8* Take Cal Santa Barbara (#772)

To call UC San Diego a bottom feeder might be giving them too much credit, because this team is truly a mess right now.  The Tritons have basically been in COVID turmoil all year.  They did notch two early wins against St Katherine (non-D-1 competition).  Then they sat for weeks after multiple games got canceled.  They’ve been back on the floor since last Saturday: two games, two double digit losses.

Nobody on San Diego is averaging five rebounds per game; a big problem last night when they were outrebounded by 17 in a loss to these same Gauchos.  It was a similar story last week against Cal-Irvine – an inability to snare rebounds.  And with 34 turnovers in their first two Big West games, it’s not like this team has the level of offensive execution necessary to overcome their rebounding, defensive or shooting woes. 

Santa Barbara didn’t even play particularly well last night, shooting under 44% from the floor, hitting only six three pointers and missing half of their free throws.  They still won by 17 and I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if they extend that margin into the 20’s in tonight’s rematch.  Chalk worth laying!  Take UC Santa Barbara