The Beach has been up and down all season They staggered off winning only one game of their first seven and that win against NCCAA powerhouse Nobel. They then proceeded to lose 3 of their first four conference games. Then they won three straight, but against the weaker half of the Big West. Now they are on a six game losing streak. Head Coach Chris Acker is in his second season after going 3-17 in his first. To be fair, he was not hired in time to do any recruiting that season, but he now has a promising young team led by freshman Gavin Sykes, #11, who is third in the conference in scoring at 18.2 ppg. Sykes had been injured for 4 of the games in their 6 game losing streak, but he’s back just in time to face the Ags.

Sykes anchors the backcourt along with fellow guards #0 Rob Diaz III (7.5 ppg) and #10 Cole Farrell (6.9 ppg). The frontcourt starters are #6 Peter Majstorovic a 6’8” transfer from Syracuse, who leads the team with 6.4 rebounds per game and 6’ 9” freshman Leopold Levillain, #4. Transfer guards #2 Shaquil Bender from Manhattan and #12 Isaiah Lewis, from Little Rock provide a lot of depth. Bender makes 10 points per game and Lewis adds 2.6 assists per game. As a team, the Beach averages 75 ppg while surrendering 77.2. Given that they are 4-9 in conference (3-4 at home) this shows that they lose a lot of close games, especially at home where their losses have averaged only 4 points per game with or without Sykes. If the Aggies pay anywhere nearly as badly as they played against UCSD they are perfectly capable of losing this one against Sykes and company.