61-61 going to OT. Ags scrapping like crazy! Time for this team to get a good win. Go Ags!

We have to attack the rim since we don't shoot well from the outside.

Down 5 with 3:47 to go. Joe Mooney hitting 3's from NBA range. We need that!

Great comeback by the Ags to tie the game. TJ just put the team on his back and Mooney drained a couple of 3's.

This is a game between two very good defensive teams. I thought the Ags defense overall was excellent in the first half. Irvine is solid defensively and we're having trouble with their size. We just can't shoot from the outside and we turned the ball over 9 times. That hurts.

The writer who said he didn't think the Ags would break 50 points may be right in his prediction.

I sure hope AJ can go tonight. He's had a rough time with injuries over his career. I'm sure he's chomping at the bit to play especially since this is his last season.

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2019/1/9/18172643/big-west-uc-irvine-leads-a-field-battered-by-non-conference-play-lamine-diane-ucsb-hawaii-uc-davis

Nothing much positive to find about the Big West as a whole this year.

And ooof....this about the Ags first game at Irvine:

UC Irvine over UC Davis — Thursday, 7 p.m.

The Anteaters will exact revenge on last season’s double-overtime loss that saw UC Davis win the regular-season title. Given the Aggies’ offensive woes, I’d be surprised if they score 50.

I hope I haven't slipped that much! :scream:

Great post, Mike. It really shows our shooting woes this year. I would think that some of that has to be that we have also played teams who are longer and more athletic this season so far but I've seen us miss way too many wide open looks also.SoCalAggie made a good point about us not having the kind of shooting that really allows up to make comebacks once we get a ways behind.

I sure hope that the new recruits will bring some offensive fire power to the team for next season since we will lose our best scorers to graduation.

Oops...haha...I mixed up UND with NDSU. I fixed it...

Saturday, September 21, 2019 in Fargo: The bigger they are the harder they fall!

Nice first half and a ho-hum second half. Forget the preseason and gear up for the conference. Go Ags!

I like to see 90% shooting on the second half... :joke:

Totally agree. One of the nice things about this forum is that it has virtually never slipped into the kind of flaming that you see too often in sports talk forums.

We're skipping the game today also. We're leaving for a week in Bodega Bay tomorrow and need to get things ready to go. We're going to have enough driving in the rain tomorrow too. I'll be following the online stream. Go Ags!

Coast to coast win for the Ags. I watched most of the game but was busy doing things so I didn't post during the game. I thought the Ags played solid for the most part. Defense was good holding the Highlanders to 30.5% and we rebounded well. 23 points from the bench too.

Good start to conference play for the Aggies!

[reply="CK2;201I think if there is any chance at all that Best can put Tiuli on the field he will. His actions in running up scores in the regular season gives us some insight into his "leave no doubt and win big" attitude. When you look at the number of EWU players that have been arrested in the past few years and couple that with his willingness to run up the score, I think it tells you something about the kind of football culture he has cultivated.

How the Ags will fare in conference play will really depend upon which Aggie team shows up. If it is the team that led Indiana by 14 before the Hossiers caught fire in the last 7 minutes or the team that took Arizona to the wire and lost by 2 or the team that went toe to toe with USC for the better part of the game, well that team can compete for the Big West title. Otherwise, if the team that has not played well in most every other loss shows up, well that team could be competing for the cellar.

Another factor for the Aggies will be whether or not AJ John is able to come back from his injuries, a problematic knee and an apparent concussion, and contribute. If he gets healthy and returns to good form, it will be huge for the Ags. We need his size on the boards and we need his perimeter shooting to help us stretch the floor and shoot better from downtown. We also need Stefan Gonzalez to be healthy and shoot a high percentage from the perimeter. We could be a very tough out in the conference if those two players get healthy and are playing well.

Given the injuries we've had and the how inconsistent we've been I'd say we are in the bottom half of the conference teams comparatively going into BW play. Judging from what I've seen in the preseason, I think that UCSB is the top dog to start with Irvine a close second and Long Beach and Fullerton close behind those two.

Santa Barbara is loaded with good D1 talent and Irvine is typically talented and very disciplined. Long Beach is athletic as usual and Fullerton has 3 of the best offensive players in the league but they lack discipline and can play moody. When Fullerton is firing on all cylinders they can light up the nets and be a very tough team.

I like what I've seen from the Ags lately against tough competition and I'm sure they're hungry as hell to start winning. We won't enter conference play as a front runner but I wouldn't count us out by a long shot.

I think Coach Best recruits for athletic ability first and character is an afterthought. I just googled "EWU football player arrested" and quite a few articles came up about players who have been arrested over the last few years. I was just looking for information about Tiuli and was totally surprised to see what showed up.