AJ has a very nice shot from distance but he has struggled to shoot a high percentage this season. That has been improving lately. I love it when we have a big man that can stretch defenses out to the perimeter. Chima was starting to do that this year and Josh Ritchart was deadly from 3.

Post-game comments from Jim Les and AJ John from the Davis Enterprise article:

“I don’t think we defended really well at our home,” Aggie head coach Jim Les said. “I was watching some of those clips (from Feb. 8), and it wasn’t really to chastise the guys, it was more to say, ‘Hey, we’re a lot better than this, and we had too many breakdowns in too many places. Let’s get back to being us and being solid at what we do.’

“And I thought the guys did that in a big way (Saturday), and set the tone right from the tip that nothing was going to be easy against (us) tonight. I think it frustrated the Gauchos a little bit. “

“We feel like we have really good balance,” Les said. “We’ve been getting good scoring off our bench, Rogers (Printup) and Joe the other night, and they came in (Saturday) and gave us some good looks. It’s different guys every night. We don’t have one guy you can necessarily key on and say, ‘Hey, if you stop him, you’re going to stop UC Davis.'”

The Aggies have gone 3-2 without leading scorer Chima Moneke, who is serving an indefinite suspension following an undisclosed incident during a road trip to Cal State Northridge earlier this month.

“There’s no new news other than the initial announcement,” Les said. When asked if fans should assume he won’t return, the seventh-year coach responded: “I wouldn’t assume anything other than there’s an indefinite suspension.”

“We locked in defensively,” said John, who also had two blocks and six rebounds. “It really was a team victory. We can’t get that (offensive) run without getting some stops.”

“We play a lot of equal-opportunity offense,” Les said. “When a guy gets going we call his number. I think T. J.’s penetration was strong, and either he got to the basket to score or he was finding open players. A. J., because of his size, he’s such a hard cover that (the opponents’) big guy (is drawn) away from the basket. So now, if the big guy helps at the basket, A. J.’s out on the perimeter shooting wide-open 3s.

“We like it when we can put the defense in a position where they have to make some choices. Our guys made the right decisions based on what the defense was giving them.”

Les “gave the game ball” to head Athletic Trainer Tina Tubbs, “who spent the last 48 hours with ice bags and recovery and calf massages and just trying to get these guys ready after the triple overtime win at Cal Poly. So she’s the MVP because she got them ready to play.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/ ... ara-71-54/

Wouldn't that be a free-for-all!

The following was put together by gauchodan over on the Big West Boards:

Remaining schedules

UC Santa Barbara (9-3)
02/22 at UC Irvine
02/24 at CSUN
03/01 Long Beach State
03/03 Cal Poly

UC Davis (9-4)
02/24 UC Riverside
03/01 Hawai'i
03/03 at UC Irvine

UC Irvine (9-4)
02/22 UC Santa Barbara
02/24 at Hawai'i
03/03 UC Davis

Cal State Fullerton (8-4)
02/21 at UC Riverside
02/24 Long Beach State
02/28 at CSUN
03/03 Hawai'i

Long Beach State (7-5)
02/22 at Hawai'i
02/24 at Cal State Fullerton
03/01 at UC Santa Barbara
03/03 UC Riverside

Some thoughts...
UCSB wins the conference outright by winning out.
If UCSB loses once, the Gauchos would tie for the conference title with (possibly) Cal State Fullerton and (possibly) the winner of the UC Davis/UC Irvine game.
If UCSB, Fullerton and Davis tie at 12-4, UCSB will be the #1 seed, Fullerton will be the #2 seed and Davis will be the #3 seed.
If UCSB, Fullerton and Irvine tie at 12-4, UCSB will be the #1 seed and Fullerton and Irvine have sub-scenarios to determine #2 and #3 seed.
If UCSB ties with Fullerton only at 12-4, UCSB will be the #1 seed and Fullerton will be the #2 seed.
If UCSB ties with Irvine only at 12-4, #1 and #2 seeding will depend on where Fullerton (SB sweep) and Long Beach (Irvine sweep) finish.
If UCSB loses twice, it's a free-for-all.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bigwest/handicapping-the-big-west-race-t21806-s10.html

I looked at the stats and we only had 10 TO's so I think you're right that we did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. What concerned me is that we got away with quite a few "near TO's" also on ill-advised passes and that we began to get rushed which, as you noted, was resulting in some poor shot selection. I thought that Hawai'i was getting after us with more energy than we were playing with in the second half and they reduced our lead by 14 points in 8 or 9 minutes of play.

We have had a few games lately where we let some big leads get away from us and yet we still eventually won. I just think it's a concern. I don't think that Jen Gross wants to see these big leads slipping away especially with the kind of competition that this team will face in the post-season. We won't be able to get away with careless passes against really good competition.

I guess I'm old school in my thinking but, if I were a head coach, I'm not happy if my team relaxes and let a big lead dwindle because the opponent is playing with more aggression and energy. I want my team to keep the pedal to the metal with a hard effort from start to finish.

I hope I don't sound overly critical. I just want this team to keep their energy and focus high and continue to improve. They have a chance to do something very special this year.

The Aggies move to 22-4 with a 68-56 win over Hawai'i. Morgan Bertsch scored 27 and Pele Gianotti had 13. Although the Ags shot 51% for the game but they took their foot off the accelerator and got outplayed by the Rainbow Wahine in the second half.

The Aggies were up by 25 with 3:26 to go in the 3rd quarter and Hawai'i kept chipping away and pressured the Aggies into ragged played and got the lead down to 11 late in the 4th. The Ags are still inconsistent in handling the press and, although they continue to win, it is an area that causes them problems and they are likely to see more of it.

59-40 Aggies going into the 4th quarter. Bertsch has 23.

Elsewhere around the league today:

Fullerton 88 CSUN 70
Hawai'i 74 Riverside 69 OT
Irvine 75 Poly 58

So here's where we stand:

UCSB 9-3
Aggies 9-4
Irvine 9-4
Fullerton 8-4
Long Beach 7-5
Hawai'i 6-6
Cal Poly 3-10
CSUN 3-10
Riverside 2-10

Nope...which, unfortunately, is better than the typical freezes and no feed at all...

I switch back and forth to Live Stats to keep and idea of the score.

The Ags stretch the lead to 40-18 at the half. They are playing great defense and shot 55%. Morgan Bertsch led the Aggies with14.

Aggies started off the game ice cold but warmed up late in the first quarter and take the lead 19-10 going into the 2nd.

Jim Les was understandably very happy after the game in the post-game radio interview. He said he gave the game ball to the Aggie trainer for working overtime to give the players massages and ice treatment in order to help get them as fresh as they could be after 3OT game at Poly on Thursday. He also said that after the 2 home loses he emphasized that the team just needed to get back to "who we are" which is a team that leads with defense first. I think we saw a great example of that today.

It was interesting listening to the Gauchos' coach, Joe Pasternak, after the game. He said he thought his team came out flat and was tired. Maybe that was the case but if anyone should "have been tired" it would be the Aggies. They have played 5 OT's in their last 3 road games and every one of their last 5 games without Chima have been closely contested. This game was a real tribute to the gutsy character of this team.

Greg Wong calls the Aggie women's games on KDVS. He does an outstanding job...very professional and paints and accurate and fast, play-by-play call of the action. It's well worth your time to tune in and give him a listen.. I wonder how long he'll stay at KDVS as good as he is.

I thought the big difference in this game and the loss in Davis was our defense. We had a lot of defensive breakdowns in Davis and gave up too many easy buckets in the paint when players failed to rotate and help out. Today we played defense as well as we've played all year and, when this team plays defense like that, we make it very tough on the opponent and put ourselves in a position to win.

Another difference is that the team has had more time adjust to playing without Chima now and it shows. The ball movement and shot selection today was exceptional. Combine that with good defense and we're a pretty good team even without our big man.

Great win Ags!

Wow...offensive onslaught!

That was a nice half of basketball by the Aggies. If they can keep this up and not let the Gauchos get on a big run, we have a chance. Go Ags!

Great start for the Aggies!

50% from 3 tonight even with Siler going 0-5. Michael Onybalu had a career high 25 points. Total team win tonight.

I hope the Big West Conference gets some money back from their tv broadcast provider. This happens all the time!

Ags win 92-84 in 3OT!!!