was before. In our last game against Omaha, he finally showed signs of what he was doing last season so perhaps he’s turned a corner and will be making some meaningful contribution again.
Junior Forward Maxwell Kupchak, son of the former Laker GM Mitch Kupchak, has earned a regular minutes by playing smart and rebounding well above his size. Limited by a lack of an outside shot but usually gets a bucket off of his hustle.
Freshman pg Brandon Davis. Solidly built, plays well within himself with few mistakes and is a good defender. Lacks the dynamic element you would want from a PG but keeps the ship moving. He is averaging 1.3 apg and has yet to score this season.


UCSB & Montana State: UCSB and Montana State have played 10 times in a series that began in 1972. The Gauchos hold a 9-1 all-time edge. The teams last met on Dec. 12, 2009 with the Bobcats recording a 76-64 victory in Bozeman. The last time Santa Barbara won a game in the series was on February 21, 2009, when it won a 78-72 overtime in SB.

UCSB Hoops History:
The late 80s/early 90s was the heyday for UCSB hoops. The Big West conference then had a very different make-up of schools and UNLV was at their peak winning the National Championship in 1990 and going undefeated in 1991 up until their major upset loss to Duke in the 1991 Final Four. An answer to a trivia question, UCSB was the last school to defeat UNLV before they went on that run. Back then, the Gaucho home court advantage was considered among the best in the west and the Events Center became known as the Thunderdome. Sadly, it resembles nothing of that now but the die hard fans are hopeful that Pasternack with bring back the crowds and the noise. UCSB went to the NCAAs twice in this era, including winning in the first round over Houston in 1990 before losing by 3 to #1 seed Michigan State.

Since then UCSB has only made the tournament 3 times, 2002, 2010 and 2011, bowing out in the first round each time.

Gauchos in the NBA
Brian Shaw was a first round pick for the Celtics 1988 and went on to a nice NBA career including winning a couple championships with the Lakers in the Shaq-Kobe era. More recently, Orlando Johnson played a couple years after leading the Gauchos to consecutive NCAA births and Alan Williams is currently with the Phoenix Suns but is injured. He led the NCAA in rebounding his junior and senior years (2013-14, 2014-2015)

A little bit about UCSB: the school is one of the top rated public universities in the country with a few Nobel Prize winners on the faculty. It sits right on the Pacific about two hours north of Los Angeles and has multiple surf breaks on campus. It used to be known as a party school but that has pretty much passed, which kinda disappoints to be honest. With the basketball team having middling performance, the students became rabid soccer fans and UCSB has had attendance numbers that sometimes exceeded that for MLS soccer teams. They won the National Championship in 2006 and usually make the tournament but struggled this year. We host the Soccer championship next year and in 2020.

[msu_agfan]

Wow, excellent writeup Gauchofreg. I tend to agree with your assessment of this game. We go as Tyler Hall goes, as far as his ankle. However, this team does seem to really strengthen at home so that needs to be factored in. Your team only won 6 games the whole year last year? what has been the difference between these two seasons?

[Gauchofreg]

Thanks Agfan. If you read the write-up on this board, it spells out the wholesale changes for the program year over year that explains the turnaround

What kind of crowd do you expect?

[msu_agfan]

Interesting, so basically you have a whole new team in some ways. Sorry I did not catch that in your writeup. Sounds like we will have to play some good defense with your scoring so well balanced.
Attendance, I do not have a good grasp as to what that will be. The students are still there I believe so that will help some. Also, our weather has been great, the roads will not be a problem so many travelers can make it there to also do some shopping before Christmas. One other factor, this is the 2nd game in a double header where the women will be playing Stephen F. Austin before the men's game. So, I would estimate that 3,000-3,500 or so will make it to the men's game. I'm sure someone else will have a better guess than that.

[bobcatfan4life]

Interesting, so basically you have a whole new team in some ways. Sorry I did not catch that in your writeup. Sounds like we will have to play some good defense with your scoring so well balanced.
Attendance, I do not have a good grasp as to what that will be. The students are still there I believe so that will help some. Also, our weather has been great, the roads will not be a problem so many travelers can make it there to also do some shopping before Christmas. One other factor, this is the 2nd game in a double header where the women will be playing Stephen F. Austin before the men's game. So, I would estimate that 3,000-3,500 or so will make it to the men's game. I'm sure someone else will have a better guess than that.

Not sure on what the attendance will be, but the girls game is actually first of the double header. The guys play at 2:00pm and the girls play at 4:30, at least that is the the schedule says, unless they changed something.

[msu_agfan]

Interesting, so basically you have a whole new team in some ways. Sorry I did not catch that in your writeup. Sounds like we will have to play some good defense with your scoring so well balanced.
Attendance, I do not have a good grasp as to what that will be. The students are still there I believe so that will help some. Also, our weather has been great, the roads will not be a problem so many travelers can make it there to also do some shopping before Christmas. One other factor, this is the 2nd game in a double header where the women will be playing Stephen F. Austin before the men's game. So, I would estimate that 3,000-3,500 or so will make it to the men's game. I'm sure someone else will have a better guess than that.

Not sure on what the attendance will be, but the girls game is actually first of the double header. The guys play at 2:00pm and the girls play at 4:30, at least that is the the schedule says, unless they changed something.

Thanks, good catch. I'm not able to attend, so I just assumed they would follow the ladies.

[Hawks86]

https://twitter.com/MSUBobcats/status/939221178601713664

[bobcatfan4life]

Interesting, so basically you have a whole new team in some ways. Sorry I did not catch that in your writeup. Sounds like we will have to play some good defense with your scoring so well balanced.
Attendance, I do not have a good grasp as to what that will be. The students are still there I believe so that will help some. Also, our weather has been great, the roads will not be a problem so many travelers can make it there to also do some shopping before Christmas. One other factor, this is the 2nd game in a double header where the women will be playing Stephen F. Austin before the men's game. So, I would estimate that 3,000-3,500 or so will make it to the men's game. I'm sure someone else will have a better guess than that.

Not sure on what the attendance will be, but the girls game is actually first of the double header. The guys play at 2:00pm and the girls play at 4:30, at least that is the the schedule says, unless they changed something.

Thanks, good catch. I'm not able to attend, so I just assumed they would follow the ladies.

No worries, the guys usually do play after the women.

[BelgradeBobcat]

I think if there's any doubt we should sacrifice this game and Tyler should rest. https://twitter.com/gregrachac/status/939312235456942080

[Gauchofreg]

Hall playing and with 5 of MSU's 9 points

[Domako]

Getting killed down low plus their guards are tough too.

[aucat]

Not being competitive at all.

[towncat21]

Get to watch this one in person, just as frustrating as the central Michigan game. ZERO inside presence. At least a dozen times the ball has gone into the paint only for us to look completely lost then kick it out or turn it over. At least the crowd is decent enough to drown out Fish yelling after ever play. Actually saw him grab Bonton and coach him up DURING the play. Down 22 with 3 to go. Really disappointed in this one.

[BelgradeBobcat]

This team has far too many liabilities. We're a middle of the pack Big Sky team at best. Fish trying to win with 5 guards on the floor isn't going to work. I thought this team would be much better than last season. They're not.

[Gauchofreg]

The Bobcats were the recipients of the best effort yet by UCSB this season. Our defense is improving.
We had a significant advantage in the post and were effective in exploiting that.
Best of luck the rest of the way.

[mslacatfan]

I'm confused.

Fish is OBVIOUSLY a very good recruiter. Back to back freshman of the year, nba talent with Hall, etc....

So why can we not get any decent big guys on this team? I just laugh every time Sam Newman is playing center... Nothing against him, but talk about a guy being out of position, its a joke. If we had ANY kind of presence down low, this team would be very solid... I dunno, kinda frustrating.

I am still excited to see this team in conference play though.