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BlueGoldAg
1.1kFor the second year in a row the Aggies (20-9 & 11-4) and the Anteaters (16-15 & 11-4) go to battle for all the marbles when they meet in Irvine at 7:30 pm today. The winner takes the title for the Big West Championship and secures the #1 seed for the tough Big West Tournament next week. Irvine thumped the Aggies by 30 points last year to win the regular season title only to have the Aggies turn the tables and beat them in the Big West Tournament and advance to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
This game will be a war. These two teams are very similar in that they lead with their defense first and I expect the defensive intensity will be very high. It will be interesting to see how tight the official's decide to call the game tonight. The Ags can ill afford to get into early foul trouble since we will likely only suit up 9 players with Chima out and Delveion Jackson no where to be seen lately.
The Anteaters are a rebounding machine and, without Chima in the middle for the Ags, we'll need a superior effort by everyone to keep Irvine from pummeling us on the boards. They are the #1 in the nation in total rebounds, #4 in rebounds per game, #5 in defensive boards and # 9 in rebounding margin. We'll need to rebound by committee with everyone doing their part to block out, go hard to the boards and fight for all the 50/50 balls.
The Eaters are limiting their opponents to an average of only 38.6% FG shooting and have been even stingier in their last 7 games allowing only 36% shooting overall. By comparison the Aggies are holding opponents to 42.2% overall.
Irvine is led by a pair of fine guards, Evan Leonard and Eyassu Worku, scoring 13.3 and 11.0 ppg respectively and rugged Tommy Rutherford clogging up the paint at 10.7 ppg. The Aggies counter with two of the best guards in the conference as well: TJ Shorts II scoring 15.0 ppg and Siler Schneider with 14.3 ppg. In addition, AJ John has and Joe Mooney have been draining their 3's lately and Michael Onybalu has been shooting well from beyond the arc as well.
The Aggies and the Anteaters are both peaking at the right time and both would love to win the title, secure an auto-bid to the NIT and enter next week's Big West Tournament as the #1 seed. The table is set for a great Big West finale and, despite all the adversity the Aggies have faced recently, they have positioned themselves with an opportunity to be champions. You couldn't ask for much more from this gritty, resilient bunch of Aggies.
Live video stream from ESPN3 at 7:30 pm: http://www.espn.com/watch/
Go Ags! -
Toke69
280According to ESPN, the Ags have a 29.6% chance of winning the game tonight and, of course, the chances of getting the #1 seed a certain berth in the NIT if they do not win the Big West Tournament. I am not sure how ESPN gets these probabilities, but assuming they are even remotely accurate, I figure that if they lose, their chances of getting the #2 seed are 1%, the #3 seed 18% and the #4 seed 48.6%. These percentages are based on gauchodan's analysis of what CSUF and UCSB need to do, plus a multiplication of ESPN's probabilities of their doing it.
The Aggies are 5-11 against the Anteaters in Irvine, but only 2-8 since joining the Big West.
Probabilities and history, however, do not tell the story. BlueGoldAg paints a scary, but accurate picture of UCI's prowess, but in games like this, it often comes down to heart and grit and I have never seen a team with more of both than this year's team, especially after Chima was suspended. I agree that this will be a war with both teams playing well lately. I hope the officiating is not a factor. -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kESPN3 is ESPN's online live steaming. If you have a smart tv where you can access your internet on the tv, then you can watch the game on it by streaming it via your home internet service. If you can't access your internet through your tv, then you would have to watch it on your computer or hook up your computer to your tv and view it using your tv as a monitor.
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agalum
294 -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kYou should be able to download a free ESPN3 app to your Apple TV and/or your Android device and stream the game easier directly from the app also.
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agalum
294sounds good
Thanks. I hope they keep the momentum going, I thought they looked as good as I have ever seen them Thursday night -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kFullerton is like Hawai'i in the sense that you never know which version of them is going to show up.
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BlueGoldAg
1.1kReally good basketball game. Well played by both teams and the excellent coaching is very evident. As usual, we're not getting any love from the Big West officials. TJ gets undercut on that last shot and there's no call.
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BlueGoldAg
1.1kJust incredible and SO WELL DESERVED! This was Aggie Pride and guts personified. I could not be more proud of this team. Simply AWESOME!!
I loved it when the tv commentators said that they have covered a lot of basketball this year all over the country and this was one of the best played games they have seen in all of college basketball this year. The coaching strategies and player execution in this game was pure heaven to watch and beautiful defense too.
Onward Aggies!
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