And now Anigwe goes out with an ankle injury...

Beasley left the game early apparently with a knee injury. It happened on defense but I didn't see it and neither did the announcers. I sure hope it isn't serious.

After a cold start the Aggies heat up and pull away for a 40-22 lead at the half. Pepper led the Ags with 14 points.

The Aggies win their 3rd straight 79-57. Norris had another fine game and with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Baker lead all Aggie scorers with 16 on 6-9 shooting and 4 rebounds.

68-44 Aggies after 3.

43-21 Aggies at the half.

Other BW games tonight:

Irvine at Fullerton
San Diego at CSUN
Long Beach at Poly
Santa Barbara at Hawaii - 9 pm start

The Aggies can 6 three's and lead 20-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Another game in the "must win" category. We have to win the games that we are favored in and then pull a couple of upsets in order to be in contention for the BW title at the end of the season. I'm sure this game will be tougher than expected. Bake is always very athletic and they'll be hungry to upset the Ags on their home court. Away games in the BW are never easy no matter who you are playing. Go Ags!

All players express their emotions on the court differently. For example, Pepper is a fierce competitor and he wears his emotions on his sleeve. He has a fire in his belly and, when things aren't going his way, he just becomes even more determined and fired up but his emotions never get out of control. On the other hand, Anigwe is a fierce competitor also but you rarely see his emotions. He's calm, cool and collected even though he's giving it 100%. He's steady as a rock.

TY is young and you can tell that he has high expectations for himself and, consequently, you can see his disappointment when things don't go his way. You can see a slump in his body language when he's struggling and he can get a bit chippy at times especially if he gets baited. I think that will improve as he grows and matures with the game. He'll learn to let stuff go more easily and just compete even harder when things happen like getting hacked with no foul called or getting called for a cheap bump when playing aggressive defense. Those things are frustrating for any player and, right now, he just shows his frustration a little more and a little longer.

I've noticed that Les sits TY down for a while at times when he sees his emotions are getting in the way of his performance. Some players just need a little more time to settle and let go of stuff and that will get better for him with more experience. He's got great coaches and teammates around him to help and his performance, growth ceiling is very high. It's going to be a pleasure to watch him in the years to come..

Wow...I'd forgotten about how accurate Hawkins was from 3 also. Les has a knack for finding good 3 point shooters which is a strategy that has worked well for the best, mid-major programs. It's extremely hard for mid-major programs to land highly talented big men. They're snatched up quickly by the power schools so finding elite outside shooters can be great equalizers for the smaller programs when they face teams with great size. Of course, the very best elite, power programs have both great size and deadly, outside shooters.

Totally agree about TY. He's only going to get better and better with each game he plays. Some of our best PG's have been small like Manjon and Shorts. At 6'3, TY has good size for a PG to go along with his long arms and leaping ability which allows him to be a more disruptive defender and better rebounder. He has a lightening quick first step when he drives also. He has a higher dribble which is a bit of a disadvantage when he drives through traffic simply because it's a bit easier for the defenders to get a hand on the ball and cause a TO. I think that has improved a lot for him recently though. It's going to be fun watching him continue to grow and, as you noted, he could end up being one of our very best players ever. Let's hope the bright lights of the bigger programs don't lure him into the portal.

Wow...shooting nearly 50% from 3 is amazing!

I completely forgot about Stefan Gonzalez...incredible 3 point shooter! I think he led the nation in 3 point percentage in his senior year.

Ok, here's my all-time starting five:

Christian Anigwe at the post
Chima Moneke at PF
Corey Hawkins at SG
Elijah Pepper at SG
TJ Shorts at PG

And for some amazing depth off the bench:

Ezra Manjon
Siler Schneider
JT Adenrele
Josh Ritchart
Brynton Lamar
Darius Graham
Joe Mooney
Ryan Sypkens

This team takes us to the Sweet 16 and pulls an upset for an Elite 8 spot! :up:

Pepper for sure!

That's a talented, formidable line up, Mike!

I agree that Chima wasn't a true 5 but his leaping ability allowed him to play taller than he actually was. I can't think of anyone we've ever had with that kind of hop. I loved it when Chima would get the ball out top and he'd wind up fly down the lane to the basket with that high dribble he had. I swear he could make it from the foul line to the basket without needing to put the ball on the floor. Tremendous athleticism!

Chima was the most athletically explosive. Anigwe is just solid all the way around too.

How about Chima at the post and Anigwe at PF or visa versa?

Good point, Mike. They can be formidable from what I've seen of them so far. They have some high level D1 talent that can be explosive on offense. They'll be hard to contain but strong defensive teams like us are probably the best suited to give them problems.

Les has a good eye players that have overlooked talent. Anigwe is a prime example and look at how he has developed since coming here.

The current standings are exactly how I would rank the MBB teams at this point in the season:

1. UC Santa Barbara 7-1 16-3
2. UC Irvine 6-1 13-6
3. UC Riverside 7-2 14-7
4. Hawai'i 6-2 15-5
5. UC Davis 5-3 12-8
6. Long Beach State 4-4 10-10
7. Cal State Fullerton 4-5 10-11
8. UC San Diego 2-6 7-13
9. CSU Bakersfield 2-6 6-13
10. Cal Poly 1-7 7-13
11. CSUN 1-8 4-16