In the absence of star point guard Ajay Mitchell, the UCSB men’s basketball team faced an uphill battle against visiting Portland State in its season opener.
The Gauchos struggled with turnovers and failed to replicate Mitchell’s late-game heroics in a 82-76 loss on Thursday night at the Thunderdome.
“Kudos to Portland State, they play really hard. The coach does a great job,” said UCSB coach Joe Pasternack. “I’m just thankful for the students and fans that came. They packed this place. It was awesome. It’s actually what I envision this place to be. To build a great home court advantage. Unfortunately we didn’t give them a lot to cheer about.”
According to Pasternack, Mitchell did not participate against Portland State out of an abundance of caution for an injury he tweaked and will practice on Saturday.
With Mitchell out the bulk of the scoring and playmaking fell upon Josh Pierre-Louis and Cole Anderson, both of whom had to leave the game at different points due to cramping. Anderson led all scorers with 21 points, but lacked his normal efficiency as he shot 6-of-17 overall from the field and 3-of-12 from three-point range.
Pierre-Louis scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and knocked down both of his three-pointers, but racked up six turnovers with five assists. Overall UCSB finished with 18 turnovers and 17 assists.
“This is 100-percent on me. We deserved this. Our process the last three or four weeks during practice we weren’t getting up and down enough,” Pasternack said. “We’ll learn from this. We’ll get better and we’ll keep grinding. It’s a long season and we’ll keep getting better.”
The first half was tight throughout as neither team led by more than four points. A thunderous tip dunk by Portland State’s Isaiah Johnson tied the score at 40-40.
In the second half, the Vikings took control by capitalizing on UCSB turnovers. A three-pointer in transition by Bobby Harvey increased the Portland State lead to 59-51 with 11:11 remaining in the second half.
The UCSB deficit increased to 63-53 on a layup by Jorell Saterfield, but The Gauchos responded with an awkward floater by Yohan Traore, followed by an Anderson three-pointer that cut the deficit to 63-58 with 8:32 remaining.
UCSB’s Matija Belic made his presence felt with a step-back three-pointer at the 6:33 mark, cutting the Portland State lead to 64-63.
A technical foul on the UCSB bench sparked a 7-0 Portland State run that gave the Vikings a 75-67 lead with 3:15 remaining. UCSB never got closer than a six-point deficit from that point on.
Portland State was led by K.J. Allen, who scored 13 points. Nine Vikings scored in the game. UCSB only played seven players total the entire game.
The Gauchos will travel to UTEP for their next game on Monday, November 13.