Meet the Gauchos
Season Preview
Year two of the Joe Pasternack era at UCSB will have a very different flavor than the first. It was a record setting beginning for the coach as he took a 6 win team all the way to a 23 win season, tying the school record for victories and the Big West Conference record for turnaround. Helping the new coach achieve this success was a very experienced roster with three returning starters and two grad transfers that became starters. Unfortunately, the bulk of that roster has graduated and to repeat the success, he will have to do it with mostly new players. Good thing for UCSB, Pasternack and his staff have worked extremely hard to bring in a very talented mix of freshmen and transfers. And the one returning starter he does have is a great one, leading scorer and First Team All Big West guard Max Heidegger.
Pre-season prognosticators have not been sure what to make of the Gauchos, they lost so much but the talent coming in is the best in the conference. They have been picked to finish anywhere from 6th to first. They are deep though, eleven players are playing significant minutes. A fairly soft out of conference schedule this year may translate into some ugly wins as opposed to losses piling up while the new pieces work to come together.
Season summary
Biggest news is that their star player, Max Heidegger, has yet to play, out with a concussion. He’s been listed as day-to-day for a while now so no one really knows when he’ll play. In the season opener, UCSB earned a tough road win over Wyoming in high altitude Laramie, pulling away to win by 10. The game had great openers for several of their newcomers; Amadou Sow nearly had a double-double with 11 points and 8 boards. JaQuori McLaughlin, a RS Sophomore transfer from Oregon State also had a breakout game with 17 points. Against unheralded North Dakota State, the Gauchos got run allowing 80 points and coach & players alike pointed to poor defense as the reason. The Gauchos took it out on poor D3 Cal Lutheran and limited them to 32 points and continued the effort against Montana State in their D1 home opener, winning by 19. ArMond Davis broke out of his shooting slump and led the way with 22 points in that game.
Coach Joe Pasternack
Coach Pasternack set the bar pretty high his first year with the aforementioned school and conference records. With a three star and a 3-4 star recruit in his 2019 recruiting class that was just announced, Coach P is continuing to get it done on the recruiting trail. With so many pieces this season, it will be a great test of his abilities & system to see if he can match last year’s success. Coach P comes to UCSB after a successful stint under Sean Miller at the U. Arizona, where he rose to an Associate HC role. He has been an assistant to Ben Braun at Cal and was a Head Coach at the University of New Orleans, right after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. He got his start as a student assistant at the University of Indiana under Bob Knight.
Roster
The Gauchos experienced major turnover and with leading returner Max Heidegger out with a concussion, have an entirely new starting 5 so far this year and only one of those a returning player. Besides the major roster turnover, the biggest difference is depth. UCSB is playing 11 guys regularly with no starter averaging more than 27 minutes and 10 of the 11 averaging 10 mpg or more. The bench is contributing 41% of the scoring, compared to closer to 15% last season.
Probable Starters
Devearl Ramsey: #4 PG, RS Sophomore. 6’0”, 185lb 11.8 ppg, 4.5 apg, 4 rpg, .364 from three. A very athletic and exciting point guard that can drive, Ramsey is eligible this year after the requisite red shirt season after transferring from Nevada. A highly recruited 3-4* player out of high school, his defense is fantastic and helps UCSB shore up it’s Achilles heel from last year, guarding quick point guards. A vocal leader, he has been named team captain. On the downside, his aggressive play is sometimes out of control and leads to turnovers.
JaQuori McLaughlin: , #3 Guard, RS Sophomore 6’4, 190lb 12.8 ppg, 3.3 apg, .350 from three. Another transfer, McLaughlin comes to UCSB from Oregon State where he set the freshman record for three pointers made. He can play either guard position but may start out on the wing given the depth at guard. He leads the team in scoring, second in assists and has made 12/13 fts for the year.
Ar’Mond Davis: #1 Wing, 12.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg. Grad Transfer (Alabama). 6‘6”, 190lb Davis sat out last year with an injury after playing the 6th man role at Alabama his junior year. Prior, he excelled at the College of Southern Idaho, earning a top 5 ranking at the JC level. He is athletic and loves to score. The Gauchos will need him to crash the boards and defend bigger players too given the smaller line up. Was rusty the first couple games but bounced back against Montana State with 22 points. Is the team’s second leading scorer.
Jarriese Blackmon: #2 Forward, Senior, 6’7”, 220lb Blackmon’s high energy and athleticism have been what has earned him minutes on the floor. With Heidegger out with a concussion, Blackmon has started every game, is second on the team in rebounding and is averaging nearly 2 blocks per game. He has some decent moves within the arc and is shooting a solid .575 but is not a primary offensive weapon.
Amadou Sow: #12 Forward, Freshman, 6’9”, 235lb 9.8 ppg, 7 rbg. One of the more highly rated recruits in Gaucho history, Sow turned down the likes of Cal, Illinois and Wichita State to come to UCSB. The athletic freshman demonstrated range to outside the arc in high school but has stuck to patrolling the paint at UCSB. It is early and at times he has played like a freshman and at times he looks like an all-conference player.
Reserves
Christian Terrell: #23 Wing, Junior, 6’5”, 200lb “CT” is one of the best athletes on the team with great hops and is considered the best defender. He has supposedly improved his shooting which was the weakest part of his game his first two seasons but he has taken the role of facilitator and taking only high percentage shots resulting in an amazing .750 fg%.
Jay Nagle: #5 Wing, Freshman. 6’8”, 205lb 5.3 ppg, 3.3 rbg. The son of basketball coach, Nagle was the first HS recruit signed by Pasternack and has grown 2 inches since he signed. A terrific outside shooter, he is shooting .700, all from three. Not the quickest or best athlete, he can be a little slow on defense.
Zach Moore: #34 Guard, RS Junior. 6’5”, 210lb A starter at Seattle before transferring to UCSB, Moore averaged about 11ppg and made 74 threes his sophomore year. Provides another outside threat, is 3-4 from deep this season while averaging 2.5 assists.
Ami Lakoju: #14 Center, Senior, 6’9”, A physical presence, Ami has been prone to foul trouble over his career and is still struggling with that this season. When he stays out of foul trouble, he has been able to make some contributions on offense and can clear the paint for boards with his big body. Someone I’ve always hoped could do more, still hoping he can clean up his defense and can elevate in his last season as a Gaucho.
Robinson Idehen: #35 F/C, Sophomore, 6’10”, 230lb 5.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg. A JC transfer, Idehen is expected to be a rebounding and defensive force in the paint. After a slow start, he is showing improvement.
Sekou Toure: #0 Guard, Freshman, 6’5”, 185lb 5.5 ppg, 3.3 rbg Lightly recruited, Toure made great strides his senior year at Prolific Prep where Sow also attended, averaging 16ppg and 8 boards; UCSB may have got a steal in him. What impresses most though is his defense which alone may earn him PT right off the bat. Like Idehen, he is showing improvement.
Limited Roles
Senior Forward Maxwell Kupchak and walk-ons Scotty Harris, Andrew Pickles & Mobeen Hirbod will not likely see meaningful minutes.
Injured
Max Heidegger: #21 Guard, Junior. 6‘3”, 180lb Gauchos star player from a year ago has been out with a concussion so far this year. Max had one of the biggest leaps in improvement in Gaucho hoops history from his freshman year to his sophomore. An amazing talent, he is a terrific three pointer shooter with NBA range, setting the school record for threes, and can drive & finish. A very capable ball handler, he can run the point but will play the off-guard position most of the time. Don’t be surprised if his production decreases slightly this season due to the depth of backcourt talent UCSB has this season versus last. If he does play, he may be a bit rusty and play limited minutes.
About UCSB
Hoops history. UCSB has been an above-average mid-major the past 25 years but has not been able to break through with a type of season that would garner national attention. Its hey-day was in the late 80s/early 90s when the Big West conference rivaled the then Pac 10 for hoops superiority in the West. At that time, UNLV was a power and UCSB had a couple major upsets of the Rebels when they were ranked in the top 5 of the country. The Gauchos were the last team to beat UNLV before the Rebels went on to win the National Championship in 1990. Those Rebels would not lose again until to Duke in the Final Four the following year. Also in 1990, the Gauchos won their only NCAA tournament game ever, defeating Houston in the first found before losing to top seed Michigan State by 3. During this time the crowds were among the best in the country and the Campus Events Center earned the nick-name of “The Thunderdome.” Sadly, present-day crowds make a mockery of that name. Under previous coach Bob Williams, who led the program for 19 years, the Gauchos got to the NCAA tournament three times and the NIT twice, never winning a game. Our most famous basketball alum is Brian Shaw who won three NBA championships with the Lakers in the early 2000s and is back with the Lakers as Associate HC.
Gauchos in the NBA
James Nunnally, 2012, a deep bench reserve forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves
Alan Williams, 2015, school’s all-time rebounding leader, under the new NBA Two-Way contract with the Brooklyn Nets and formerly with the Phoenix Suns.
The School: Once more known as a party school (and it certainly was when I was there way back when!), it has grown to become one of the best universities in the country, consistently in the top 40 of the school ratings. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more beautiful campus location, surrounded on two sides by the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez mountains behind. It is more sedate now but still has the surf and bikinis in January. Although in a bit of a lull right now, the soccer team has had a lot of success, winning the National Championship in 2006 and created a fantastic following as the school led the country in attendance for more than 10 consecutive years. The school responded by investing into their stadium and UCSB will be hosting the College Cup (Final 4) for the second time this December.
