NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT / SOUTHEAST AND MIDWEST REGIONALS : Gauchos Don’t Have a Shot Against Michigan State : Southeast Regional: UC Santa Barbara can’t find the basket in a 62-58 loss to Spartans that isn’t that close.

Unfortunately for lovers of long shots, beach basketball, bald centers and players named Carrick, Idris and Ulysses, the UCSB stripped across the chests of the underdogs stood for something else Saturday evening.

UC Shoots Bricks.

Traditionally, it has stood for UC Santa Barbara, which no longer stands in the NCAA tournament after the Gauchos’ 62-58 loss to Michigan State in the second round of the Southeast Regionals.

The final score is a deceit, for it gives the impression Santa Barbara actually had a shot at upending the No. 4-ranked Spartans (28-5).

No, the only shot the Gauchos had kicked off the heel of the rim.

Again and again and again.

Santa Barbara scored just 20 points in the first half and trailed by five at the break because it made 33% (nine of 27) of its shots.

Santa Barbara also shot 33% in the second half (12 of 36), but had to hustle to get there. The Gauchos opened the half by missing 13 of their first 16 shots, clanking away while a lethargic Michigan State offense used the time to slowly regain its bearings.

By the time Santa Barbara hit its fourth basket of the second half, the Spartans led, 41-27.

With 3:12 remaining, it was 51-34. With 1:10 left, it was 59-48.

Two three-pointers and two free throws by the Gauchos closed the gap to four, which will make this game look a lot better in next season’s Santa Barbara media guide than it did on the University of Tennessee basketball court.

“I’m elated about two things,” Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote said afterward. “One, that we won the game and, two, that the game finally ended.

“When the game was over and the score was close, believe it or not, I was pleased. (Santa Barbara Coach) Jerry Pimm is a longtime friend. Let’s make it look like a close game instead of a blowout.”

But beneath the cosmetics, this game was, as Heathcote succinctly put it, “ugly. It was not a classic to watch.”

No kidding. Before entering the postgame interview room, Heathcote was grabbed by a reporter who told him, “Boy, for a No. 1 seed and a Big Ten champion, your team sure didn’t look good.”

Heathcote couldn’t argue.

“You’re right,” he replied. “But we’re not trying to look good. We’re just trying to win.”

Michigan State won despite shooting 39% in the first half, going scoreless (on five shots) from three-point range and committing 16 turnovers.

This is known as playing down to the competition. If the Gauchos couldn’t succeed in putting the ball in the basket, they succeeded at least in dragging the Spartans down with them.

Normally, shooting isn’t a problem for Santa Barbara (21-9). The Gauchos took a team field-goal percentage of 46.1 into Saturday’s game, with center Eric McArthur (50.5%) and forward Gary Gray (54.8%) both above 50%.

Against Michigan State, McArthur was three for eight, Gray three for 12 and, off the bench, Idris Jones chipped in with a chipper one-for-seven.

Asked for an explanation, Pimm singled out the Michigan State defense.

“We made a third of our shots,” Pimm said. “You have to attribute it to the way they play. They play good, solid, aggressive defense and they’re very physical. They got the best of the ‘physicalness.’

“We’re not that physical. When you play a Jud Heathcote team, you better strap it on.”

Pimm had a point, which was more than could be said for some of his players. Spartan forward Ken Redfield dogged McArthur, who finished with eight points, and Michigan State’s 6-10 center, Mike Peplowski, was able to alter more than a few Santa Barbara shots.

But Carrick DeHart, who scored 23 points, saw circumstances a little differently.

“We just missed ‘em,” DeHart said. “I really was not affected by their defense at all. We just haven’t shot well lately, even against (first-round opponent) Houston.

“Maybe it’s the fatigue factor after a long season. Who knows, really? Maybe it was the foul trouble.”

Maybe. McArthur, whose 20 points carried Santa Barbara past Houston, picked up two quick fouls and was benched by Pimm with 14:30 left in the first half. Pimm kept him out 10 minutes, which may have proved a tactical error.

While the Spartans struggled, the Gauchos’ smaller lineup was unable to take advantage. The game was tied when McArthur departed. His replacement, Ulysses Akins, had a most treacherous journey. By the time McArthur returned, Michigan State had a 22-15 lead and was on the verge of pulling away.

“That hurt us,” DeHart said. “Without our big man, we couldn’t control the boards. We had no intimidator inside. They came right down our throats.”

And McArthur was so pumped for this game. He even had his head shaved in anticipation of the event, a superstition apparently predicated on the belief that a clean head is a cool head.

“I do that before big games,” McArthur said with a smile. “Before a couple of the Vegas games, I go bald.”

He stopped smiling.

“I guess it didn’t work today.”

For Santa Barbara, not much did. Trying to play David to Michigan State’s Goliath, the Gauchos, taking their lead from their center, ended up more like Samson.