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February 22 Sheet

Detroit at UCSB (-5) - Game 875-876 - 8:00pm Pacific
Cal Santa Barbara has emerged as the Big West's best team from the middle of last season to now. They finished strong last year and were a mild surprise winner of the conference tournament beating top seeds Irvine & Utah State convincingly on consecutive days. They went on to give Arizona a scare (5 point loss) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They are very well coached by 5th year man Bob Williams who is one of many being mentioned as a candidate for the UCLA job. They held opponents to just .383 shooting last season and are holding them to just .410 shooting this year.

The Gauchos started slowly this year going 5-12 to start the season but they did have excuses. Eight of their ten non-conference games were played away from home and they battled through several injuries. Just as everyone was about to write them off they have started to play their best basketball and have won 8 of 10 games in conference play since which has put them in a tie for 1st place in the Big West. Their favorable remaining schedule makes them the favorite for the regular season conference championship. During their recent run they have beaten conference heavyweights UC Irvine (in Irvine) & Utah State both by double digits. Their only losses have been a fluke loss at Long Beach State by 1 and a tough loss in last outing at Cal Poly by 3.

Detroit is having a subpar season as they come in with a 13-11 overall record and just 7-7 in Horizon league play. They are 5-7 in away games but only one of the wins was vs a team having anything even close to a winning record (Illinois-Chicago). This will be their 4th game in 9 days and second straight road game in just a span of three days and they must make the long trip out to the West coast.

UCSB is an experienced team with four starters back from last season. Players know the system well and play with great chemistry. Branduinn Fullove & Mark Hull are potent inside/out scorers. Point guard Jacoby Atako is very solid & wing Nick Jones is an athletic slasher and scorer. All of these guys can defend. Head coach Williams will have plenty of options for defending Detroit leading scorer one man show guard Green. UCSB is a sparkling 8-1 at the Thunder Dome this season with only loss by 2 to Fullerton before they got hot. Visitors have only averaged 52.4ppg here. Only one team was able to surpass 60 points (Pacific's 61) and only three of nine teams have shot better than 40% from the field here. Thunder Dome crowds are always bigger and louder when the ESPN truck is parked outside. Look for the Gauchos to have their way with non-conference visitor.

UCSB  1 UNIT

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