UC Santa Barbara Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Gauchos

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 14: Ami Lakoju #14 of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos scores in front of Gyorgy Goloman #14, Ike Anigbogu #13 and Isaac Hamilton #10 of the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion on December 14, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – FEBRUARY 21: Brandon Cyrus #4 of the DePaul Blue Demons reacts after fouling Jalen Brunson #1 of the Villanova Wildcats in the second half at the Wells Fargo Center on February 21, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Villanova Wildcats defeated the DePaul Blue Demons 93-62. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Nearly everyone returns from a 22-win team

Nearly everyone returns from last season’s 22-10 team, including four of the team’s top scorers, Amadou Sow, Max Heidegger, Devearl Ramsey, and JaQuori McLaughlin combined to score 44.7 points per game last season and 15.8 rebounds of the team’s 37 per game, which ranked the team 54th in the country. There were also five other players who appeared in at least 30 games last season, and three of them return, sophomores Sekou Toure and Jay Nagle and junior Robinson Idehen. They do have to replace leading scorer Ar’Mond Davis who was a graduate transfer last season.

Pasternack welcomes three transfers for this season, one from the Junior College ranks and two others from other schools. Roberto Gittens is a 6’5 guard who originally committed to Washington State out of high school but played last season at the College of Southern Idaho where he averaged nearly 14 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Matt Freeman is a 6’10 forward from New Zealand who began his career at Oklahoma where he saw 11 minutes per game last season and has the ability to stretch the defense having made 36% of his three-pointers last year.

The final transfer is another 6’5 guard, Brandon Cyrus who played at DePaul last season where he averaged seven points and 3.5 rebounds. The best freshman on the roster is 6’10 Jakov Kukic, the Croatian played his high school ball at the same school as Cyrus in Indiana, the three-star recruit is the only forward in Pasternack’s class. Max Cheylov and Darren Long are both 6’3 guards that add to the Gauchos’ backcourt depth.