Season Stats

At the end of the regular season, I wanted to examine UCSB's season long performance and see what factors were most indicative of success in the Gaucho's games. As a regular reader of Sunday Morning Quarterback, a college football blog, I like the idea they do in the off-season of the Stats Relevance Watch which can be found here.

The purpose of the Stats Relevance watch is to see what stats most correlate with winning during the previous season. In the link above, SMQ looks at the Big 12. In each comparison, SMQ uses 13 team stats. SMQ records its ranking this way: If the winning team outgained its opponent in total yards, that category was marked as a "victory" for the winning team. Conversely, if the winning team is outgained by the losing team in total yards, it's marked as a "loss" for the winning team.

What I did was go through the Gauchos games and look separately at the games they won and the games they lost. As most of you know, TGM mainly utilizes the "new age" stats from places like kenpom.com, however, this time we looked at 17 plain vanilla team stats (no percentages or anything crazy, just from the boxscore). As you'll see below, I decided what stat was better in a category (less fouls is better than more fouls) and used that stat as the barometer. If UCSB was the "better" team in that category, I gave them a yes (which is the equivalent of a "win"). I eliminated ties, so not all categories are equal. Enjoy.

Category W-L %
More Assists 21-2 91.3%
Halftime Lead 19-2 90.5%
Higher Field Goal % 19-3 86.4%
More Field Goals Made 18-3 85.7%
Fewer Turnovers 15-4 78.9%
More Made 3 Pointers 14-6 70.0%
More Free Throws Made 14-8 63.6%
More Defensive Rebounds 14-8 63.6%
More Players with Playing Time 8-5 61.5%
More Steals 12-8 60.0%
Fewer Fouls 12-9 57.1%
More Total Rebounds 12-9 57.1%
More Free Throw Attempts 11-10 52.4%
More Field Goal Attempts 10-11 47.6%
More Blocked Shots 8-10 44.4%
More Offensive Rebounds 6-15 28.6%
More 3 Point Attempts 5-17 22.7%

The most interesting stats in this whole project were the bottom ones. For the whole season, I've been harping on the Gauchos to shoot more three pointers and get to the free throw line more often. Of course, the stats aren't lying. Those stats had very little to do with the Gauchos winning.

I don't know what to make of the stats at the top. However, it seems to suggest that when the team is passing the ball to their open teammates, they have more success. Also, halftime lead seems to be a big indicator of success for the Gauchos this year. Make what you want of these stats, they are here for your enjoyment. Spread the word if you like.

Below, you will find the stats and rankings from the 7 losses the Gauchos endured (not the best sample size, but that's a good thing, right?). Same rules as above. I didn't flip the stats around. If the Gauchos had fewer turnovers, it was marked as a yes (and consequently, a "victory"). The only difference is that we started these stats from the bottom up.

Category
Higher Field Goal % 1-6 14.3%
More Free Throws Made 1-6 14.3%
More Free Throw Attempts 1-6 14.3%
More Defensive Rebounds 1-6 14.3%
More Total Rebounds 1-6 14.3%
Fewer Fouls 1-5 16.7%
More Field Goals Made 1-4 20.0%
Halftime Lead 2-5 28.5%
More Assists 2-4 33.3%
More Players in the Game 2-4 33.3%
More Offensive Rebounds 3-3 50%
More Blocked Shots 3-3 50%
More Steals 3-3 50%
More 3 Pointers Made 4-3 57.1%
Fewer Turnovers 5-2 71.4%
More Field Goal Attempts 5-2 71.4%
More 3 Point Attempts 6-1 85.7%


Read into these stats what you want. I'm not quite sure what to make of them. However, it's interesting to see what stats were most indicative of a Gaucho win and which were most indicative of a Gaucho loss.