The University of Hawaiʻi Men's Basketball team saw its losing streak extend to three games with a 78-61 loss to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday.

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Noel Coleman led the way with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting; he accounted for all five of UH's triples. Bernardo da Silva followed with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting, and Juan Munoz chipped in 12.

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Ajay Mitchell led UCSB and all players with 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting. He was followed by Yohan Traore's 20 on 8-for-12 shooting. Josh Pierre-Louis was next with 14, and Ariel Bland had 12.

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After Mitchell drew first blood for the game, Coleman drilled the first triple to put UH in front right away. That started a 7-0 run for UH, but after that, troubles soon came.

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The Gauchos then went on a 26-0 run while UH was stuck on seven points for over 10 whole minutes. They then went 1-for-18 from the field until JoVon McClanahan stopped the bleeding at the 6:41 mark with a pull-up jumper.

"We just got to get better," Munoz said. "We let them bully us around on defense. That's just not how we're supposed to play."

"They drove the basketball and scored it, and we didn't," Coleman added.

Things started to come together for the 'Bows, as they then scored 20 points to end the first half. Unfortunately, the deep hole they subjected themselves to yet again was too much to make it a game.

By the end of the first half, Santa Barbara still held a hefty lead, 43-27.

"We deserve what we got," Coach Eran Ganot said. "Give Santa Barbara credit."

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UH tried to make a push to get it to single digits in the second half, but nothing still went right. They never got closer than 18 points.

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"Once we do a full 40 minutes, that's when it'll be really special for us, and I know that we can turn this around," Munoz said.

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Despite 11 turnovers committed overall, and going 12-for-20 from the free throw line, UH still got schooled badly. They were short-handed as center Mor Seck is reportedly out for the season with a knee injury.

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With the loss, UH falls to 10-10 overall, and a dismal 10th place in the Big West Conference standings at 2-6. Their next game will be against the winless Cal Poly Mustangs on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. HST, and that will be a white-out night. You can listen to the game on ESPN Honolulu or watch the game on Spectrum Sports.