SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Playing with just eight available scholar-athletes, UC San Diego fought hard but fell to host UC Santa Barbara, 82-61, inside The Thunderdome on Saturday. The Tritons led for most of the first half and into the second before the Gauchos got hot down the stretch.
Three finished in double figures for UC San Diego (6-8, 1-1 Big West).
The Gauchos improved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in The Big West with the victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a Triton bucket from
Emmanuel Tshimanga underneath, UC Santa Barbara responded with an 8-0 run over the next minute to go up 13-4 at the 15:54 mark of the first half.
After the ensuing media timeout, UC San Diego got hot offensively, connecting on its next six field goal tries, cutting the Gauchos' lead to one at 19-18. Tshimanga had seven early points and
Roddie Anderson III registered four quick assists as the Tritons drew to within one.
UC San Diego continued its strong shooting, building a 38-33 advantage on the road.
Quin Patterson scored a career-high eight first half points off the bench and Roddie Anderson had eight points and a personal best eight assists in the first 15 minutes.
The Tritons shot a season-best 67% (18-27) in the first half, taking a 43-40 lead into the locker room. UC San Diego hit 5-of-7 three-point tries, including 3-of-3 for
Francis Nwaokorie and 2-for-2 from Patterson.
UC San Diego was dominant inside, outscoring the Gauchos 24-18 in the paint. Anderson finished the first 20 minutes with 12 points and 9 assists. Tshimanga added 10 for the Tritons.
Trailing by eight in the second half, UC San Diego drew to within five on a three-point play from Tshimanga. The Gauchos responded with an 8-0 spurt over the next two minutes to take their largest lead of the game to that point, 70-57, with seven minutes left. Meanwhile, UC San Diego went scoreless for more than four minutes as UCSB pulled away.
The Tritons shot just 25% after halftime and were 1-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc in the second half.
Anderson paced the Tritons with 17 points and 10 assists. Tshimanga scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. Nwaokorie added 13 points and eight boards.
Ajay Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points. He was one of five Gauchos in double figures.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we played well for a big portion of the game," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "Some of our issues [in the second half] you could chalk up to fatigue, but really it was more that they're a really good team which made things hard for us."
TRITON TIDBITS
UP NEXT
UC San Diego returns home to LionTree Arena to begin a stretch of three home games in the next four starting Thursday night when the Tritons host Hawai'i at 7 p.m. PST. Tickets can be purchased through Triton Box Office and the game can be seen on ESPN+ with Ted Mendenhall and Martin Bahar calling the action. As always, live stats will be available on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
