Game 34 (BWT Championship)
Cal State Fullerton (20-12) vs. UCSB (26-7)
Saturday, March 11, 2023, 6:30 pm PST
Henderson, Nev.
Quick Bite
So here we are. Every school in the Big West points to this day in March. They want to be playing on this day in March, because this is likely the game you have to win to make the NCAA Tournament. And the Gauchos have made it to this day. Even with a school-record 26 wins, they have to win on this day to make the NCAA Tournament. The bracketologists have all swapped UC Irvine out of their brackets for UCSB: Joe Lunardi has the Gauchos as a 14 seed going to Denver to play Gonzaga.
The Gauchos had their typical slow start last night, with the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Gaucho faithful. But they recovered nicely, and only a buzzer-beating Flynn Cameron 3 prevented UCSB from entering halftime tied with the Highlanders. The Gauchos took control early in the 2nd half and I don't think they gave up the lead thereafter. Josh Pierre-Louis laid it all out last night. He scored a season-high 20 points, many off of dart-quick drives to the basket. He dished a couple of assists to Evans Kipruto and played incredible defense until he fouled out with under 4 minutes to play. Ajay Mitchell was too much for Riverside, who tried putting Jamal Hartwell on him to no avail. Mitchell pretty much had his way getting a little edge on his smaller defender and either getting a basket or getting fouled. Even board favorites Kipruto and Belic chipped in, combining for 14 points off the bench.
UCSB has won 6 straight games, and the most amazing stat to me? Just 44 turnovers in those 6 games (7.3 per game). Last night, UCSB committed just 5 turnovers and I think can remember every one of them...there's the 2 in-bounds play travels by Ajay Mitchell, JPL threw one over the Gaucho bench and JPL had a charge. I give up, I can't remember the last one.
Yesterday morning, if I told you we would be playing Cal State Fullerton, just about everyone on this board would have taken that matchup. After CSUF's win over the top-seeded Anteaters, everyone immediately flipped to "oh no, the Titans look too touch for us." I understand. The Titans are competing at a high level and are the hottest team in the Big West with an 8-game winning streak. Their unheralded program is playing in the Big West Championship game for the 4th time in the last 6 seasons (5 events). Latrell Wrightsell Jr. can do it all...he's their top scorer, top 3-point shooter and a great defensive player. Troy San Antonio was the conference's Defensive Player of the Year but scored 15 first-half points yesterday. Fullerton has a lot of interchangeable undersized but quick swingmen that will be a problem for Santa Barbara to handle. CSUF usually initiates its offense from the top of the key with penetrating drives to the basket. Therefore, they don't get a lot of assists. This is where you break out the pack-line defense that Joe Pasternack has been willing to deploy in the past.
2023 Meetings
Dec. 29: UC Santa Barbara 66, Cal State Fullerton 58
FULLERTON, Calif. -- Ajay Mitchell scored 24 points and Josh Pierre-Louis added 17 as the Gauchos handed the Titans their first home loss. Pierre-Louis hit four free throws and Mitchell added a leaning 3-pointer as the shot clock expired in a game-closing 11-2 run. CSUF had a season-high 21 turnovers but out-rebounded UCSB 33-22. Jalen Harris led Fullerton with 19 points and three rebounds.
Feb. 20: Cal State Fullerton 74, UC Santa Barbara 60
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The Titans (17-12, 11-6) used runs of 9-0 and 11-0 in the 1st half to run out to a double-digit lead and were never seriously threatened in a defeat of the reeling Gauchos (20-7, 11-5). Max Jones scored 18 points and Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. and John Mikey Square each added 15 for Fullerton, which has won 5 straight games. UCSB has lost 3 in a row to fall into a tie for 3rd place with Hawai'i.
Last UCSB game
March 10: (2) UC Santa Barbara 92, (3) UC Riverside 87
HENDERSON, Nev. -- Ajay Mitchell scored 28 points and handed out 7 assists and Josh Pierre-Louis added a season-high 20 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds to lead the Gauchos (26-7) to their second Big West Tournament Championship game in 3 seasons. UCSB shot 57% from the field and received career-highs in points from Matija Belic and Evans Kipruto off the bench. Flynn Cameron scored a career-high 31 points and Zyon Pullin added 24 for the Highlanders (22-12), who made 10-of-21 threes and out-rebounded the Gauchos 34-25.
Last Cal State Fullerton game
March 10: (4) Cal State Fullerton 83, (1) UC Irvine 80
HENDERSON, Nev. -- Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored 22 points to lead five players in double figures as the defending-champion Titans (20-12) advanced to the Big West Tournament Championship game for the second straight season and fourth time in the last 5 Tournaments. Cal State Fullerton made 7-of-8 free throw attempts down the stretch to hold off the top-seeded Anteaters. Dawson Baker scored 22 points and DJ Davis added 20 for UC Irvine, which has an automatic bid to the NIT.
Cal State Fullerton Roster
Latrell Wrightsell #3 JR G, 6-3 189, Omaha, NE -- 16.4 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 2.4 Ast
Jalen Harris #0 SR G, 6-1 180, Los Angeles, CA -- 12.4 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Max Jones #2 JR G, 6-5 206, Clearwater, FL -- 12.3 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 2.2 Ast
Tory San Antonio #23 SR G, 6-3 165, Moreno Valley, CA -- 7.6 Pts, 4.5 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Vincent Lee #13 SR F, 6-8 230, Midlothian, TX -- 7.6 Pts, 4.7 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Grayson Carper #21 SR G, 6-6 190, Fresno, CA -- 4.3 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Garrison Wade #22 SR F, 6-6 200, Madison, MS -- 4.4 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 0.4 Ast
John Mikey Square #32 JR F, 6-6 210, North Bethesda, MD -- 3.1 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Daeshawn Eaton #1 JR G, 6-2 160, Columbia, MD -- 2.6 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Lathaniel Bastian #14 SO G, 6-8 225, Nassau, Bahamas -- 2.1 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Victor Panov #5 FR F, 6-7 230, Saint Petersburg, Russia -- 1.4 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Ibrahim Famouke Doumbia #10 SR F, 6-7 205, Bamako, Mali -- 3.3 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Cameron Carter #35 SR G, 6-2 180, Reno, NV -- 1.3 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Trey Blackmore #11 FR G, 6-2 165, San Antonio, TX - 0.8 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Jayden White #12 FR F, 6-7 200, San Marcos, CA -- 0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Justin White #24 FR F, 6-5 205, San Marcos, CA -- 0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
UCSB Roster
Ajay Mitchell #13 SO G, 6-4 180, Sainte Marie Namur (Belgium) -- 16.3 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 5.2 Ast
Miles Norris #5 SR F, 6-10 220, San Diego, CA -- 14.2 Pts, 6.2 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Andre Kelly #2 SR F, 6-8 255, Stockton, CA -- 9.5 Pts, 6.3 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Josh Pierre-Louis #1 SR G, 6-4 185, Plainfield, NJ -- 10.0 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 2.5 Ast
Cole Anderson #4 SO G, 6-4 185, Fresno, CA -- 7.3 Pts, 1.3 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Calvin Wishart #10 SR G, 6-1 180, Delano, MN -- 7.0 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 2.8 Ast
Ajare Sanni #3 SR G, 6-3 170, Houston, TX -- 6.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Koat Keat Tong #00 FR F, 6-9 215, Bentiu, South Sudan -- 1.9 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Jakov Kukic #14 JR F, 6-10 230, Split, Croatia -- 2.3 Pts, 2.1 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Matija Belic #32 FR G, 6-7 205, Belgrade, Serbia -- 1.3 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Evans Kipruto #12 JR F, 6-8 250, Nairobi, Kenya -- 1.2 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 0.1 Ast
David Pickles #40 SO F, 6-10 235, Seattle, WA -- 1.0 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Gage Gomez #50 JR G, 6-3 190, Arroyo Grande, CA -- 0.2 Pts, 0.2 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Ariel Bland #23 SO F, 6-7 215, Eden Prairie, MN -- 0.0 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Henry Hartwell #51 FR G, 6-5 180, Oceanside, CA -- 0.0 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Max Sheldon #53 SO G, 5-11 180, Santa Barbara, CA -- 0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Cal State Fullerton National Ranking Outliers
Team
- Assist/Turnover Ratio: 296 (0.89)
- Assists per game: 334 (10.5)
- Bench Points per game: 293 (14.81)
- Field Goal pct Defense: 57 (.416)
- Free Throw Attempts per game: 53 (20.7)
- Free Throws Made per game: 77 (14.4)
- Scoring Defense: 38 (64.9)
- Three-Point percentage: 31 (.374)
- Three-Point percentage Defense: 38 (.310)
- Turnover Margin: 44 (2.5)
- Turnovers Forced per game: 69 (14.31)
Player
- Latrell Wrightsell Jr. -- Double Doubles: 413 (2), Field Goal Attempts: 186 (389), Field Goal pct: 265 (.427), Field Goals: 252 (166), Minutes per game: 239 (33:17), Points: 246 (475), Points per game: 145 (16.4), Steals: 254 (43), Steals per game: 191 (1.48), Three Point Attempts: 215 (182), Three Pointers per game: 114 (2.45), Three Pointers: 167 (71)
- Jalen Harris -- Field Goal Attempts: 272 (364), Free Throw Attempts: 261 (129), Free Throw pct: 335 (.736), Free Throws: 284 (95)
- Max Jones -- Free Throw Attempts: 242 (131), Free Throw pct: 209 (.794), Free Throws: 201 (104)
- Vincent Lee -- Rebounds (offensive) per game: 273 (2.03)
UCSB National Ranking Outliers
Team
- Assist/Turnover ratio: 61 (1.26)
- Bench Points per game: 288 (14.91)
- Effective FG pct: 28 (.547)
- Field Goal pct: 7 (.496)
- Rebounds (Offensive) per game: 303 (8.15)
- Rebounds per game: 307 (32.03)
- Scoring Defense: 56 (65.7)
- Three Point Attempts per game: 341 (15.8)
- Three Pointers per game: 329 (5.5)
- Turnovers per game: 66 (11.4)
- Winning percentage: 19 (.788)
Players
- Ajay Mitchell -- Assist/Turnover ratio: 52 (2.34), Assists: 20 (171), Assists per game: 35 (5.2), Double Doubles: 285 (3), Field Goal Attempts: 265 (365), Field Goal pct: 93 (.504), Field Goals: 136 (184), Free Throw attempts: 48 (184), Free Throw pct: 156 (.815), Free Throws: 33 (150), Minutes per game: 209 (33:32), Points: 106 (538), Points per game: 150 (16.3), Steals: 194 (46), Steals per game: 245 (1.39)
- Calvin Wishart -- Assists: 344 (94)
- Miles Norris -- Blocks: 272 (27), Blocks per game: 309 (0.82), Double Doubles: 203 (4), Field Goal pct: 106 (.494), Field Goals: 238 (168), Minutes per game: 195 (33:39), Points: 263 (469), Points per game: 332 (14.2), Rebounds: 207 (206), Rebounds (defensive) per game: 261 (4.52), Rebounds per game: 258 (6.2)
- Andre Kelly -- Blocks: 344 (24), Double Doubles: 103 (7), Rebounds: 222 (203), Rebounds (defensive) per game: 150 (5.00), Rebounds per game: 241 (6.3)
- Josh Pierre-Louis -- Steals per game: 341 (1.28)
Prediction
Both of yesterday's semifinal contests went WAY over. With a championship on the line, I think the scoring goes down. It will be another close one, which is the type of contest we excel in. UCSB 66, Cal State Fullerton 65.
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