UC Santa Barbara Basketball Shines with Ajay Mitchell in Leading Role

UC Santa Barbara
Basketball Shines with
Ajay Mitchell in Leading Role

Going Into His Junior Season,
Lead Guard has NBA Caliber Skills

By Victor Bryant | November 8, 2023

NCAA Division 1 college basketball games often come down to a handful of plays in the final minutes of action. A few moments in time over the course of game and over the course of season ultimately craft a team’s destiny.

Every program in the country searches for players who can thrive in those moments and put the team over the top when the intensity of competition reaches a crescendo.

For the UCSB men’s basketball team, Ajay Mitchell is that difference-maker.

“We’ve been very fortunate, obviously in year one, Gabe Vincent; in years two through four, Max Heidegger and JaQuori McLaughlin, two NBA guys; and now Ajay Mitchell,” said UCSB Head Coach Joe Pasternack of the recent lead guards that have flourished in the program. “We’ve been very fortunate to have really talented players, and we’ve put the ball in their hands and trusted them to make great decisions. That’s the most important position; it’s the quarterback.”

Mitchell is the current iteration of prolific lead guards in Pasternack’s tenure at UCSB, and he is on a trajectory to be the best. The Gauchos reached across the globe to Belgium to pluck Mitchell, who was then a skinny teenager already testing his mettle against professionals for Limburg in the Belgium BLB League.

“[Former UCSB assistant] coach Rillie, who is now in Australia, recruited me when I was playing internationally for Belgium U16 and U18. I think it was one of the first [college basketball] coaches we talked to, so that was definitely something that marked me, because it was the first interest,” Mitchell said. “The relationship I built with the coaches was really good, I think we spoke for two years, and Coach Pasternack always wanted to be on the phone with us just to make sure we were keeping that connection. My recruitment process was all on Zoom, so it was kind of weird, but I saw a lot of pictures of the campus and my mom was really focused on what school was going to be like. And she was really focused on me going to a good academic school. So that was the main reason I came to UCSB.”

Now going into his junior season, Mitchell has grown into his 6’5″ frame and has flashed an NBA-caliber skill set that has elevated the Gauchos to one of the premier mid-major programs in the country.

The achievements and accolades in Mitchell’s first two seasons exceeded all reasonable expectations.

In the 2021-22 season, he was named Big West Freshman of the Year and All–Big West Second-Team, averaging 11.6 points, 3.7 assists, and 2.2 rebounds. Last season, as a sophomore, Mitchell made the leap into stardom and was named Big West Player of the Year, Big West Championship MVP, All–Big West First Team, and Big West All-Academic Team. He averaged 16.3 points and 5.1 assists on an efficient 50.6 percent from the field.

But the numbers and awards don’t paint the whole picture of Mitchell’s impact on the court. He is at his best in the most important moments of the game — whether it’s scoring, finding a teammate, or making a hustle play, his knack for coming through in the clutch is the main reason that UCSB won the Big West and reached the NCAA tournament last season and why they are expected to do so again after landing atop the Big West preseason coaches’ poll.

“We don’t talk about championships; we don’t talk about the NCAA tournament except at the beginning of the year. We talk about being a champion every single day,” Pasternack said. “Honor the process and the results will take care of themselves. If you start focusing on the results, you will lose your mind.”

For Mitchell, the process of becoming an NBA prospect was grounded in the fundamentals of the game, which is inherent to the European style of play. Superior physical traits were not in the cards for Mitchell, especially early in his development, so he leaned into developing his skills, which is still paying dividends today.

“It was very different, especially for how you read the game and have a feel for the game. I think the [basketball] IQ in Europe is really high. So as young kids, we learn how to read the game more and focus more on fundamentals, so when I was in Europe, that was the main thing we worked on,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think we had any crazy athletes like in the [United States], so it was pretty different. But I think it helped me grow as a player, being smart while I’m on the court.”

Rillie, who is now the head coach of the Perth Wildcats in Australia’s National Basketball League, vividly remembers his first impressions of Mitchell, who was playing for the Belgium U16 national team.

“I was in Romania at the European B-Division Championships, and I saw a really skinny, short kid, 5’10”- 5’11” at that time, but a kid that I saw could really play and understand the game and he was nowhere near his peak physically,” Rillie said. “In my time in college basketball, I prided myself and felt I could gain an advantage in recruiting by looking at kids who were not physically fully developed. You can do the genetics test by looking at the parents, and when I dug into the background, the risk/reward was worthwhile.”

Ajay’s father, Barry Mitchell, is the obvious source of his strong basketball pedigree. Barry is from Virginia and had a standout basketball career at Norfolk State before playing in the Continental Basketball Association. He eventually ended up overseas in Belgium to play for BC Ostende (a Belgian professional basketball team) where he met Ajay’s mother, Fabienne Wagemans.

Adding to his family ties in the United States, Ajay’s half-sisters Alexis and Ashley played college volleyball at the University of Wisconsin and Northwest Missouri State University, respectively.

“My dad was definitely the biggest influence on me being a basketball player. I think just being a little kid and going to see his games while he was playing pro in Belgium and then just being around basketball my whole life,” Mitchell said. “One of my best friends, still to this day, we loved basketball together in Belgium, and we were dreaming about being college basketball players.”

Mitchell’s development may very well extend beyond his dream of playing college basketball, as he is widely considered to be one of the best mid-major prospects in the country. He is projected to be selected in the early second round between picks 32-40 on most 2024 NBA Draft Big Boards.

“The first place my head goes is that he is getting rewarded for the work he has put in and the trust he has put in UCSB,” said Rillie of Mitchell’s success. “It’s easy for us to promote what the program has done for him, but at the end of the day, the players have to do the work.”

The increased attention and potential for NBA success have not affected Mitchell’s preparation for the season.

“It’s a blessing seeing my names on draft boards right now. It means that I’m on the right path,” Mitchell said. “Since I’ve been here, the goal has been to win and be a better player every day, so just coming into the gym every day and focusing on what I can do to be a better player.”

In the modern era of college basketball with players having the ability to earn money through their name, image, and likeness, as well as the transfer portal, which allows student athletes to transfer to other universities without any kind of penalty, mid-major conferences such as the Big West have been raided for their top players.

The departures of UC Irvine’s top two players, DJ Davis and Dawson Baker, who transferred to Butler and BYU respectively, as well as Cal State Fullerton’s top player, Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who transferred to the University of Alabama, sent shock waves through the Big West conference.

However, UCSB went unscathed during the transfer window, retaining the highly sought-after Mitchell, as well as bringing in transfers of their own from high-major conferences including Yohan Traore from Auburn and Ben Shtolzberg from Creighton.

“When they tell you no the first time, you better be nice to them, because there’s a good chance they might be coming back around,” said Pasternack of the changing landscape of college basketball.

According to Pasternack, UCSB only has three players with significant Division 1 college basketball experience in Mitchell, Josh Pierre-Louis, and Cole Anderson, all of whom played major roles in UCSB’s run to the NCAA tournament in the 2022-23 season.

Traore, a transfer from Auburn, figures to play a key role as a versatile 6’11” tall man who can run the floor and shoot from the perimeter. He was ranked as the No. 1 player in Arizona and the No. 24 overall prospect nationally as a high school senior according to 247Sports, which likely makes him the highest-rated high school recruit to ever play at UCSB.

Despite his obvious physical gifts, Traore played sparingly at Auburn, appearing in 25 games while averaging 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds. UCSB was Traore’s first scholarship offer when he first moved to the United States from Tours, France.

“As soon as I entered the portal, Joe [Pasternack] just hit me up and was like, ‘We need you. I think you will be a big piece for this team,’ ” Traore said. “I really trusted Joe, and I really trusted that I was going to have a great opportunity out here to just play my game.”

Traore is one of seven international players on the UCSB roster, including Mitchell, Koat Keat Tong (South Sudan), Matija Belic (Serbia), Evans Kipruto (Kenya), Kilian Brockhoff (Germany), and Elia Bongiorno (Italy). The abundance of diverse backgrounds has been embraced by UCSB basketball for many years and added to team chemistry.

“International [players] have been a big key to our success,” Pasternack said. “These kids love the game of
basketball. They want to be pros. They are not entitled; they are not enabled; they are really grinders that love the game, great students, and they’ve really helped us.”

Josh Pierre-Louis, a fifth-year senior from Plainfield, New Jersey, is the most
experienced player on the UCSB roster. He has the opportunity this season to be the first player in UCSB men’s basketball history to reach the NCAA tournament three times.

Retaining Pierre-Louis on the roster was a huge offseason development for UCSB, as the high-flying veteran pointed to unfinished business as a Gaucho.

“Really what brought me back this season is the group that we have and where we left off last year. I feel like this is kind of a redemption year to get back to the NCAA tournament. I really wouldn’t want to go help another team get there other than UCSB,” said Pierre-Louis, who averaged 9.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists last season. “I feel like we have the pieces here to get back to the tournament and advance in the tournament.”

Another big part of Pierre-Louis’s return to UCSB was the opportunity to finish his degree. He transferred to UCSB from Temple University after his freshman season. Josh’s brother, Nate, also plays for the South Bay Lakers, which is the Los Angeles Lakers G-League affiliate, so he has family close by.

“I get my degree this year, and that’s a big thing my family is proud of me about. Moving from the East Coast out to the West Coast, it’s a no-brainer not to leave without a degree,” Pierre-Louis said. “That was part of the deal with my parents. Basketball will always be here, but the degree is something that I needed.”

In UCSB’s two most recent runs through the Big West tournament on their way to automatic NCAA tournament berths, Pierre-Louis has come through with spectacular performances.

In the 2021 Big West Tournament quarterfinals against Long Beach State, he scored a then-career-high 24 points to help the Gauchos advance. Last season, he scored a season-high 20 points in the Big West semifinals against UC Riverside.

“I’m taking a different role this year; it’s more of a leadership role and making sure we’re all on the same page as being the older guy on the team and the most profound person in UCSB history in terms of going to multiple NCAA Tournaments and winning Big West Championships,” Pierre-Louis said. “I know the formula and recipe to get there. I have to be a leader along with Ajay Mitchell to bring this team to the promised land.”

The Gauchos will also rely heavily on junior sharpshooter Cole Anderson, who shot a blistering 41.5 percent from three-point range last season.

“Cole has really improved. He loves the game. He is one of our hardest workers. He is a gym rat who is here all the time. I have to tell him to stop working out and shooting so much,” Pasternack said. “Cole’s going to have a really big year for us. He is an unbelievable weapon to have on the court and maybe the best shooter I’ve ever coached.”

The Thunderdome has undergone significant renovations in recent years, including a chair-back seating project that is now completed. The project was made possible by a $3 million donation by Jeff and Judy Henley.

This multi-phase project began with upper and lower sidelines receiving the navy-blue, padded seats that fans enjoyed for the last several seasons. Now, the renovation will complete the end zone sections and include the padded chair-back seating and upgraded ADA seating locations.

Combined with the upgrades to the practice courts and the installation of the massive video scoreboard in 2019, the Thunderdome has become one of the top venues in the Big West Conference.

“We’ve been fortunate to have an incredibly supportive administration. They’ve done a great job in fundraising with our new athletic director Kelly Barsky,” Pasternack said. “When we got here, we wanted to build a program that Santa Barbara could be proud of. What’s really exciting is the new chair-back seating and to be able to show that off in game one on November 9th. We want to fill the dome, which is the motto for November 9th.”

The Gauchos will host Portland State on Thursday, November 9, beginning at 7 p.m. in their season opener. For more information about the season, see ucsbgauchos.com/sports/mens-basketball.