A real Hail \u201cSaint Mary\u2019s,\u201d as coach Joe Pasternack<\/a> saw it.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Aidan play in high school, but he was very close friends with the son of (Saint Mary\u2019s College<\/a> coach) Randy Bennett<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cThey went to high school together, and I knew he was going there.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I wasn\u2019t going to waste my time.\u201d<\/p>\n But nobody invested more time in pursuing Mahaney last spring than the Gauchos\u2019 ninth-year coach.<\/p>\n The former four-star recruit from Moraga\u2019s Campolindo High School<\/a> made himself available by entering the NCAA transfer portal<\/a> for the second straight year.<\/p>\n \u201cThat recruiting battle is something that I\u2019ve never been associated with before in my life,\u201d Pasternack said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure Aidan would tell you, \u2018Joe called me every five seconds.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Mahaney had only himself to blame after posing this question to UCSB\u2019s coach during their first conversation last spring:<\/p>\n \u201cIf I come to Santa Barbara, can I be the leader of the team?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Mahaney, who led Saint Mary\u2019s to a pair of NCAA<\/a> tournaments and then went to a third with Connecticut<\/a> last spring, believes his final fourth will come with the Gauchos this season.<\/p>\n \u201cOne hundred percent,\u201d he told Noozhawk<\/a> at the conclusion of a recent practice at the Thunderdome<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know a college basketball season without March,\u201d Mahaney continued. \u201cI don\u2019t plan on learning what that feels like this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we\u2019ve got enough here to do it \u2026 We\u2019ve got enough to make a real run.\u201d<\/p>\n The starting line is a homestand with games against San Francisco State<\/a> on Nov. 4 and San Jos\u00e9 State<\/a> on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n The Gauchos released their schedule last week and are to go live with their ticket sales on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a record number of season ticket requests,\u201d Pasternack said. \u201cOur goal is to sell out the Thunderdome that first week of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want Santa Barbara to make this their hometown team.\u201d<\/p>\n Hunger Games<\/p>\n The Gauchos, who advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2023 after winning a school-record 27 games, sat out the postseason for the second-straight year last spring despite a 21-13 mark.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some hungry guys who aren\u2019t satisfied how last year went for them individually, both here and at other schools,\u201d Pasternack said. \u201cAidan has played for two Hall of Fame coaches, so he\u2019s been through three years of incredible practices.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a natural, vocal leader. His passion and energy is magnetic.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now, this year is it for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Mahaney has connected quickly with his new teammates, many of whom share his eagerness to lead.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have five real core leaders, and they all do a really good job of getting in touch with everybody and making sure everybody is good,\u201d Mahaney said. \u201cColin (Smith)<\/a> and Jason (Fontenet II)<\/a> are the two returning starters and they\u2019re obviously huge factors in that.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we have old guys coming in like me and Hosana (Kitenge<\/a> from Louisiana<\/a>) and Miro (Little<\/a> from Utah<\/a>) who have been part of good teams and have been to the tournament and stuff like that.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can easily throw K.K. (Koat Keat Tong)<\/a> into that group, too \u2014 a big veteran player who went to the tournament with UCSB three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Mahaney, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, was an impact player at Saint Mary\u2019s from the opening tip of his freshman year.<\/p>\n He was a first-team All-West Coast Conference<\/a> selection during both of his two seasons in Moraga, averaging nearly 14 points per game in that span while making 37.5% of his three-pointers (157-of-419).<\/p>\n Mahaney was named to the Lou Henson Mid-Major All-America team as a sophomore after leading the Gaels to records of 28-5 overall and 19-1 in the WCC. The victories included a sweep of their regular-season series against NCAA power Gonzaga<\/a>.<\/p>\n He entered the transfer portal the first time, however, when Saint Mary\u2019s associate head coach Justin Joyner<\/a> left to take a job as an assistant at Michigan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Joyner was the starting point guard for UCSB\u2019s NCAA tournament teams of 2010 and 2011.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was one of my mentors growing up so I was already familiar with the program here,\u201d Mahaney said. \u201cGrowing up, he helped me learn the game of basketball and pushed me every day.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had me wake up early \u2014 had me want to wake up early \u2014 to get better every day when I was young.\u201d<\/p>\n Up-and-Down Move<\/p>\n The expectations couldn\u2019t have been higher when two-time defending NCAA champion UConn signed him out of the portal before last season.<\/p>\n His junior year with the Huskies turned into a roller-coaster ride that ended with a loss to Florida<\/a> in the second round of the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n Mahaney had several big games for UConn but barely played in others. He averaged just 4.5 points while playing 12.9 minutes per game.<\/p>\n He did take a few things away from the experience.<\/p>\n \u201cOne was just learning how to compete for a spot,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was something I wasn\u2019t doing as much before.<\/p>\n \u201cResiliency was also a huge theme for me. \u2026 Trying to stay even keel through all the ups and downs and finding yourself on the other side of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n He came off the bench to score seven clutch points and assist three other baskets to rally the Huskies to a comeback victory over Villanova<\/a> in the Big East Conference<\/a> tournament quarterfinals.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think I\u2019m mad at Aidan or down on him,\u201d UConn coach Dan Hurley<\/a> told reporters after that game. \u201cHe\u2019s probably the guy on the team I interact with and talk to the most.<\/p>\n \u201cI went through exactly the type of year he went through (as a player), where you have the external noise from the fans who are disappointed.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, he was brought in here to fill some big shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n Pasternack recruited Mahaney to help fill the voids left by two of the NCAA\u2019s most accurate three-point shooters from last year: Cole Anderson<\/a> (47.4%) and Stephan Swenson<\/a> (43.2%).<\/p>\n But he doesn\u2019t label him as a shooter.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a very versatile scorer \u2014 elite in the pick-and-roll \u2014 with an ability to come off screens, drive the ball, and shoot the ball,\u201d he said. \u201cAidan has a real knack for scoring.\u201d<\/p>\n High on Hurley<\/p>\n He comes to UCSB with no bitterness about his sporadic playing time at UConn. Hurley kept him \u201con the straight and narrow,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of love for him \u2026 just the way he empathizes with players and relates to everybody,\u201d Mahaney said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s special \u2014 a Hall of Fame coach \u2014 and he\u2019s going to get a couple more rings on his finger, I\u2019m sure of it.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mahaney has also been made to feel at home at UCSB.<\/p>\n \u201cThe staff has done a really good job of making me feel comfortable, riding with me through my good days and my bad days,\u201d he said. \u201cSo a lot of credit to them, and a lot of credit to my teammates for instilling me with confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just happy that the guys and the team have embraced me.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach has done a good job of recruiting good people. We\u2019ve got a bunch of cool guys here, so it\u2019s been really easy to gel.\u201d<\/p>\n The scrimmages have been lively. He noted that freshmen Luke Zuffelato<\/a>, C.J. Shaw<\/a> and Michael Simcoe<\/a> \u2014 as well as last year\u2019s rookie class of Zion Sensley<\/a> and Z.Z. Clark<\/a> \u2014 have been pushing the veterans hard.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe makes it competitive, and we go,\u201d Mahaney said. \u201cGuys are trying to get spots and guys are trying to get better and make something happen.<\/p>\n \u201cThe talent level here is different than it is at a high-major like UConn, which has such big positional size.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I really like our guard room here \u2014 we\u2019ve got really good wings with a lot of potential \u2014 and our bigs are bold and experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook<\/a> recently picked Mahaney as the Big West Conference\u2019s<\/a> Preseason Player of the Year.<\/p>\n Lindy\u2019s College Basketball Annual<\/a> opted for Fontenet, although it did select Mahaney as both the league\u2019s Newcomer of the Year as well as its top NBA<\/a> prospect.<\/p>\n But he doesn\u2019t want to get ahead of himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully we do what we need to do this year and I\u2019ll position myself well to test the waters in next year\u2019s draft,\u201d Mahaney said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite quote is, \u2018A rising tide lifts all boats,\u2019 so we\u2019re all just focusing on the win column.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s anchors aweigh now that he\u2019s got the portal trailing far behind in his wake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Overview: Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook recently tabbed UCSB senior transfer Aidan Mahaney as the Big West Conference’s Preseason…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":280386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-280385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115323840129790639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100525-UCSB-schedule.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Aidan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100525-Mahaney-yell.jpg\")
Aidan Mahaney calls a play during a recent UCSB basketball scrimmage at the Thunderdome. Credit: UCSB Basketball photo<\/p>\n![\"UConn](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100525-Hurley-Mahaney.jpg\")
UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley congratulates Aidan Mahaney during a timeout for his play in the Huskies\u2019 comeback victory over Villanova in a quarterfinal game of last year\u2019s Big East Conference Tournament. Credit: Robert Deutssch \/ Imagn Images photo<\/p>\n![\"Aidan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100525-Aidan-Mahaney.jpeg\")
Aidan Mahaney\u2019s craftiness as a driver has livened up UCSB\u2019s preseason basketball practices this fall. Credit: UCSB Basketball photo<\/p>\n