GAME NOTES: The College Basketball Invitational rolls on Wednesday evening with a matchup pitting the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos against Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in a one-and-done situation at the Mabee Center.

The winner of this clash will move on to face the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers in the next round of the tournament.

UC Santa Barbara hails from the Big West Conference, where the Gauchos made it all the way to the title game of the conference tournament, falling to UC Irvine in overtime, 72-63. This is Santa Barbara's first-ever appearance in the CBI.

Oral Roberts, of the Summit League, is also playing in its first CBI in program history. The Golden Eagles, like UC Santa Barbara, lost in the conference tournament to the eventual champion. Oral Roberts was ousted in the semifinal round by North Dakota State, 60-56.

It was a tightly contested Big West championship contest. The Gauchos took the Anteaters to overtime, where UC Irvine excelled, earning the league's NCAA Tournament automatic bid. Santa Barbara, which typically dominates opponents down low thanks to dominating performances by Alan Williams, was outscored in the paint in the title match, 24-10. Williams still finished with a 24-point, 15-rebound double-double in the loss, while John Green chipped in with 14 points and six boards before he fouled out. Michael Bryson was close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in a game in which the Gauchos shot just 32.3 percent from the floor.

Williams is a relatively undersized center, standing at 6-foot-8, but he's done nothing but guide his team with top-notch performances all season long. The senior enters the contest against Oral Roberts averaging 17.2 ppg with a team-best 11.9 rpg, also chipping in 1.9 blocked shots per outing. Bryson adds in 14.0 ppg, and Green contributes 11.1 ppg to the cause. The Gauchos as a unit enter the CBI averaging a respectable 67.8 ppg, but have done more damage on the defensive end of the floor by allowing a mere 63.2 ppg to opponents on 40.8 percent shooting.

Oral Roberts fell to North Dakota State due to a spotty defensive performance in the first half, then a sub-par offensive effort in the second period. NDSU was allowed to connect on 53.6 percent of its field-goal tries in the first half, and then held Oral Roberts to 37 percent shooting in the latter frame. Obi Emegano netted 25 points with eight rebounds to pace the Golden Eagles, while Bobby Word chipped in with 10 points in the defeat. Oral Roberts went a paltry 2-of-10 from 3-point range in the contest.

Emegano had a sensational season in 2014-15, and finished the regular season as one of the Summit League's top scorers. He enters this clash netting 18.2 ppg on 45.2 percent shooting from the floor. He's the only active Eagle to average a double-digit scoring total after Korey Billbury was suspended earlier in the season. The Golden Eagles are netting 69.0 ppg on 42.6 percent shooting, but have struggled at times defensively by allowing opponents to 67.8 ppg on 44.3 percent shooting.

Oral Roberts did well without Billbury as the other top scorer, but Emegano can't handle it all by himself. Williams will get the ball down low and should be able to dominate the Golden Eagles.