Gaucho Basketball News

It was an up and down week for the Gauchos, where we saw them pull of a huge upset over #22 UNLV but then got demolished by #10 San Diego State.

Nunnally= Player of the Week

James Nunnally has won his 2nd Big West Player of the Week award after having a huge performance against UNLV and chipping in a solid game in a loss vs. San Diego State. On Wednesday vs. UNLV, Nunnally had 23 points and 7 rebounds. He made all 6 of his free throw attempts and 4 of them came in the final moments of the upset win. Versus SDSU, he had 15 points in the loss.

Player on the Rise

Greg Somogyi has been playing fantastic lately for the 'Chos. In the loss vs. San Diego State, he was a bright spot with 7 points and 8 rebounds.

Clutch Player of the Week

Justin Joyner easily wins this award. Even though you could say Nunnally or Orlando easily, JJ made two huge three pointers vs. UNLV which gave the Gauchos the lead for good.

Big West Breakdown

Right now, the race for the best team in the conference is close. UCSB has beaten Santa Clara and UNLV on the road. Pacific got wins vs. Nevada and UTEP. And finally, the resurgent Anteaters with their new coach are playing well with a 6-5 record. As of now, I would say UCSB is playing the best basketball but top to bottom, it is just as good as last year.

GO GAUCHOS!

Quotes from the UNLV/UCSB game

Here are some quotes from both teams after UCSB's 68-62 win over #22 UNLV.

Orlando Johnson (On the victory)

"This is a huge win. I wanted to get it in there heads. It was going to be a battle. We traveled too far to lose.

Coach Williams (On responding to the big win before)

"We've won at UNLV and at UCLA before. Those are tough venues. The big wins are in league championships and in the postseason. This was a big test for us tonight."

James Nunnally (On why he shoots his free throws from left side of the stripe)

"I went to the left side of the line in junior high school because my coach noticed I was missing them to the right. And I went 31-35 the rest of the season.

Coach Williams (On the UNLV Crowd)

"It's a huge win. This is the Mountain West. They are chanting Big West is Division II. We wanted to prove that we could compete with the #22 team in the nation."

And Bob, you guys did show those Runnin Rebels up.

Go Gauchos!

Note: More analysis will be available today on this historic win. Also, a preview for Saturdays colossal match-up vs. #10 San Diego State.

UCSB Mens Basketball vs. #22 UNLV

Vegas is supposed to be for partying right? Well UCSB has all the right excuses to hit the town because last night they defeated #22 UNLV 68-62. It was the biggest win on the road for the Gauchos since 2003 when they defeated UCLA. Not only was it huge, it extended the winning streak to three games.

James Nunnally, who had another great game with 23 points and 7 rebounds, said, "This was a very big win!" Well Mr. Nunnally, I think I know who they are adding to the Naismith watch!

At the 15:00 minute mark in the first half, the Gauchos were hanging in there on the wrong side of 10-9. They used a 14-3 run to take control and push the lead to 10, 23-13. They did this by James Nunnally, Orlando Johnson (12 points, 15 rebounds), and Jon Pastorek all hitting treys from deep. Dick Vitale thought, "They are a team of 3's men!" They ended the stretch by the Big Boy, Greg Somogyi, throwing it down right in the face!

They got it to 30-18 but the Runnin' Rebels closed the margin all the way and it was 30-30 at the half.

Coach Williams was happy the first half ended when it did because he thought they needed to talk some things over.

Then after a few buckets here and there, UNLV took a four point lead at 38-34 led by Chase Stanback (16 points, 8 rebounds) but UCSB's Justin Joyner, who had no points all season, nailed back to back three pointers to give the Gauchos the lead. Just might be two of Justin's biggest shots of his career.

Then UCSB pushed it to 48-39 behind a Kyle Boswell score and they held onto a fair sized lead for a long time. Then with 46 seconds to go, UNLV got it down to three at 64-61 but UCSB after that, UNLV stole the ball but missed a few shoots. Then Nunnally got the ball and sank to free throws to put this case to a close!

The Gauchos are now 5-3 and this season and this was their third straight win. The dynamic duo of Nunnally and Johnson had 35 points and 22 rebounds. Jaime Serna put in another solid effort with 12 points and surprisingly Justin Joyner had 8 points to seal the deal.

The Rebels fall to 9-2 and this was their second straight loss. Chase Stanback led them with 16 and Tre'Von Willis had 14.

The Gauchos are back in action Saturday versus another ranked team in #10 San Diego State. It will be on the Mtn. on television at 7:00 p.m.

GO GAUCHOS!

UCSB vs UNLV Preview

One of the biggest games for the Gauchos this season will be tomorrow vs. #22 UNLV in Las Vegas. The Rebels are 9-1 and are coming off a loss to the Gauchos while UCSB is 4-3 and had a week off this past week.

Matchup to Watch

Chase Stanback vs. UCSB Frontcourt

The long, athletic Stanback has been great for the Rebels this year. He is averaging 13 points and 4 rebounds a game. It will be interesting to see if the Gauchos can get a body on this kid and stop him from having a big game.

Important Stat

Free Throw Shooting: UNLV is shooting a sub-par, Gauchos of last year percentage of 68.5 %. The Gauchos on the other hand are shooting a phenomenal 79.4 %.

Player on the Rise

Kyle Boswell: Even though he is only averaging 3 points a game, the freshman has made a great impact. He has started the last two games and vs. LMU, he scored a nice 7 points. The freshman should see a large amount minutes vs. the Runnin' Rebels and could even start again.

UNLV Info

The Runnin' Rebels are lead by Chase Stanback (13p, 4r), Oscar Bellfield (13 p, 3r), and Tre'von Willis (11p, 3r). Their coach is Lon Kruger and leads them at a 9-1 record and a #22 ranking overall in the country.

The Rivalry

The schools have met 35 times with the Rebels winning 27 of those. The Gauchos however had their fair share of memorable moment such as in 1991 when the Gauchos defeated the #2 ranked UNLV at home 78-70. Then in 2006-2007, they defeated them on the road. Finally, in 2007-2008, "Big Game" James Powell nailed a three-pointer as the clock expired to give the Gauchos a huge upset win over the visitors from The Sin City.

Prediction

As Dick Vitale would say "upset city is coming baby!" I think the James Nunnally and Orlando Johnson are on a roll and cannot be stopped. The wing play will be key with both teams have talented wing players. In the end, the Gauchos get a HUGE win over the Runnin' Rebels and extend their winning streak to 3 overall and to 4 against the Gauchos. 'IT WILL BE AWESOME BABY!" Score: Gauchos:76 UNLV:72

GO GAUCHOS!

Gaucho News Update

There has been lots of new the past few days. A Gaucho has earned All-Big West recognition, a feature article on ESPN.com, and a new team in the Big West Conference. Lets get to the news.

James Nunnally named Big West Player of the Week

On Monday, the Big West said James Nunnally was the Big West Player of the Week. Last week, he averaged 31.5 points per game in wins over Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara. He also shot 76% from three point range.

Orlando Johnson on ESPN.com

On Tuesday, a feature article on ESPN.com was on Orlando Johnson. It talked about his family, his transferring to the Gauchos, and his future possibly in the NBA. It was written by Diamond Leung and Mr. Leung also interviewed Orlando.

Hawaii, Welcome to the California Conference

Yesterday, it was announced that the University of Hawaii would be joining the Big West Conference again in 2012. Hawaii left the conference in 1996 and are delighted to come back to the Big West!

GO GAUCHOS!

Upcoming Games:

12/15/10: at UNLV (9-0)

12/18/10: at San Diego State (9-0)

Note: Both teams are in the Top 25

UCSB Mens Basketball vs. Santa Clara

Wow. That "Nunnally for Naismith" chant has never made more sense. James Nunnally went off again as he scored a career high 34 points to lead the Gauchos to a 80-69 win over the Broncos of Santa Clara.

Nunnally, the San Jose native, was closed to his home so many family members came out and saw the best game of his Gaucho career. What a night to have them there!

The whole first half was very close with the Gauchos biggest lead at 6 until with about 2 minutes to go Santa Clara took the lead 31-30. Then the Gauchos closed out the half on a 10-4 run making the score 40-35.

Orlando Johnson, 16 points, and James Nunnally each made a pair of free throws to push the score to 44-35. Then the Gauchos never looked back as the lead stayed around 10 until the Broncos made one last "stampede" to cut the score to 4 with exactly 4 minutes to go. Then Jaime Serna threw down a slam and OJ nailed a three which put the nail in the coffin. They ran out the clock and the Gauchos got a win.

Jaime had a good game with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and WHOPPING 5 blocks. Also, Jordan Weiner chipped in 9 points while Will Brew had a nice showing of 6 points and 3 assists.

The leading scorer for the Broncos was Kevin Foster with 25. He had 19 in the first half so Coach Williams made some great adjustments and held him to 6 in the second half.

The Gauchos are back in action December 15 at UNLV and then December 18 at San Diego State. These are the Gauchos two biggest games of the year with both teams in the Top 25. If Nunnally keeps it going and OJ keeps doing what he is doing, as Dick Vitale would say, "It is gonna be upset city!"

Go Gauchos!

Key Stats:

Attendance: 2,037

3 Point Shots: UCSB-46.7 % SC-36.4%

Free Throws: UCSB-78.1 % SC-59.4%

Records: UCSB (4-3) SC (4-4)

Weird Coincidence: Santa Clara beat UCSB last year 79-68. That is one less than what the winner and loser scored this year. I thought that was kind of cool!

James "Nunnally for Naismith" Nunnally