BYU Loses Lead, Suffers First Loss at UCSB
SANTA BARBARA -- After controlling the game for the first 35 minutes, BYU could not hang on as UC Santa Barbara came from behind to earn a 68-58 victory over the Cougars Wednesday in Santa Barbara. With the loss, BYU dropped to 2-1 on the year while the Gauchos improved to 3-1.
"It was a pretty good effort for about 35 minutes," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We didn't take care of the ball down the stretch and we missed a few three throws late. We didn't do the little things when it mattered."
BYU led by as many as 12 points in the first half, thanks in large part to four Mark Bigelow three-pointers. BYU's advantage was 32-23 with 1:20 left in the half before a Cleveland technical gave the Gauchos some momentum. They converted both free throws and a bucket on the same possession followed by another field goal after a BYU miss to suddenly cut the Cougar lead to only three at 32-29 with 59 seconds remaining in the half.
Leading 34-29 at the break, BYU found success in the second half by going inside to freshman center Jared Jensen. The 6-9, 245-pounder scored eight of his career-high 14 points in the early going of the final 20 minutes with several nice post moves. A Jensen free throw gave BYU its largest lead of the final half at 49-41 at the 10:14 mark.
A second Cougar technical foul, this time on Travis Hansen, again turned the momentum toward the Gauchos. With Bigelow having just converted a shot while also being fouled, Hansen was whistled for the technical. Before Bigelow could convert the old-fashioned three-point play at the line, UCSB's Mark Hull was able to negate the Bigelow bucket with two free throws on the other end. Bigelow's free throw gave BYU only a three-point lead at 54-51 with 6:18 left in the game.
BYU's offense suddenly sputtered as the Cougars made only one more field goal while the Gauchos went on a 17-4 run to end the game. UCSB took its first lead at 55-54 with 3:28 remaining when Hull made two of his game-high 23 points. Hull came back with a three in the next possession, the first Gaucho trey in the second half after eight failed attempts, to push the lead to four.
The Cougars got within two but couldn't convert and were forced to foul as UCSB scored its final eight points on free throws to push the final margin to double digits.
Bigelow led BYU with 15 points while Hansen and Jensen added 14 apiece. Hansen recorded his second consecutive double-double also pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds. Matt Montague had six assists and eight points. Senior forward Eric Nielsen played only 24 minutes due to foul trouble and had a season-low three points and four rebounds.
Neither team shot well. BYU made 38.5 percent from the floor and UCSB 37.7 percent. BYU did fare better from three-point range, going 6-of-14 compared to the Gauchos' 3-for-16 three-point shooting. But UCSB made up the difference and more at the free throw line. They made 25-of-28 free throws, while BYU only went to the line 16 times, making 12.
The Cougars will face another Big West foe in Utah State Saturday at 8 p.m. The game will be played in Logan.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICSBYU vs UC Santa Barbara
11-28-01 7:00 PM at the Thunderdome at UCSB
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VISITORS: BYU 2-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 1-4 0-1 1-1 2 2 4 4 3 1 5 0 1 24
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f 4-5 0-0 6-8 0 0 0 4 14 0 2 0 0 32
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g 4-16 2-4 4-4 2 8 10 3 14 2 1 0 0 36
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... g 5-13 4-6 1-1 0 5 5 1 15 1 5 3 0 34
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g 4-7 0-1 0-2 1 4 5 3 8 6 2 0 1 38
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 2-7 0-2 0-0 1 4 5 2 4 0 2 0 2 17
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
32 JEPSEN, Bart........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 18
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 20-52 6-14 12-16 7 28 35 18 58 11 17 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-26 53.8% 2nd Half: 6-26 23.1% Game: 38.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 1-1 100 % Game: 42.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 11-15 73.3% Game: 75.0% 1
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HOME TEAM: UC Santa Barbara 3-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 Hull, Mark.......... f 9-17 2-6 3-5 0 6 6 1 23 2 1 0 2 31
40 Vukovich, Mike...... f 1-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 17
45 Ndiaye, Adama....... c 2-5 0-0 3-3 1 10 11 2 7 3 2 3 1 33
05 Atako, Jacoby....... g 1-3 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 3 4 3 4 0 0 26
33 Fullove, Branduinn.. g 1-12 0-5 10-10 2 2 4 1 12 2 1 0 0 32
03 Jones, Nick......... 4-8 1-4 0-0 1 4 5 1 9 1 3 0 3 26
32 Cook, Casey......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
35 Ward, B.J........... 2-2 0-0 5-6 0 2 2 3 9 4 0 0 3 20
50 Whitehead, Bryan.... 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 11
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 20-53 3-16 25-28 7 28 35 16 68 15 11 3 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 37.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 18.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 87.5% 2nd Half: 18-20 90.0% Game: 89.3% 1
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Officials: Mike Scyphers, Bill Vinovich, Duane Allen
Technical fouls: BYU-HANSEN, Travis; TEAM. UC Santa Barbara-None.
Attendance: 3608
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 34 24 - 58
UC Santa Barbara.............. 29 39 - 68
