Turnovers costly for UCSB

By Chuck Woodling Dec 21, 2003

Reno, Nev. ? Bob Williams looked to the far right on the box score and sighed.

“You can’t win basketball games with eight assists and 26 turnovers,” said Williams, now in his sixth season as head coach at UC Santa Barbara.

In fact, you’ll probably lose by 20, which the Gauchos did Saturday night to Kansas in the opening night of the Wolf Pack Classic at the Lawlor Events Center.

Oh, and one other thing.

“We were 9-of-19 at the free-throw line,” Williams said following the 72-52 defeat.

The Gauchos came to Reno on a wave of momentum. Although unranked after losses to Saint Mary’s and Southeast Missouri State, UC Santa Barbara had stunned UCLA, 61-60, Wednesday night in hallowed Pauley Pavilion.

But Williams’ team didn’t show up for the first half, scoring only 18 points and committing 14 turnovers. Still, the Gauchos were in it because Kansas shot even worse. Down six at the break, UC Santa Barbara withered early in the second half.

“I really feel they came out more aggressive in the second half,” Williams said of the Jayhawks. “It was pretty apparent.”

The Gauchos were buried under a 19-4 run and didn’t come close to narrowing the deficit to single digits the rest of the way.

“They got their transition game going,” Williams said, “and that gave them better shots.”

Perhaps a faster start would have enabled the Gauchos to do a better job of dictating the tone and forcing the Jayhawks into a come-from-behind situation.

“If we had hit a couple of shots, it would have given us momentum,” said junior forward Casey Cook who was the lone Gaucho in double-figure scoring with 16 points. “It was pretty frustrating, and we just couldn’t take care of the ball.”

UC Santa Barbara had 12 turnovers in the second half to finish with 26. Curiously, each of the 10 players Williams used was guilty of at least one turnover.

“We work on it every day in practice,” UCSB guard Josh Davis said about his team’s ballhandling, “so there’s no excuse.”