Guess we can't complain about the students not showing up. They likely have some of the same reasons.

Games of Feb. 1:

UC Santa Barbara (home, 14-8/6-5) 85, Long Beach State (7-16/3-8) 54
CSUN (home, 15-7/7-4) 88, CSU Bakersfield (10-13/4-7) 62
UC Riverside (home, 15/8-3) 80, Cal Poly (home, 8-15/2-9) 62
Hawai`i (home, 13-9/5-6) 82, CSU Fullerton (6-17/1-10) 57

With today’s results the Aggies fall out of the top 4 with the hardest part of their schedule looming two weeks from now.

Niko Rocak is the Ags second most valuable player for his rebounding, shot blocking and overall defense. Leucthen makes him look tiny on the court, but he still did a credible job against a guy who is likely to be in the NBA next year, blocking 2 or 3 of the big man's shots. Rocak is such a quick jumper and his timing is uncanny. I won't be sorry to see Leuchten graduate.

Refs are calling this one a bit too tight as I see it. Seems like the Ags usually draw more than their share of illegal screen calls, but in this one both teams are getting called for a lot of ticky-tack stuff.

If I were a UCI fan, I would now say that the "real" Anteaters decided to show up in the second half. Ags need to tighten their defense.

If someone told me that the Aggies would have a 7 point lead and hold to be up by 1at the half after 13 turnovers, I would have told them they were smoking something. Still, both teams have been very sloppy. TY has been egregiously careless with his passing lately, notably at the end of the UCR game, but also a few today already.

Good start.

That's got to be one of the toughest ways to lose. Being ahead by a slim margin after a back and forth game, then turning the ball over and seeing some scoreless guy sink a desperation shot.

Yes, just checked the replay. He got back in the game with 1:34 left.

Games of Jan. 30:

CSUN (14-7/6-4) 78, UC Santa Barbara (home, 13-8/5-5) 71
UC Irvine (19-3/9-1) 80, Long Beach State (home, 7-15/3-7) 75
Cal Poly (8-14/2-8) 90, CSU Bakersfield (home,10-12/4-6) 81
UC San Diego (18-4/8-2) 74, Hawai`i (home, 12-9/4-6) 63

Looking ahead to the Big West tournament, the field is beginning to spread out. It appears likely that Cal Poly and Fullerton State will not make the cut, although the Beach has lost 5 i a row and could slip into the bottom. With their win today, Riverside looks good for a top 4 spot and could even challenge Irvine and San Diego, especially since the second half of their season is a lot easier than the first half. The Aggies are not in such good shape and could still fall as far down as the 8 seed since they have four games remaining against UCI and UCSD, as well as three tough games against the likes of UCR and CSUN. Since they have been playing well lately, however, it is certainly possible for them to wind up with a top 4 seed. A top 2 seed would seem out of reach. But the league season is only half over and we might see some surprises.

What a heartbreaking loss. The way Sevilla and Daughtery started hitting their shots, I thought the Ags had this one. Odd that Sevilla was on the bench in the last few minutes. Odd too, was that the two halves were so different with the 3s not falling for either team in the first half, then both teams shooting better in the second half.

And now Daughtery heating up.

Sevilla!

The teams are really evenly matched. The major difference for UCD has been TY, who really took over toward the end of the half. I didn't realize that we have been 9-0 when leading at the half. Hope that hols up today.

Yes, they're very good. I'd put them alongside the Scott Marsh-BobWilliams team.

Js aren't falling. I think the Ags have only hit one from outside the paint.

Games of Jan. 25:

UC San Diego (home, 17-4/7-2) 79, CSUN (13-7/5-4) 54
Cal Poly (home, 7-14/1-8 ) 78, Long Beach State (7-14/3-6) 69
UC Riverside (13-8/6-3) 83, CSU Bakersfield (home,10-11/4-5) 79
UC Irvine (home,18-3/8-1) 71, Hawai`i (12-8/4-5) 55
UC Santa Barbara (13-7/5-4) 83, CSU Fullerton (home, 6-16/1-9) 75

Only one real upset. Cal Poly finally gets off the schneid avoiding an NCAA record for futility and extending what would be a 7 game Big West losing streak by the Beach had they not beaten UCD. And we all had to know that the Anteaters would be fired up in their next game after being upset on Thursday, so the Rainbow Warriors were not going to win this one.

I think you meant that it was the Ags fifth straight win over Hawai`i in Davis and I suspect that as close as it was last night, UCD will have a hard time winning out here. What has been especially great about the Aggie defense lately is the way they make the other team use a lot of clock getting the ball into the front court and forcing a lot of late desperation shots. That strategy was never more evident than last night.

Games of Jan. 23:

CSU Bakersfield (10-10/4-4) 71, CSU Fullerton (home, 6-15/1-8)
CSUN (home, (13-6/5-3) 86, Long Beach State (7-13/3-5) 76
UC Riverside (home, 12-8/5-3) 84, UC Irvine (17-3/7-1) 80 OT
UC San Diego (home, 17-4/7-2) 77, UC Santa Barbara (12-7/4-5) 63

UC Irvine showed vulnerability tonight in losing to the Highlanders in overtime. This has to be one of the big upsets in the Big West this year.

Aggies win 68-66 but it was even closer than the score given how easily Hawai`i could have tied the game at the end. TY didn't score as much as the UCSB game, but I have never seen a better clutch performance. A gutsy performance overall by not only Pablo Tamba , but Nico Rokak who had 9 boards and 2 blocks before he fouled out.

I had to take note that TY passed Mark Olson as the fifth leading scorer in UC Davis history, because I knew Mark over his first three years as an Aggie star, played a few pickup games with him. I still remember his first game as a freshman when he made a couple of spectacular plays and Bob Hamilton literally hugged him on the court.