It's not much consolation, but I think the Ags will have two all-league guys in Pepper and Anigwe. Probably too much to assume that Christian will be on the first team, but Pepper should be a strong candidate for Big West MVP.

At this point in the season, it's looking like UCI (10-3) and UCSB (11-2) are starting to separate from the rest of the field. UCD is only a game and a half out of third place and it looks like that's the best we'll be able to do the rest of the season.

Right, I planned to change it later, although I was tempted to make us 8-5, but I didn't want to jinx the guys. I hope you're right.

Yes, we all saw that the Mustangs lost to UCI at Irvine by only a point, but the fact remains that they are 1-12.

Here's our remaining schedule with my guesses as to the outcomes:

UCSB (away) L
CSUN W
UCI (away) L
UCSD W
Fullerton (away) W
Cal Poly (away W
UCSB L
Long Beach W

That would make us 12-8. The only real stretch there is beating the Titans at their court.

He put Borra in for only a few minutes. As soon as Borra was called for a 3-second violation, Les took him out and he never got back in the game. Now, that is what makes an impression on a player. I used to watch the practices when Bob Hamilton was coaching, because my best friend was trying out for the team. I expected to see him yell at the players much as Jim Les used to do, except more and louder, but no, he was there at practice to teach. It was when players did not have their hearts in the game or made dumb plays that he would sound off so that fans could hear what he was saying. Then there was his towel...

Johnson had probably his worst game as an Aggie. More turnovers than points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2/10 from the floor. Overall lack of balance in scoring as Pepper, DeBruhl and Anigwe got all but 11 of the team's points. Rebounding didn't help either, as they let the Highlanders snatch 16 offensive boards.

He has a turnover in a couple of second half minutes. Borra also not seeing much action.

Ty is really off his game. If he was scoring at his usual average, he would have 8 points and this sucker would be all tied up. P+D=UCD+4

Christian is out there and seems to be moving well. Wish Ags were shooting better, but they seem to start cold in a lot of games. ESPN listed Pepper as 5-8. Either they're wrong or he plays A lot taller than he is. Refs should keep an eye on how UCR inbounds the ball on a made Aggie shot. I saw pone of them step on the line before he threw it in bounds.

While #3, JoVon McClanahan has been very good against us, I would like to point out that their leading scorer #4, Noel Coleman, has ben held to 8.5 ppg in our two contests with Hawai`i. That's 5 ppg under his average and a reason why no one on these posts has mentioned him. I noticed that most of the defense on him was by Ty Johnson in both games, so we need to credit Johnson with being a terrific defender as well as the 4th leading scorer in the Big West.

The Honolulu paper put the Aggie's win on the banner of the front page, which is not unusual. Since the state has no pro teams at any level, the University of Hawai`i is the main sports attraction here. The sporting page had a lengthy article about the game in which Hawai`'s coach Ganot said that it was their worst defensive game of the season, but the article made it clear that UCD played inspired ball. Can't disagree with that. Good offense always beats good defense.

I hope Anigwe gets better soon. Goo thing that the Ags don't play again until next Thursday. but that game is at UCR, so it would be good to get him and Beasley back.

In Hawai`i Warriors got 12 blocks. Tonight 1.

So much for regression to the mean! Ags now shooting 68.6%.

Pepper has a really smooth looking hook shot, the most underused shot in all of basketball.

Oh yeah! I was looking at the 3 point percentage for which 60% is pretty amazing. Of course, it's only 3/5. The trouble with either stat is that given regression to the mean, the Aga are unlikely to maintain that heat through the second half. The defense needs to stay tough.

Great finish for the first half. Anigwe's injury notwithstanding. Ags shooting 60% from the floor! Seems like the team has been playing a lot more zone in recent games and it sure worked in this game. Borra has had as good as any minutes I've seen this season. The defense really clamped down on Hawai`i after the Warriors came out very hot from the floor.

I think you mean Borra? Francesco Borra.

The Honolulu newspaper had a nice write-up about Elijah Pepper today, noting that he leads the conference in scoring now. They also explained that Ty Johnson's name is pronounced Tee-Why, which solves a mystery of mine all season. Yesterday, the printed an interview with Hawai`i's coach in which he expressed concern that hi team often goes into lackadaisical stretch during games, something they can't afford to do at Davis and expect to win.