UCSB men’s basketball secures Creighton transfer Shtolzberg

By KRISTEN KELLER UCSB SPORTS

The UCSB men’s basketball team will welcome an athlete from the transfer portal that will join the team this fall. Head Coach Joe Pasternack inked transfer Ben Shtolzberg as he returns to California after playing his freshman season at Creighton University.

“We are really excited about Ben,” Coach Pasternack said. “He is a perfect fit as a UC Santa Barbara student-athlete. His competitiveness and team-first mentality is going to make him a tremendous addition to our team and culture.”

The combo guard played one season with Creighton, appearing in 17 games throughout the season. He put up a career-high 13 points in just 14 minutes of play against Holy Cross to kick off his career while making appearances in key BIG EAST games. Shtolzberg was highly-recruited after a great career at Notre Dame High School, choosing Creighton over Power Five programs like Northwestern, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. The Northridge, California native averaged 17.4 points per game during his senior campaign while adding 5.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He will join this Gaucho team that is coming off their second March Madness appearance in three seasons. The Gauchos ended the 2022-23 season with an overall record of 27-8 with a Big West record of 15-5. email: sports@newspress.com

Kristen Keller is the associate athletic director for communications and digital strategy at UCSB.