Les was noticeably calm during the game and in the post-game interview. In the post-game interview he just said that LMU was the aggressor early and when we were missing open shots it carried over to us playing soft defense.

We've seen a couple of good games from this team where they looked like maybe they were coming around but tonight's game was more of what we've seen most of the season. Our defense can be pretty good at times but offensively we aren't much of a threat at all. Les has some big problems on his hands and we aren't seeing many signs that things are going to get any better this season.

Poor performance by the Aggies on both ends of the floor. Cold shooting like we've seen most of the season and allowing 58% shooting on defense...that won't even give you a chance...

You're correct, he didn't say bloated. He did say that there were "people who were disgruntled" with the conference numbers and that he thought that an even number is much easier to work with. At any rate, if some conference members are "disgruntled," it doesn't make me feel like Davis and Poly are exactly welcome...not sure if that portends anything for us in the future...???

Talk about us moving up to the FBS level is premature at this point but the article that Mike referenced makes me wonder what just might be coming down the pike from the Big Sky in the future if there are schools who are unhappy with the size of the conference and the inclusion UCD and Poly in football. It's a red flag warning when the new Big Sky Commissioner says that a 13 team conference is bloated and too big and there are schools very unhappy with the size of the conference. Consequently, I think that we would be wise to be exploring our options for football conference affiliation just in the case we asked to leave or get the boot so we don't get hung out to dry.

A foul was given to each player in the UCD at Arizona game. One for a charge and the other for a block. I agree that neither player should be given a foul in a "blarge" call.

Maybe there's a place for officials to be able to review a play or call, say within the last minute, if the game is under 10 points, for example. As it is now, officials seem to allow a lot contact and are hesitant to make any call that may be critical in the final minute. They seem to always scrutinize possession calls in the final minute though.

Of course, the "unwritten rule of letting them play" down the stretch takes the heat off the officials to have to make critical calls when the game is on the line. The problem I see with that though is that they have already established a pattern of how closely they are calling the game and, then all of a sudden, they let the players get mugged under the basket with no calls.

I agree, it doesn't make sense at all!

I think it goes to show just how subjective the charge/block foul is also. Those calls drive coaches and fans crazy!

I almost forgot about one call the refs made that I've never seen before. It was when one ref called a offensive charge on an Arizona player and the ref under the basket called a block on the Aggie defender. After the refs huddled they called a foul on each player. How in the world can you have a charging foul and a blocking foul at the same time? Crazy...I've never seen that before.

She a joy to watch.

All is calm, all is bright.

It's been a bountiful year for sure and a great time to be an Aggie fan. The increased activity here on the AST forum has been great also. Happy Holidays to all!

Well that was too bad.

I like the idea of not letting them get set on defense if we would have taken a TO. When they stopped TJ, though, nothing seemed to develop after that. Siler tried to improvise by driving the ball down the lane but got bottled up. I would like to have seen TJ call a TO when it was apparent that whatever the Ags were trying to do wasn't happening. No right or wrong call by anybody...just tough basketball in the final seconds...

Here's what Les said about not calling a TO in the final 17 seconds:

“We talked in the prior (timeout). We didn’t quite execute what we talked about,” he said. “I (wanted) to not get their defense set and load up. … I liked us going, we just didn’t quite get done what we needed to get done.

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggie-men-give-arizona-all-it-can-handle-in-70-68-loss/

"I am proud of this group with the way they played and the way they fought. If this team continues to work like this and battle, possession-by-possession, we are going to have a lot of fun in the second half of the season," Les added.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2018/12/22/mens-basketball-three-game-trip-opens-with-a-thriller-in-tucson.aspx

Yeah..that last possession by the Ags really fizzled.

Great game by the Ags...close but no cigar...bummer. Lots of players contributed tonight. I thought this was the best I've ever seen Garrison Goode play and Damion Squire is getting better all the time. Good minutes from Neufeld too. Hope we get Gonzalez and AJ back before the conference starts. Only 8 TO's and we shot 51% from the field...poor FT shooting hurt though...

Ags are playing with poise and are taking care of the ball...knock on wood!