Under the Radar Game of the Day: Prairie View A&M at UC-Santa Barbara

Prairie View A&M at UC-Santa Barbara, 10:00 PM Eastern, bigwest.tv

Santa Barbara, California is the destination for tonight’s Under the Radar Game of the Day as the UCSB Gauchos host the Prairie View Panthers.  Santa Barbara has a chance to be one of the top contenders in the Big West this season, and has already notched a handful of solid wins, taking down the likes of North Dakota State and Montana.  The Gauchos (3-2 so far this season) only suffered losses at Pittsburgh and at Texas A&M.  They have had a balanced scoring attack that has seen at least three and as many as five players in double digits in almost every game so far this year.  Max Heidegger has been the most prolific of their scorers, including 33 points (helped by 8 3-pointers) in the win over North Dakota State.

Prairie View has pretty much been the only team from the SWAC to make any noise so far this season.  In fact, the Panthers have 2 of the conference’s three total wins against D1 competition.  Both of those wins came earlier this week as PVAMU claimed the Middleweight Bracket crown in the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas, defeating Eastern Kentucky and Georgia State.  Gary Blackston was a huge factor in those wins, including notching a double-double (21 points and 10 boards) against Georgia State.  The Panthers will seek to extend their two game winning streak tonight and try to establish themselves as the early favorites in the SWAC.