College Basketball / Robyn Norwood : Despite Loss of Shaw, UC Santa Barbara Has Picked Up Where It Left Off

One glance at the statistics is plenty to tell you how much UC Santa Barbara lost when Brian Shaw finished his college career last season and became a first-round draft choice of the Boston Celtics.

He led the team in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals. He led the Gauchos to their best start (7-0), their best record (22-8) and their first appearance in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

And in the feat nearest to the hearts of Santa Barbara fans, he led the team to two upsets of Nevada Las Vegas.

Somehow, the Gauchos got off to an 11-0 start this season, relegating last year’s quick jump to the back of the files. Before losing to Utah State last Saturday, Santa Barbara was one of the last four undefeated Division I teams in the country, and it was the only team among those four that wasn’t ranked.

Then the Gauchos stumbled, losing to Utah State, 78-65, in front of a hostile crowd at Logan, Utah. That spoiled their chances at a ranking for now.

“We played like we were in zero-degree weather at 7,000 feet,” Coach Jerry Pimm said.

Those were the approximate, conditions, although that temperature was outside the arena, of course.

This team has been successful largely because of the leadership of senior point guard Carlton Davenport and junior off-guard Carrick DeHart, old teammates at Santa Monica High School.

There is also an improved inside game, anchored by junior forwards Mike Doyle and Eric McArthur, a player whose quickness and power near the basket have marked him as one of the most improved players in the Big West Conference.

One of the hardest tasks may have been getting the team to realize it could play without Shaw, Pimm said.

Davenport had played a lot at the point last year, but it was always Shaw’s team. No more. Davenport, who was once prone to recklessness, has settled down. This season, he has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3:1.

“He had to show them this was his team,” Pimm said. “And it is.”

After playing behind Shaw, Davenport was well aware of how much Shaw had meant to the team.

Davenport said: “He did it all for the team, and everybody knew we’d all have to be a step better than last year--at least--to pick up where he left off.”

DeHart is one who has picked up. He has recovered from a nagging injury in his shooting hand that bothered him last season. This season, he is the leading scorer, averaging 20 points a game.

But who could have imagined that this team could hold a candle to last season’s?

“Everybody knew that last year was just a start,” Davenport said. “We lost a lot of close games we should have won, due to inexperience, last year. We’d never been in that situation and didn’t know how to handle it. Last year showed us how to win the close games. This year we are winning the close games.”

He has a point: The Gauchos have beaten Colorado, 71-70; Loyola Marymount, 95-94; Pepperdine, 73-70; Arizona State, 84-80, and, just Thursday, Pacific in overtime, 70-64.

But there is no game that compares to the two still to come against Nevada Las Vegas. Nearly a month before the season’s first meeting between the teams, Santa Barbara fans already were chanting about the UNLV game.

The first meeting is not until Feb. 6.

“The 6th,” Davenport said. “The 6th and the 27th. . . . I’ve got it in my head. Everybody’s asking so much about it. . . . I’m excited everybody is asking me about it, but right now I’m thinking about the games before the 6th. It’s there. You can’t help but say, ‘Vegas.’ But the time will come when it’s time to think about it.”

DeHart, who chose Santa Barbara after a signing-day visit to Goleta and reneged on an oral commitment to Kansas, thinks about it, too.

“They’ll come shooting and banging for us, ‘cause we beat ‘em twice last year,” DeHart said. “But until the day comes, we just have to prepare for the other games.”

When Vanderbilt’s Barry Goheen finishes his college basketball career, he may have a future in halftime shooting contests.

Goheen sank a 53-foot shot at the halftime buzzer against Georgia last Saturday. He also hit a 3-point game-winner with 1 second remaining, giving Vanderbilt a 76-75 victory.

That was the fifth game-winning shot in the final seconds that Goheen has made in his four seasons at Vanderbilt.

Last season, he didn’t shoot a game-winner, but he made a pair of 3-pointers in the last 5 seconds to send an NCAA tournament game against Pitt into overtime. Vanderbilt won that game, 80-74.

Earlier this season, he sank a half-court shot at the buzzer for a 65-62 victory over Louisville.

Goheen’s knack for the clutch long shot is difficult to explain. He is averaging 13 points a game and is making a respectable 41.% of his shots from 3-point range (29 of 70).

“All-Americans have gone their whole careers and not had as many exciting moments as I’ve had,” Goheen told the Nashville Banner. “If all the shots were alike, then you could explain it, but they’ve all been different.”