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BlueGoldAg
1.1kThe Aggies get their 2017-18 season underway tonight at 6 pm when they take on Northern Colorado at the Bank of Colorado Center in Greeley. The Bears are coming off a 66-51 loss to Colorado in Boulder and they split their exhibitions games winning 106-81 over Johnson & Wales University and losing to Colorado State 83-79 in Fort Collins. The Aggies trounced Bethesda 111-56 in their only exhibition game.
UNC played Colorado tough and were tied at 44 before the Buffalos sprinted off to a 15 point win. The Bears are led in scoring by 6'3 Sr G Andre Spight a transfer from Arizona State who had 19 points against Colorado but only shot 8-26 overall including a miserable 3-16 from 3. The Bears as a team put up 37 shots from behind the arc but only 6 found the mark for an icy 16%.
As for the Aggies, we still don't know much with so many new players after the loss of 4 starters from last year's championship team. Coach Les seemed to be pleased overall with the team's exhibition win over Bethesda with a lot players seeing significant playing time. As usual, Les will expect his team to play hard-nosed defense first and let the defensive energy spark the offense.
It will be interesting to see how the Bears choose to concentrate their defense on shutting down Chima Moneke. If they do, it should create some opening for other Aggies. I would imagine that Les will be trying different combinations of players in the early season in order to get a better idea of what mixes of players seem to work better together on the floor.
You can watch the live stream on Big Sky TV at 6 pm by going to the Big Sky TV website:
http://www.bigskyconf.com/sports/2015/11/19/WatchBigSky.aspx
You can also download the Pluto TV app and watch the game on channel 241 and, of course, Scott Marsh will have the PBP radio call on KSAC 105.5 FM.
Go Ags! -
Oldbanduhalum
590looks like the Ags are 7 point underdogs, not that that means anything this early in the season.
Go Ags! -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kThat's a surprise to me. Granted, we lost a lot of players from last year's championship team but the Bears were 11-18 overall last season and 7-11 in the Big Sky which is a weak basketball conference in comparison with the Big West. I think Coach Les should post the 7 point underdog statement on the locker room wall before the game!
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BlueGoldAg
1.1kThe Big Sky TV link above is the feed from Pluto TV also but you are just watching online from the Big Sky TV website. Otherwise, if you have a smart tv, you should be able to download the app directly to your tv app lineup. If you have Amazon Prime or Roku or Apple TV etc, you can download the app to your tv directly from those sources as well. Hope that helps.
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BlueGoldAg
1.1kThe first 10 minutes were pretty ragged and Coach Les was trying a lot of different combinations of players. Chima kept us close early with 13 and, after picking up his 2nd personal, TJ Shorts and Joe Mooney contributed 7 each.
The difference in the game so far is that over half of the Bears 12 FG's were 3 pointers on 6-12 from downtown. The Ags were only 1-3 from behind the arc. The Aggie defense looked pretty good and forced 11 TO's but got manhandled on the boards 17-7 of which UNC had 7 offensive boards. -
Oldbanduhalum
590Good win from the Ags. Chima was unstoppable (28pts, 8 boards), but it was Shorts and Mooney who really provided the extra oomph. Only 5 players scored, so we'll need to work on the depth, but 1-0 sounds pretty good.
Go Ags! -
Goags20172
162Whoever thought Northern Colorado was a favorite was obviously thinking UNC was going to start actual bears. Perhaps they should have. -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kThe Ags got off to a pretty ragged looking start and Chima managed to keep us within striking distance at the half. I think that was to be expected with 8 new players in an Aggie uniform for the very first time.
The Bears burned the Aggies from 3 and to it to them on the boards in the first half. It was different story in the second half as the Ags held the Bears to 0-11 from downtown and, after getting out rebounded by 10 in the first, the Ags won the battle of the boards by 6 in the second half.
Chima carried the team offensively until TJ Shorts, Joe Mooney and Siler Schneider got it going in the second half. Chima finished with 28 points and 8 boards and Mooney scored 14 on 5-5 shooting and TJ Shorts dropped in 15. Siler was bottled up most of the night but when he did get open he canned the shot. Siler scored 10 points on 4-7 shooting from the floor.
The Ags won this game first and foremost with their defense and forced the Bears into 16 TO's while committing only 9 themselves. Defensively the Aggies played with good energy and kept battling even though they trailed until about 13 minutes to go in the game. Chima mentioned after the game that the altitude in Greeley had the team pretty gassed late in the game but they pushed through it for the win.
This is an interesting team with a lot of new pieces that will take some time to come together. Tonight was a very nice start. -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kGood catch. The tv announcer didn't know what Les was getting worked up about. Glad the the Aggie bench was on top of the score. In a close game those 2 points could have ben the difference between winning and losing.
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DrMike
649That was a pretty impressive first game. Not sure how good the Bears will be, but to rally and pull away with so many new players being asked to contribute is a nice sign. 50% from the field and behind the arc. 9 turnovers. About even in rebounds. Those stats should get a win most nights.
Didn’t watch broadcast (wasn’t on Pluto that I could find) so can’t comment on how players looked. Insights beside Chima? -
Oldbanduhalum
590Yeah, for some reason, Pluto didn't have it...but the stream from the bigsky was fine...go figure.
To me, Shorts was the huge revelation. He consistently beat his man off the dribble, which created some easy buckets for Chima (and Goode to a certain extent). But, Shorts' defense was really what stood out. On several occasions, he just took the ball right away from his man. I don't know how many steals he ended up with, but it had to be a couple at least. The other guy that stood out was Mooney. I expect him to knock down a good percentage of 3's, but he showed some toughness, also, by faking the 3 and driving. And he also played some good smart team defense (one steal that I can remember). A couple of new guys, Jackson and John, looked a little over matched, as did Printup. Hopefully that's just first game jitters.
Looking forward to UOP tomorrow. Go Ags! -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kNice summary Oldbanduhalum.
I was worried while watching the first half. Chima was carrying the team and keeping us close. We were getting hammered on the boards and we were not getting much offensive production from anyone else. It was really nice to see Shorts and Mooney step up in the second half. Shorts also had 4 steals.
To be successful this year we have to get some solid offensive production from players other than Chima. Teams are going to try and make things very tough for him. UNC committed a flagrant 1 on him and I expect teams will try to be very physical with him to try and slow him down.
The Bears did a good job of bottling up Schneider most of the game. He's an ultimate competitor though and, as usual, he battled back and hit some crucial shots. Onybalu has won a starting role and, although he doesn't score much, I think his athleticism and defense will get him quite a bit of PT. Garrison Goode is a defender first but he also showed signs that his offensive game is a little better this year. His FT stroke is vastly improved. When he first arrived in Davis he had one of the most awkward looking FT shots I've ever seen and he was miserable from the line. His FT stroke against UNC looked pretty darn good so it's evident that he has really worked on it.
As you noted, AJ John, Printup and Jackson did not look that comfortable out there. John had 4 fouls in only 8 minutes of PT. We'll need some productive contributions from the bench to give us some depth as the season progresses.
I'm excited to see how we do at Pacific.
Go Ags! -
Oldbanduhalum
590It's funny you mentioned Goode's FT stroke. My son and I (we were facetiming while we were both streaming the game...yes, we have a problem) have a running joke that whenever Goode goes to the line, it's the "Most entertaining part of the game". But, he's gone back to the right handed free throw (righty the first year, lefty last year) and it looked pretty solid. And, as you pointed out, he looked a lot more comfortable on the offensive side of the ball.
Michael has definitely earned playing time. I really admire the guy for continually working on his game, even though he went through long long stretches without even sniffing game time. He's stepped into the "defending the best perimeter player" slot now, and I hope, like Lawrence White, he can start to hit a few jumpers. -
BlueGoldAg
1.1kLike Oldbanduhalum says, "He has definitely earned playing time." He's stuck it out and is always full of energy and willing to contribute in whatever role Les has asked of him. He's truly a team player.
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