UC Santa Barbara (4-0) and Cal State Fullerton (3-0) attempt to stay undefeated in the young 2009-10 men's basketball season as the non-conference calendar heads into December this week. Long Beach State's victory last week against UCLA gives the Big West two wins against the Bruins in the same season for the first time in league history. Cal State Fullerton defeated UCLA on Nov. 16.
NOTEWORTHY
Keep An Eye On
James Powell, UC Santa Barbara
Powell had his best all-around game in two years in Saturday’s 89-84 win at Loyola Marymount. The senior guard tallied a team-high 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Gauchos, while knocking down 5 of 7 attempts from three-point range. Powell, who struggled through much of his junior season, has helped the Gauchos to their first 4-0 start since the 2006-07 campaign and the second in the 12-year tenure of head coach Bob Williams. Powell also has 954 career points and is only 46 shy of the 1,000 point mark.
MORE NOTABLES
49ers Second Big West Team To Beat UCLA
The Big West established a conference first in Long Beach State’s 79-68 victory against UCLA in the 76 Classic on Sunday. Coupled with Cal State Fullerton’s 68-65 double-overtime triumph against the Bruins on Nov. 16, the 49er win marked the first time in Big West history that two conference members defeated UCLA in the same season. Prior to this season, the Big West staged victories against UCLA in 2003 (UC Santa Barbara), 1988 (UC Irvine) and 1986 (UC Irvine). In addition, Cal State Northridge defeated the Bruins in 2000, but the Matadors were then members of the Big Sky Conference.
Big West Enjoying Success Against SoCal Schools
It’s still early in the 2009-10 season, but Big West schools are capturing the attention of their counterparts in the southern California region. The Big West is a healthy 8-1 against teams from the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.
BIG WEST AGAINST SOCAL SCHOOLS
Date Game Result
11/13 Pacific@Pepperdine PAC, 67-64
11/16 Cal State Fullerton@UCLA CSF, 68-65
11/16 Pacific vs. San Diego PAC, 56-55
11/17 Long Beach State@Pepperdine LBSU, 67-58
11/17 UC Riverside@USC USC, 77-67
11/18 UC Irvine@LMU UCI, 84-78
11/25 Pacific vs. San Diego State PAC, 71-63
11/28 UC Santa Barbara@LMU UCSB, 89-84
11/29 Long Beach State vs. UCLA LBSU, 79-68
Winning Records Against Western Brethren
Not only is the Big West performing well against teams in the southern California radius, the league has posted a winning record against three of the other five leagues in the west region. The Big West is 7-2 against the West Coast Conference, and 2-1 against the Big Sky and Western Athletic Conferences. The league is also 2-3 versus the Pac-10 and 1-3 against the Mountain West.
Titans Stage Amazing Comeback
Cal State Fullerton is off to a 3-0 start for the fifth straight year. But the Titans had to work frantically for their last victory, an 84-73 home triumph against New Mexico State on Tuesday. The Titans trailed early on 25-3 as the Aggies went on a 20-0 blitz out of the gates. CSF chipped away at the deficit and then finished the first half on a 22-10 surge to trim NMSU’s lead to 37-33. Fullerton kept charging out of the break to score the first 14 points of the second half, and when the dust cleared, the Titans completed a 44-12 turnaround to lead 62-44 with 11:42 to play. After a 10-day break, the Titans play Central Arkansas in the first round of the Etech Lumberjack Classic on Dec. 4.
UC Santa Barbara Off To Hot Start
UC Santa Barbara joins Cal State Fullerton as the two remaining undefeated Big West schools. The Gauchos scored a season-high 89 points at Loyola Marymount on Sunday to win by five, moving to 4-0 on the young season. UCSB attempts to start a season 5-0 for the first time since 1992-93 when it hosts Santa Clara on Tuesday. The Gauchos finish off a stretch of five of six home games when they take on San Diego State on Saturday. UCSB started out 6-0 in 1992-93 as well.
Long Beach State Favorite To Win 2009-10 Title
A 24-member media voting panel tabbed Long Beach State as the favorite to win the 2009-10 Big West men’s basketball regular season title. The 49ers earned 17 first-place votes and 209 points. UC Santa Barbara captured six first-place nods and 178 points to finish second, while defending Big West regular season and tournament champion Cal State Northridge was third with 130 points. UC Riverside came in fourth place with 127 points and Pacific, which received the remaining first-place vote, had 126 points for fifth. Rounding out the poll was UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Cal Poly.
Tigers Shooting With Accuracy
Pacific, off to a solid 4-1 start of its own, has used the same starting lineup in all five games. The Tiger starting quintet is shooting a combined 50.8% (95 of 187) from the field, led by senior Joe Ford at 63.2%.
Gurganious Hits Buzzer Beater
Dating back to the 2008-09 season, UC Riverside is now 11-1 in games decided by five points or less. The Highlanders eked out a 59-58 win at Sacramento State on Saturday thanks to a jumper at the buzzer by senior Larry Gurganious. The guard rebounded a missed shot and layed it back in as time expired.
Coaching Milestones On The Horizon
A pair of head coaches are poised to enter the top five in all time victories while a member of the Big West coaching fraternity. Pat Douglass, in his 13th year at the helm of UC Irvine, is currently No. 6 all-time with 186 victories. He is the all-time winningest coach at UCI. He needs 10 wins to surpass Fresno State’s Boyd Grant (1978-86) in the No. 5 spot with 194 wins. A 17-win season for Douglass would make him just the fifth coach to reach the 200-win plateau.
UC Santa Barbara’s Bob Williams enters his 12th season on the Central Coast campus just four wins behind Douglass in the record book. He is 183-146 with the Gauchos. Williams has posted two 20-win seasons (2001-02, 2007-08) during his tenure, so the 21 wins he needs to collect 200 for his career is within reach.
ALL-TIME VICTORY LEADERS - BIG WEST TENURE
Rk. Coach, School No.
1. Jerry Tarkanian, LBSU & UNLV 405
2. Bob Thomason, Pacific 368
3. Neil McCarthy, New Mexico State 248
4. Jerry Pimm, UC Santa Barbara 222
5. Boyd Grant, Fresno State 194
6. Pat Douglass, UC Irvine 186
7. Bob Williams, UC Santa Barbara 183
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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