Part Two of our look back to the 1992-93 season and the men's basketball program's biggest victories.

PART ONE

One key home game that 1992-93 season was Thanksgiving Weekend, when the Banana Slugs beat Chico State for the first time ever.

Yannatta was the first one in the gym, and recalls Chico State being shook when they walked into the intimate arena. "I remember their eyes. They're like 'Oh my God, what is this place?' And they sort of had this element of superiority, but I also remember feeling that this place had power to ruin their confidence," Yannatta said. 

Bray opened with a 25-footer, and hit five of UCSC's seven threes in the 79-75 win.

"One thing that I remember about Garner is that he helped get my confidence back in my shooting, because when I transferred over, that's one thing I'd say I kind of lost a lot of confidence in," said Bray. "Just him taking me aside, telling me 'Relax. Focus on it' and I was able to just let loose on the 3-point shooting."

Before Christmas Break, the team had a long road trip, with three Division II games in four days. After a Friday night two-point loss at Humboldt State, the Banana Slugs bounced back Saturday December 12th to beat Sonoma State for the first time. UCSC hit 11 threes in the comeback 74-72 win, with Yannatta hitting five of them.

"Mark Townsend played a big role. He was a great matchup because he was big and he could dribble against these slightly more athletic Division II teams," Yannatta said.

"We had the ability to get the ball up the floor because we had Matt Vitti, who was a defender that could dribble and handle. So Townsend, Vitti and myself were the ballhandlers who beat the press, and we had the size."

The team didn't really have time to take in and celebrate the win. Back in the vans they went for a long drive to UC Riverside. After two hard-fought games, the trip south was too much in a 93-59 loss to the Highlanders.

The next game, their first game after New Years, was the "Big One"- UC Davis at Rec Hall on January 4th. The Aggies were another very good Division II school that the Banana Slugs had never beaten and a team that easily handled the Banana Slugs the previous year winning by 31.

After struggling with Davis every time they played, the Slugs that year looked like they belonged. UCSC shot 51% on field goals (21-41) and were up the whole game. They led by 12 with three minutes left before the Aggies closed it late. Yannatta hit the key free throw to ice the 61-59 win. It was a game where everything came together and UCSC could do no wrong. "The only dunk we had the whole year was Jason Leiner and that was against Davis", said Yannatta. "I remember because I went into the lane and was trying to make a layup, and I threw it off the backboard. It didn't even hit the rim, and bounced off the backboard and Leiner comes in and dunks."

Davis was coached by Aptos native Bob Williams, who would win the Division II National Title in 1998 before going on to coach Division I UC Santa Barbara.  "He was not that gracious after the game, to put it mildly," Garner recalled. "I had to go and interview with the local media and they were talking about how we should maybe be in that league, and I was talking about how we don't really have the resources."

Those victories made for some great times during those long van rides back to campus, even though the reception back in Santa Cruz was less than festive.

"I think we all had our high school experiences, where you beat the rival and you come back to school and everyone is excited." said Shearer. "Here, you come back to Santa Cruz and it's "What did you do last night?' 'Oh we beat UC Davis.' 'What? You play basketball?'
"They'd be surprised there was a game or something, so we just got used to it. I think that's why we, you know, we're all friends and close because we were it."

The team finished with a winning record, including 3-3 against Division II opponents. They also tied for the most wins in school history and it was the winningest three-year stretch at UC Santa Cruz until 2009-11.

"At that time, with the geography the way it is, there were more DII teams locally for us in our neighborhood than DIII, except for the league down south (SCIAC) and they could play you or could not play you," Garner continued. "It was their choice. The better you are, they didn't want to play. So the only teams that would play us were the good ones.

"Menlo would play us because they were local. We could play Claremont or Pomona-Pitzer but it wasn't like you could count on getting a game with them. They would assess 'Are they better than us?' and if they weren't, they wouldn't play us. And we needed the games, so we always had to go there. I mean, one year, we had like 5 home games." 

When reminiscing about their college days and that season in particular, the players realized how grateful they were to play for Santa Cruz.

Goldberg said " I was just happy to be having that part of my life. I never really complained about not having stuff because we could see what Coach was doing just to keep it going."

"The guys were really the difference that made me as a coach want to do more as a coach," Garner said. "because I knew the dedication and the trials and tribulations that team was going through just to have a consistent practice."

"For a lot of us that came up and around basketball people, it gives us something to stand on and hang your head on," Yannatta said. "It's a real accomplishment what we did and especially from where we started with, where we came from."

1992-1993 Men's Basketball Team