Long Beach State Sports : Box Score

https://longbeachstate.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2025-26/uc-santa-barbara/boxscore/9945

The biggest problem was FTs, and we shot 80% on 24 tries! I'll take that any day. SB shot 38 and made 84%. That's the game. Whistle happy ref crews are gonna be a problem for us, we generally don't shoot that well from the line. Kudos to the team those who got FTs all shot well.

Isaiah Lewis, 32 minutes and no points, no rebounds, 3 assists. I hope he finds his shot, the way Bender played looks legit and Sykes is outta his mind, if Lewis could contribute some made shots, his length is good for his size and he could be a big disruptor on d.

DMX has to get more minutes now, he looks healthy to me and made some athletic plays. 4-5 FTs and its no fluke, he had good FT shooting games last year. His problem is he's a wrecking ball on O and D, love the intensity, energy, effort, but the execution is brutal sometimes. He would benefit from some ballet classes, not joking at all. But we need his length, energy, athleticism up front. Shay is fine in short bursts and our best shot blocker. Devillian, work in progress but I like the potential.

Outrebounded SB 40 to 36, another positive. SB has a couple of decent massive if not that tall bigs that clog the paint.

13 assists 13 TOs isn't great but its not horrible either. Beach seems to protect the ball well and is limiting the bonehead TOs the last couple games. Something about how the offense was running last night showed something is sinking in to the entire team. I think Devillian is a liability to some degree in this aspect. DMX needs to start over him, and DMX needs to contain his energy better to avoid fouls so he can start and play 30 mpg.

3 pt shooting, both teams were subpar but not bad. Even Sykes went high volume 4-11 which isn't terrible but if he got 10 very good looks, he'd make 6. Some were rushed of course.

I really liked what I saw from the movement, screens, and to some degree the passing on offense. Early in the first half, tried to pinpoint passes a few times led to easy TOs. Also bricked like 4 open shots early, except for Sykes and Petar this group is streaky either cold or hot from outside. Lots of good driving to the hoop, a lot more decisive when they have an open lane, loved Benders scramble for a loose ball and baseline dunk over a defender, we need that kind of thunderous attitude Saturday v the Tritons.

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I can't even complain much about how we did in OT, shots just didn't fall. The execution was decent but Sykes couldn't carry them anymore and neither could anyone else, DMX was rebounding hard but he's got no finesse but hit his FTs. Our defense wasn't that great.

As usual SB under Pasternick is better on paper, but they hit a LB team that showed a full big step of improvement and had some identity finally.

Sykes like we all know is one and done this kid has an NBA build and shot, needs stronger d, good ballhandler, not sure yet on his passing for assists but he sees the defense nicely, almost had a monster slam but the defender bounced it. He's cool as a cucumber out there.

I like what I saw. Battled throughout and with effort and execution like that will beat the bottom half of the BW and steal a win against the top half now and then. But they need to keep improving, the bigs especially although DMX, as finesse-less as he is, is strong and athletic and if he can avoid gathering fouls like a squirrel gathers acorns under an oak tree, he could be a 10 rebounder a night guy.

Bender looked good, I Lewis is in a horrible shooting slump, Petar didn't force too much and kind of calms the team down on the perimeter.

I think not having Devillian get a lot of minutes is a positive, he's too much learning on the job, he should be a physical backup when healthy and battle widebodies like SB had a couple of.

Missed too many FTs for a bit then hit most of them. Good sign.

Not sure what to say else but if they keep it up I might get excited. UCSD might trounce em or who knows maybe LB gets uppity and wins it on Saturday.