UC Santa Barbara, winners of five straight, eight of nine and 11 of its last 13 games, is assured of no worse than the No. 2 Big West Men's Basketball Tournament seed. The Gauchos occupy first place at 10-3, one half game ahead of Pacific.
NOTEWORTHY
Keep An Eye On
Lorenzo Keeler, Cal Poly
Keeler delivered his Big West leading third 30-point effort of the season with 31 points in a 102-89 victory at Hawai’i Saturday. It also marked the 10th time he has topped the 20-point barrier in a game. Keeler, who averaged 27.0 points in two games last week, is now the Big West’s No. 4 scorer at 16.1 per game. He has been even better in conference games, raising his average to a league second-best 18.8 points per game. Keeler hit a perfect 16 of 16 at the free throw line against Hawai’i.
MORE NOTABLES
UC Santa Barbara Secures Top Two Tourney Seed
UC Santa Barbara’s 73-65 win at Cal State Fullerton last Wednesday assured the Gauchos of no worse than the No. 2 seed at next month’s Big West Tournament. The Gauchos (16-8, 10-3), in first place by a half game over Pacific in the Big West standings, own all possible tiebreakers against anyone that could tie them at 10-6 should they lose their final three league contests. Pacific (17-9, 9-3), Cal State Fullerton (14-12, 7-6) and UC Davis (11-15, 6-6) are all 0-2 against the Gauchos this season. Only Pacific can beat out UCSB for the No. 1 seed.
Title Talk
The Gauchos are aiming for their first outright Big West regular season title since the 2002-03 season. UC Santa Barbara shared the regular season crown with Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge at 12-4 in 2007-08, earning a selection to the National Invitation Tournament. The last NCAA Tournament appearance for UCSB occurred in 2001 when the Gauchos captured the Big West Tournament as a No. 3 seed.
Safety In Seeding
The importance of securing a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Big West Tournament cannot be understated. Current tournament format grants the top two seeds an automatic bye into the semifinals. The No. 3 and No. 4 seed receives a free pass into the quarterfinals. Being a bottom four seed in the eight-team tournament means having to win four games in four nights. Since moving to the current format in 2004, a top two seed has won the tournament in every year except 2008 when third-seeded Cal State Fullerton raised the crown.
Who’s In, Who’s Out?
Battles galore dot the Big West landscape over the final two weeks of the regular season as teams jockey for tournament seeding position. Or just to get into the tournament. That’s the scenario right now for UC Riverside and UC Irvine. Both teams are tied for eighth in the standings with 4-9 league records. The Highlanders hold the tiebreaker edge based on sweeping the season series from the Anteaters for that eighth and final spot in the Big West Tournament. UCR finishes the regular season with three straight road games against Pacific, UC Davis and Long Beach State. UCI hosts Cal State Northridge, then concludes the regular season on the road versus UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. Of course, there’s still the possibility that both the Highlanders and Anteaters make the field and someone else gets left out.
Need An Explanation Here
UC Davis senior Dominic Calegari has hit the 1,000 career point plateau - twice in one season. How’s that? The Aggie competed as a freshman in 2006-07, the year prior to UC Davis becoming an official member of the Big West. He scored 165 points that year. Add that total to the 1,005 points he has scored since, and Calegari has 1,170 career points. But for Big West record keeping purposes, Calegari is considered to have scored 1,005 points in three seasons of Big West hoops. He’s the fourth player to hit the milestone this season.
UCSB Attempts To Pull Off A First At Home
UC Santa Barbara is 6-0 in Big West home games this season. The Gauchos are the only remaining undefeated home team in league play. UCSB’s last two home Big West games are against Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine. In the event the Gauchos win both, they would finish a league slate undefeated at home for the first time in school history.
Big West On Fox Twice This Week
Two Big West games will appear on television this week as part of the conference’s package with Fox. On Wednesday, Cal State Fullerton travels to Cal Poly for a 7:30 p.m. tilt on FSN West. The TV lights come on again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. when UC Irvine hosts Cal State Northridge on FSN Prime Ticket. Both games have tournament seeding implications as the Titans and Mustangs are fighting for a bye into the quarterfinals, while the Anteaters and Matadors are trying to assure themselves of a spot in the field.
Hunter Nearing UCI Threes Record
UC Irvine senior Michael Hunter is closing in on the school’s career record for made three-pointers. The guard is currently No. 2 with 223 career threes, trailing only Ross Schraeder, who drained 233 from 2002-06. Hunter also needs just 14 treys to enter the Big West career top 10.
Ware Enters Long Beach State Top 10 In Assists
Long Beach State sophomore guard Casper Ware dished out nine assists over two games last week to increase his season total to a Big West best 139. The 139 assists also ties him with former 49er Kevin Houston (2006-07) for 10th place on the LBSU single-season list. Ware now focuses on rising even further up the charts, as he sets his sights on Rasul Salahuddin (142), Billy Walker (147) and Bobby Sears (152) in upcoming games.
Somogyi Goes On Swatting Spree
UC Santa Barbara sophomore Greg Somogyi, a 7-3 center, broke the school record and tied the Big West record for single game blocked shots with eight in the Gauchos’ 64-60 win at Fresno State on Saturday.
Douglass, Williams Now In Fifth On Victories Chart
UC Irvine’s Pat Douglass and UC Santa Barbara’s Bob Williams have both cracked the top five in career victories as a head coach in the Big West. Both mentors own 195 victories at their schools, surpassing Fresno State’s Boyd Grant, who had 194 wins.
ALL-TIME VICTORY LEADERS - BIG WEST TENURE
Rk. Coach, School No.
1. Jerry Tarkanian, LBSU & UNLV 405
2. Bob Thomason, Pacific 381
3. Neil McCarthy, New Mexico State 248
4. Jerry Pimm, UC Santa Barbara 222
5. Pat Douglass, UC Irvine 195
Bob Williams, UC Santa Barbara 195
7. Boyd Grant, Fresno State 194
8. Stew Morrill, Utah State 167
9. Bill Mulligan, UC Irvine 163
10. Rod Tueller, Utah State 158
Bold denotes active Big West head coach
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