Ajay Mitchell returned to the lineup and the UCSB men’s basketball team entered the win column for the first time this season.
The Gauchos exploded offensively and pulled away in the second half for a 96-72 victory over visiting Le Moyne on Sunday night at the Thunderdome.
“Having Ajay back is great. We have a couple other guys that are not available to us — Ben [Shtolzberg] and Kilian [Brockhoff] — that will be back very shortly,” said UCSB coach Joe Pasternack. “I think getting a whole group of a team back is going to be really important for us even just for defensive purposes and that’s really big.”
With Mitchell back on the court, the Thuderdome crowd was treated to flashes of the Gauchos’ true potential as key players were slotted into their intended roles.
Cole Anderson finished with a game-high 20 points, including 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Josh Pierre-Louis scored 19 points and dished out ten assists. Yohan Traore poured in 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. Ajay Mitchell added 15 points and six assists in just 18 minutes of action.
UCSB shot 37-of-59 overall from the field, 11-of-24 from three-point range, and 11-of-12 of the free throw line. According to Pasternack, excellent ball movement led to extreme efficiency.
“I thought we really shared the ball, 26 assists,” Pasternack said. “Josh had 19 points, ten assists, seven rebounds. If I could just get that turnover slide out of the way he would have had a hell of a game.”
Hot shooting by both teams made for an exciting first half. Le Moyne started 3-for-3 from three-point range, the last of which came from Luke Sutherland and gave the Dolphins a 9-6 lead with 16:23 remaining in the first half.
However, the Gauchos responded with a 19-3 run capped off by a layup in transition by Pierre-Louis that put UCSB ahead 25-12 with 11:17 remaining in the first half
Hot shooting by Anderson was a key for the Gauchos in the first half. Five of his six three-pointers came before the break. Ariel Bland provided the highlight with two monster put-back dunks in the first half. Bland finished with eight points and eleven rebounds.
The Dolphins shot 9-of-16 from three-point range in the first half to keep the game within striking distance. An Isaiah Salter three-pointer with 1:34 remaining in the first half cut Le Moyne’s deficit to 50-42 and the Gauchos led 52-42 at the break.
“It’s all about our defense right now. We have to fix our defense. We have enough offense to go around, but if we don’t fix our defense moving forward, we’re in trouble,” Pasternack said. “Defense is about passion, urgency, playing with desperation and every possession you have to be concentrating and on it. For Whatever reason we’re not playing 40 minutes of defense.
The Gauchos picked up the defensive intensity in the second half and held Le Moyne to 11-of-32 shooting overall and 1-of-11 from three-point range. UCSB outscored Le Moyne 44-30 in the second half.
“I missed being on the court with my guys, so it felt really good,” Mitchell said. “I got some minutes in and I was happy about the win. A lot of stuff to fix as a team and me just getting back in shape.”
UCSB will host Westmont in a crosstown matchup on Wednesday beginning at 6 p.m.