55-55 going to OT

The Ags trail LB 24-22 in a low scoring, defensive minded half of basketball. Both teams are playing well on defense but the Ags got killed on the defensive boards and allowed The Beach to gather in 10 offensive boards which led to them putting up 9 more shots. FT shooting continues to be an adventure for the Aggies also as they shot only 4-9.

The Ags are getting routed on the boards early on 15-7 in the first 9 minutes. That won't get it done.

I thought Coach Les was very honest in the interview. He acknowledged that we aren't the most talented team in the league but he likes the way the team plays together and unselfishly. Tough stretch of games ahead for the Ags.

I guess that would lessen the long lines for the students at the door.

This is great news for Coach Gould and his wife. He's back to doing what he does best coaching RB's and they both get to return to the bay area where they have deep connections. I wish him the best with The Cardinal.

This is definitely a big game for the Ags since we have such a tough conference schedule down the stretch compared to Irvine. The Aggies will need to have their defense playing at their highest level to try and slow the 49ers who lead the league at 81.6 ppg.

The Beach has weapons at every position and they spread the offense around a number of players. Loyola Marymount transfer guard, Evan Payne, averages 16.1 ppg followed guard, Justin Bibbins, at 16.0. USC transfer forward, Raschon Prince, averages 14.8 and is a load at 6'6 and 235 lbs. He also leads the league in rebounding with with 10.2 rpg.

Two players that Coach Les recruited but lost to Coach Monson have been instrumental in the 49ers attack this season: Temidayo Yussef is a wide body force in the paint at 6'7 and 250 and is averaging 12.3 ppg and Noah Blackwell, a 6'2 guard out of Woodcreek HS in Roseville, was averaging 13.0 ppg before going out recently with an injury. Their outstanding forward and yet another Loyola Marymount transfer, Gabe Levin, is also out injured.

The keys for the Ags will be to come out with good defensive intensity, take control of the pace of the game and protect the ball. We can't dig an early hole and expect to climb back out of it against a team that can score like The Beach. The Aggies will need to do their best not to get into foul trouble and send the 49ers to the line often since they are an excellent FT shooting team at 73%.

The Walter Pyramid is a tough venue for opponents to play in and it will take a superior effort by the Aggies to put this game in the win column. On the other hand, the Aggies have shown that they are a very cohesive and resilient team that has consistently found ways to win. If we bring our A game tonight we are capable of bringing home a victory.

Irvine beat Hawai'i 72-48 on the island to stay one game back of the Ags in the Big West. Luke Nelson put on a 3 point shooting display hitting 6 of 10 from downtown and scoring 29 points. He has the ability to hit NBA distance, fall away 3's. Nelson has missed much of the season due to injury and did not play in the game that Irvine lost to the Aggies in the Pavilion. The Anteaters are a much better team with him back in the lineup.

The Ags win today over Riverside was a very good win for them. The Aggie defense forced 21 TO's that led to 26 points for the Ags. I've watched every team in the Big West play at least one or more games now and I think the Ags are the best defensive team in the league. Everyone knows that Coach Les is intense and competitive and he gets more upset when the defense breaks down than he ever does when the offense is struggling. His philosophy of defense first is paying off as the Ags continue to win and maintain a one game lead over Irvine.

Brynton Lemar may have earned himself the Big West Player of the Week after his 29 point performance against Fullerton on Thursday and then leading the Ags with 14 today. His maturity and leadership are more and more evident with each additional game. Siler Schneider came off the bench and sparked the Ags to a nice lead in the first half with a trio of treys and, as usual, played pedal to the metal until fouling out late in the game. JT had one of his best outings of the season with 10 points and 6 boards and Mikey Henn chipped in 11.

The Highlanders 2-3 zone made things tough inside and they did a good job of bottling up Chima who finished with just 7 points, all from the FT line, but he also grabbed 8 rebounds in limited PT. Lawrence White did his usual great job of being disruptive defending and hustling for 50-50 balls and he had a beautiful baseline drive that ended with a thunderous dunk too.

All in all a nice crowd of 2607 got to see the defensive minded Aggies do what they do best and keep their unbeaten home winning streak going.

It doesn't look like we'll get any help from Hawai'i as Irvine takes a 35-20 lead into halftime. Luke Nelson has been hitting NBA distance 3's...impressive.

The Aggies came out with all guns blazing and shot off to a 29-4 lead after the first quarter. You would think that the Ags would then run off with the game but, after their blistering start, they managed only 17 points combined in the next two quarters and suddenly the Anteaters were only down 46-35 at the end of three.

The Ags got it going again in the 4th and won the game comfortably 62-42 but it wasn't one of their most polished efforts. The Aggies are now 1/2 game ahead of Long Beach State who was idle today and are most likely looking at a 20+ game winning season.

The Aggie defense held Irvine to just 22% FG shooting and the Ags also won the boards 48-36. Dani Nafekh led the Ags with 20 followed by Pele Gianotti with 14 and Morgan Bertsch with 12.

That would be great if he gets the job. He has certainly proven that he's a great RB coach while at Cal. Best of luck to the Gould's.

The Tandy Radio Shack beauty with a cassette deck for storage! Now that's getting back there.

I agree. I think these ratings for FCS are pretty much a shot in the dark...

Hahaha....Commodore 64...I used to play Pong on mine for hours...

Wasn't Gould's last class ranked something like #13?

The Ags got off to another slow start offensively and a bunch of TO's but kept it together enough to lead by 2 at the half and then played much better overall in the second half to win it. Bryton Lemar had a great game and was the rock for us in the first half. Siler Schneider came off the bench to give us a good lift when we needed it and Chima Moneke finally got untracked in the second half. Michael Onybalu got some good minutes when the fouls started piling up and he played really well on both ends of the floor.

JT looked pretty good while he was in but fouls continue to limit his PT. I'm not sure what's going on with Mikey Henn. He hasn't been getting much PT lately and seemed out of sync when he did get in the game tonight.

The Aggies held the high scoring Titans to 39% shooting and 11 points under their season average of 76 ppg. Chima had two powerful blocks that sent the ball into the stands in the second half much to the delight of the Aggie fans.

The official attendance was 1507 which is less than half the size we had against Irvine. Hopefully, we'll get a great crowd for the double header on Saturday.

Adding UCSD to the Big West has been widely suspected for long time but I think it is still speculation at this point.

It seems a little more to me than the team expecting an easy time with all the players out for Santa Barbara. This is an interesting team. We have some pretty good talent but we are so inconsistent that it's maddening. There are flashes of brilliance when I think that this team has a lot of room to become better and then there are other times, quite a few actually, where I feel like Les is getting about as much as he can get from the talent he has on this team.

I like this team's character though. They are smart kids who play hard but we are just not quite talented enough to really put teams away. There isn't a single game in the Big West that I would confidently say we will win for sure. Every game is going to be a battle. But, at least we in the thick of it for now.

Darius waited just a fraction of a second too long and the SB player made a smart play and elevated into a long 3 just when he saw he was going to get fouled. Darius was trying to let the clock tick down and he just waited a tad too long.

And, yes, we were not very sharp on this road trip. We're going through a bit of a slump right now. The thing that concerns me is we don't seem to be improving, if anything, we're taking a couple of steps back. Glad we're back in the Pavilion on Wednesday. Hopefully, that will help us get back on track.