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Dec. 12, 2006

Gauchos Hand Previously Unbeaten Fresno State its First Loss

I think I can still feel the goose bumps... yep I definitely can. One of the top five greatest feelings in college basketball has been confirmed, when you defeat the undefeated. This excitement was immense as we came into our locker room after the buzzer sounded. Realizing just what we had done our team let the moment sink in with inspirational words from Coach Williams. I think we never ever, doubted the possibility of beating Fresno State, however I don't think anyone thought the margin of victory would be as vast as it was. This win came with perfect timing as the presentation of the Soccer team at half time drew that extra few hundred to realize that UCSB basketball is making major noise. After the Fresno win the Gaucho's earned a spot in the NCAA Mid-Major Top 25 poll, settling in at number 19. I'm sure it would not be upsetting to my parents to inform them that I don't want anything for Christmas besides being ranked top 25 in the entire NCAA poll. Lets work on it Santa.

For those of you who do not know, this season is "La Bomba." It could be going a little better without those two losses but regardless, our team is bringing the spice to the table. Our previous game, against the Fresno State Bulldogs was a game that we went into knowing that we had to play some of our best basketball to win. That is exactly what we did, our defensive effort was the best I've seen so far, it finally lived up to the level that we are accustomed to playing in practice. This defense was the reason for the Bulldogs shooting a mere 28.3% from the field and an unheard of 42 points in the entire game. It seemed like we were on defensive fire, forcing 17 turnovers and converting many of those into gaucho points. I am very proud of what our team is starting to become, it really is worth the hard work that we put in during the summer.

The one thing we have to do is to keep this defensive grind mentality in our heads through the upcoming week when we travel to San Francisco to play USF next Sunday at 2pm. The Dons will be packing much of the same punch as we faced last year when we gloriously defeat them in the Thunder dome. Armando Surat is putting up around 16 ppg while the Dons have suffered with a 4-6 record. Hope the Holiday season is going well.