Post-game comments from Les from the Enterprise article:

“They were more physical, quicker to the ball and then we got out of character once they were kinda out-hustling and out-pacing us,” explained UCD coach Jim Les. “We started to get away from what we do.”

“That’s a really good team, but we didn’t put up much of a fight and that’s disappointing,” pointed out Les, now in his ninth year as Aggie head coach. “We’ve got great kids, we’ve got nice kids, but when you step between the lines, there’s an expectation of how we want to compete, and we really didn’t bring that.

“(The Ramblers) did not play well in last week’s exhibition game, and we talked to everyone about how they were going to start (Tuesday’s) game with a higher level of intensity. We just did not respond well to that.”

“A lot the credit goes to them … but with that being said, we can always man up and take a loss, but we have to put up some resistance — and our resistance was at a minimum tonight,” the Illinois native Les continued.

“(My players) are not going to like the film … not so much from an execution (standpoint), but from (a lack of) ‘Hey, I’m gonna compete; I’m gonna get after somebody. If someone gets physical with me, I’m going to get physical back.’ And we just didn’t respond to that.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggie-men-stumble-in-lopsided-opener/

Hawk quote from the Enterprise:

“If we are able to have some success down the stretch, we’re definitely a playoff team, given who we’ve played and how we’ve played,” Hawkins said. “It’s not a huge point of emphasis, but we do make our players aware of the calendar and the possibilities and the things they need to pay attention to. We’d be remiss if we didn’t.”

Not sure what that is...??

Quote from Les:

"(The Ramblers) did not play well in last week's exhibition game, and we talked to everyone about how they were going to start tonight's game with a higher level of intensity. We just did not respond well to that," said head coach Jim Les.

"Once we fell behind, we fell out of character … and started getting away from what we do."

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2019/11/5/mens-basketball-neufeld-leads-aggies-in-season-opener-at-loyola-chicago.aspx

They have a long way to go for sure and, if we don't play a whole lot better, we could lose to Willam Jessop on Thursday. They stayed close last year until we pulled away late.

St Mary's 65 Wisconsin 63 in OT

Les said that they told the team that they had to be much more physical and aggressive on defending those back cuts but we didn't adjust and they kept us on our heels. He said Loyola was just cutting so hard and we just did play hard in return. A tough but good lesson for our young players. I'm just disappointed from what we saw from Mooney, Gonzalez and Printup. They have to provide leadership for this team along with Neufeld. Didn't see that tonight...

Ironically, USF beat us by 34 at home last year in our home opener 76-42 and we lost tonight by 34.

And now for a shocker: Riverside just beat Nebraska on the road 66-47. It was the Cornhuskers first opener loss in 28 years...last time they lost a opener was 1981. Riverside is extremely athletic and can shoot the 3 as well.

When it rains, it pours....

We were soundly beaten in every phase of the game by a much, much better basketball team. I didn't expect to win but I didn't expect a complete beat down either.

Les builds his teams around defense but that was seriously lacking tonight. LOC owned the paint...58-28! I don't think I've ever seen a team score so many layups on backdoor cuts. Do we have any tough, interior defenders at all on this team? The Ramblers shot 56% for the game. Allowing 56% shooting will generally get you beat against anybody.

We typically struggle to score consistently and, unfortunately, we saw a lot of that tonight. Gonzalez and Mooney have to be able to score from the perimeter. They both struggled last year with consistency but TJ was able to fill in for them when they struggled. Now that TJ is gone...where is the scoring going to come from when Joe and Gonzo are ice cold?

Les was remarkably calm on the sideline and in the post-game interview. He said he that Loyola was just much more physical and aggressive and we just didn't respond. He wasn't happy with how we competed.

Bright spots: Neufeld's offense...beautiful, soft hook shots. I also thought that Manjon showed a ton of athletic potential and Pepper is going to be a baller for us. Manjon did leave the game late favoring his right knee after he landed awkward on a layup.

We struggled on offense a lot last year. We're getting decent looks but we are missing badly on a lot of shots. The team seems tight.

39-22 Ramblers at the half. The only bright spot so far for the Ags has been Neufeld with 11 points. Other than that...nada. Terrible interior defense...28 points in the paint for Loyola and 56% shooting overall. The other disappointing stat is 33% shooting for the Ags...including 1 of 11 from 3.

Loyola leads 12-8 with 14:31 to go in the first half. Ags getting beat off the Loyola drives and backdoor cuts.

Welcome to the AST Forum, Firefan17. I think you're completely right about how all the early losses affected the team emotionally last year. We had some great efforts against some power conference schools like Indiana, USC and Arizona, but a loss is still a loss and it took its toll after a while. The team was pressing, Les was unhappy and the many fans lost interest early.

This year's OOC schedule is more balanced yet still challenging especially the fact that we play 12 of our first 16 games on the road. I'd love to see us go at least 8-8 and head into the conference games with some confidence and momentum. There are a lot of unknowns about the team this year but I'm always an early season optimist and have my fingers crossed. Go Ags!

Click on the photo to enlarge

I think this team has some real potential. We've got some good, experienced players with our 4 seniors to provide leadership. Mooney and Gonzalez can both be streaky shooters from deep. I'm hoping for more consistency from them. Neufeld began hitting his stride offensively last year but had trouble staying out of early foul trouble. We need more minutes on the floor from him. Printup is just a solid player all around. He can get hot from 3 but, generally, he's more of a tough defender and hustle player. This could be a good year for him to step up even more.

Squire has some big shoes to fill at PG but he's loaded with potential. He should be more of an all around player for us this year with the experience he has now under his belt. We'll need some production from our JC transfers too. Hopefully, they'll be able to come in and contribute well. Fuller looked promising early on last year and then just seemed to fade away. I think he was hampered with injuries. He's a big, strong guy and I hope he can adjust more to the American D1 game this year. We can use his size and strength. The wild cards are all the new players. Hopefully, we'll be pleasantly surprised with them.

If he Thomson hadn't gotten injured this would have been a very close game. The Hornets certainly played Weber much tougher than we did even though the score doesn't show it.

36-17 Weber beats Sac. Sac's QB, Thompson, did not play in the second half due to an injury.

23-10 Weber at the half

That's for the updates, Russ. :up: