Penigar recieves kick from Gaucho; Butler breaks out of slumps
UC Santa Barbara’s Banduinn Fullove called it a love kick. Utah State fans strongly disagreed.
After getting tangled up chasing a lose ball early in the first half, Fullove and Aggie Desmond Penigar found each other wrapped up on the floor at mid-court.
“When we got loose, I went to get up and he started grabbing my leg,” the Gaucho said. “I gave him a little push to get him off my leg and then he grabbed it some more.”
Fullove said the bottom line was he and Penigar were simply two competitors going for the ball, and eventually the victory. Although Utah State did not recover the ball on the particular play, it did record the 75-59 win in front of a national audience on ESPN2 Saturday.
Following the play, Fullove said he approached Penigar and offered to shake hands.
“He wouldn’t shake my hand,” Fullove said. “I thought he would be a little more sportsmanlike than that.”
Penigar had a slightly different take on the event.
The Aggie said Fullove stepped on his shoulder while trying to get up but didn’t view the scenario as anything serious.
The issue of shaking hands is a different story.
“He said that? I can’t believe he said that,” Penigar said of Fullove’s claim that he didn’t want to shake hands. “I’m surprised he said that.
Penigar said he was taken back by Fullove’s comment because he knows most of the players on UCSB because they competed against one another while Penigar was at Ventura Junior College.
Fans in the Spectrum immediately took a disliking to Fullove following the tangle on the court and booed him whenever he touched the ball for the rest of the evening.
Slumpin’ no more
After missing 20 consecutive three-point attempts since the Dec. 7 Jackson State game, Cardell Butler finally knocked one down. And then another.
“I’ve been in a slump for so long but Coach told me not to worry about it,” Butler said. “After that first one I made I was confident [I could make more].”
Butler’s first trey came at the 11:24 mark of the second half.
Because of his poor shooting as of late and possibly a throat slashing performance the junior did during introductions at Pacific, Butler found himself watching tip-off from the bench as Ronnie Ross regained his starting job.
Things are looking up for the JC transfer, as Butler recorded 10 points in 21 minutes of action Saturday.
Sweet Revenge
Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill downplayed the idea of revenge against UCSB.
“One thing we tried to do with this team is worry about this year and not worry about last year,” Morrill said. “[Santa Barbara] was picked to win the league and I think we were anxious to go out and play good basketball. I don’t think last year had anything to do with anything.
After falling 60-56 in the championship game of the Big West Conference tournament last season, it was the first meeting between the two teams this year.
Penigar said he was asked about the revenge factor during a post game interview on ESPN2 and he gave a typical Penigar answer — of course it played a part in the Aggie’s desire to win.
“They put us out of our tournament,” he said. “We wanted to get them back and that is what we did. We’ve been waiting for this game for a long time and it showed when we got out there.”
Best sign directed toward ESPN2
“We’re not creative enough — put us on TV.”
Big West Conference Standings
Conference Overall
Pacific 3 0 8 4
USU 3 1 12 3
CSF 3 1 5 8
UCI 2 1 8 4
Cal Poly 2 2 6 7
Idaho 2 2 6 7
UCSB 2 2 5 9
CSN 0 3 6 7
LBSU 0 3 1 11
Quotables
“He jokes that he is John Elway; I remind him that he is not. He needed to make that pass after he traveled on [the play] prior to that,” Aggie Head Coach Stew Morrill on Spencer Nelson’s lob to Chad Evans in the second half.
“Let it be known that I was clarified by a higher power, a bigger man than myself [Morrill], that I am not John Elway. So I decided that I’m Ty Detmer. He was a much better quarterback,” Nelson on his aspirations to play football.
By the Numbers
9,669 — tickets sold for Saturday’s matchup against UCSB, the largest this season.
34.6 — shooting percentage by UCSB. It was the second-worst shooting night by an Aggie opponent. USU held Cal State Northridge to 30.4 percent on Jan. 2.
13 — the advantage the Aggies held on the boards over the Gauchos, 39-26.
8 — assists by Mark Brown. For the week, the guard tallied 16 with only one turnover.
5 — times Butler has recorded double figures this season.
4 — career double-doubles by Nelson. His 13 points and 12 rebounds against the Gauchos marked his second this season.
1 — dunk by Evans.
–juag@cc.usu.edu
Starting forward Toraino Johnson guards UC Santa Barbara´s Nick Jones. (Photo by Ryan Talbot)