Men’s Basketball: OJ Declares Eligibility for 2011 NBA Draft

UCSB junior guard Orlando Johnson declared himself eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft on Friday. He has not hired an agent, a decision that allows him to return to UCSB for the 2011-2012 season.

[media-credit id=20281 align=”alignleft” width=”181″][/media-credit] Johnson, an All Big-West First Team selection for the second straight year and the conference player of the year in 2010, scored a UCSB-record 674 points and led the Big West in scoring with 21.1 points per game.

“With the success I’ve had early in my career, I feel as though this is a great opportunity for me to look into taking the next step,” Johnson said in an interview with UCSB Athletics.

Johnson has shown that he can compete against the nation’s best in his short career as a Gaucho. He scored 21 points on 7-14 shooting in a 79-51 loss to Florida in the first round of the NCAA tournament on March 17. The appearance was UCSB’s second straight in the Big Dance — a feat that has never occured in the history of the program.

A year before, Johnson scored 20 points in the team’s loss to #5 Ohio State, which featured the Philadelphia 76ers’ 2010 first-round draft pick Evan Turner.

The draft will take place on June 23 in Newark, NJ.

 

Women’s Water Polo: Nine Players Score Against Aggies, SB Wins Doubleheader

Gaucho water polo hit the ground running in the Big West this weekend, posting a perfect 2-0 record after wins over Pacific and UC Davis.

The #14 Gauchos move to 19-8 overall with the victories, which came after hot starts in both matches.

Against the Aggies on Sunday, UCSB tallied five opening-frame goals on the way to a 9-5 win. Nine different Gauchos scored in the match, and sophomore goalkeeper Ruth Milne put up 11 saves.

Senior utility Claire Buchanan led the way against Pacific, tallying three goals in another 9-5 win.

The team hits the road next for a doubleheader, starting with another conference matchup against Northridge before a match with Cal Baptist on Saturday.

 

Men’s Tennis: Squad Drops Pair to Pacific, Fresno State

The close matches continued for the UCSB men’s tennis team (7-10 overall, 2-2 Big West) this weekend, which fell to #41 Fresno State 4-3 yesterday after dropping Saturday’s match against Pacific by the same score.

Doubles proved difficult once again, pulling out just one win at the #1 position on Saturday as senior duo Alex Konigsfeldt and Taylor Chavez-Goggin took down the Tigers’ Ivan Castro and Angus Thompson.

Sophomore Benjamin Recknagel dropped only one set all weekend at #1 singles, securing two victories there for the Gauchos.

UCSB gets a week off before returning to the courts, hitting the road to play UT Arlington in Texas on April 9.

 

Track & Field: ‘Chos Take Home Three Wins at Cal Poly

UCSB managed three winning times over the weekend at the Cal Poly Invitational.

Sophomore André Piñon won the 400-meter dash, freshman Danielle Moreno took the 5000-meter and Rusty Parker posted the top time in the men’s 800-meter.

The 4×400-meter was kind to the Gauchos too, as both the men’s and women’s teams took victories in that race with times of 3:13.34 and 3:54.18, respectively.

Next, UCSB travels to Irvine to take part in the Big West Challenge Cup on Friday.

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