ISLA VISTA, Calif. — Three San Francisco State men's basketball players reached double digits but the Gators fell 75-59 in exhibition play to UC Santa Barbara on Monday night inside the Thunderdome.
- The Gauchos are picked first in The Big West men's basketball preseason poll for the second year in a row with nine of the 11 first-place votes by league head coaches. In the CCAA preseason coaches poll, the Gator were picked 11th.
- Seven different Gators got into the box score. Toby Okwuokei, a CCAA Second Team selection last season and a member of this year's CCAA Preseason Watch List, led SF State with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Jalen Flanagan added 18 points and Eche Okeke scored 11 points.
- John Bakke reeled in a team-high six rebounds. Both Flanagan and Okeke led the Gators with five rebounds apiece. Okwuokei had four boards.
- The Gauchos shot 50 percent from the field and were led by Cole Anderson's 25 points. Miles Norris added 21 points and Ajay Mitchell, a preseason All-Big West selection and last year's Big West Freshman of the Year, added 10 points.
- The Gauchos pulled away in the second half thanks to 6-of-10 (60 percent) shooting from deep. UCSB went on to finish the game 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from behind the three-point line. SF State went 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from deep.
- Andre Kelly, another preseason All-Big West selection and an All-Pac 12 Honorable Mention last season with Cal, led the Gauchos with a game-high 14 rebounds.
SF State spotted the Gauchos an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes before chipping away at the lead. Down nine, the Gators got a dunk from Okeke, a fastbreak layup from
Mikey Robinson Jr., and a pair of Okeke free throws that cut the Gauchos lead to three. UCSB wrestled back control an an Anderson three-ball pushed the lead back to nine with just under two minutes to play in the half. An Okwuokei three-pointer with two seconds left cut the deficit to five at the break. Flanagan sank a pair of free throws but Anderson answered with another jumper, and
Okwuokei opened the second half with another jumper to pull SF State within three, 32-29, but the Gauchos answered at every turn. Norris answered with a three-pointer, and Okeke had a putback dunk only to have Mitchell sink a three-ball at the other end, and Norris converted a fastbreak dunk to put UCSB up by nine. A minute later, UCSB's lead grew to 11 on an Anderson transition three. Down eight, Okwuokei sparked another Gators run with a three-pointer and a fastbreak layup from
Alex Gilat that sent the Gators down 54-51 at the 12-minute media timeout. UCSB built the lead back to double digits with 5:31 to play and after a pair of Flanagan free throws, the Gators went scoreless over the final five minutes.
San Francisco State jumps into the season on Saturday and Sunday with a pair of games hosted across the Golden Gate Bridge by Dominican. The Gators face Academy of Art on Saturday, November 12 at 1 p.m. and take on the host Penguins on Sunday, November 13 at 3:30 p.m. ART U is picked third after winning the PacWest tournament last season and earning a berth to the NCAA Division II West Regional, while Dominican is picked 10th out of 11 teams. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com with updates also available on Twitter at @sfstate_mbb.
