When Coach Les told his players that they weren't doing their jobs, I think he meant that they were too often out of position on both offense and defense. I could see him "directing traffic" when the Ags had the ball in the second half in front of the UCD bench. I had never noticed how often the players, especially T Y Johnson, look at him even as they are handling the ball. Les was not happy with the teams spacing on offense and in one in bounds play, I heard him yell out the play and when it failed, he threw his hands up in disgust at the lack of execution. Much like their game against UCSD, the Ags were having a poor game against a team that was having one of their best. I agree that it will be very different on February 29.

I had a seat in the first row, tight behind the Aggie tea. I could hear what JimLes was saying and I could see how frustrated he was getting. At one point midway through the second half he said something like "You just have to do your jobs." He would throw his hands in the air whenever a Hawai`i player got a wide open shot. Being that close to the court, I could see how often Aggie defenders were out of position in the first half and how quick Hawai'i was to close near the basket in the second half. The thing that was amazing was that the Rainbow Warriors hit so many 3s in the opening half. This is a team that barely shooting over 30% from beyond the arc and they go over 80% in that half?! Many of those shots were from unexpected sources like Justin McCoy who went 3 for 3 and the freshman from Japan, Akira Jacobs (who is like a baby-faced Rui Hachimura) and hit 2 of 2. I was certain that they would cool off in the second half and they did, but they also got a lot more points in the paint and hardly missed any free throws in the second half. These guys are going to be dangerous in the tournament as they seem to have turned things around. Bernardo Da Silva was a beast last night and dominated both Rocak and Borra. This was their best game and after they beat both us and UCSD, the fans out here are pretty excited. I hope we can beat them in Davis.

Thanks. That's what I suspected, but I always go to the game here live. Those guys should then be Kanoa Leahy and Artie Wilson. Might be the best pair in the Big West, given that Bob Williams is not always with Scott Marsh.

Could someone do me a small favor and let me know the names of whoever does the ESPN+ broadcast from Hawai`i?

I hope so. Last year I was the only one! In the past, I've seen a few but never more than a dozen were apparent.

Thanks. I met him once before back in 2015, on a flight back to Sacramento after the Ags had lost to Hawai`i. Nice guy, very down to earth, but I'm sure he doesn't remember me.

I watched part of the Hawai`i upset of UCSD and was very surprised. The Rainbow Warriors held Bryce Pope to 10 points. I'll have more to say about Hawai`i once that game gets posted, but for now I can tell you all that I'll be at the game as a guest of Jim Les. I don't know him but I emailed the team to ask for a visitor's pass as a UCS alumnus and Coach Les wrote back himself, to my surprise and told me he would have two tickets at the visitor's gate.

A great thing about Eli is that even when he isn't scoring a lot, he still gives it all he's got on defense, assists, rebounding, not forcing his shot just so he can score. Looks like the Ags got this one. Mani time?

Ags have twice as many rebounds as the Titans (if they were real Titans that would be something) and more assists 10-3. Neither team is shooting treys very well, but it doesn't seem to matter, except that they're holding Pepper to 0 for 3.

Anyone notice that Rocak wins a very high percentage of opening tips?

Bet they wish they were back in the Big West. :)

This is kind of a sideways question but it fits this thread best. It seems that many conferences have "traveling pairs" to make scheduling of road games pretty easy. For example, the Pac-12 has Cal and Stanford, UW and WSU, etc. playing other pairs in any given week. I keep trying to figure out what the Big West does, but it doesn't seem like there is any such pairing. It would seem that UCI and Fullerton are natural pair, also UCD and Cal Poly, UCSB and CSUN, UCSD and CS-Bakersfield, then maybe UCR and the Beach, leaving only Hawai`i. Clearly this is not the case. Does anyone know if there is any kind of logic to the Big West schedule?

The TV guys get my vote for most annoying commentators in the Big West circuit. Hard to believe the color guy was a coach after what he said near the end of the game when the Aggies had to take the ball out near the corner: something along the lines of Cal Poly has to trap the ball now. That assumes that the inbounds pass will go to a man in the corner where it is easy to trap and I'm sure the players know that so they avoid it.

A lot of attrition for the Ags: Ade, TY and now Tamba. This ending is going to be a nail biter.

I think TY must have sustained some kind of chest injury since he came back in then had to go out again. Hope it's just a bad bruise.

Do you find the TV guys kind of amateurish? They use a lot of cliches, some not appropriately, and miss some of their spots on describing the action and who did what.

Ags came out very flat for the first 10 minutes and didn't improve a whole lot the rest of the half. Good thing that SLO missed a lot of bunnies so the score reminds me of a high school half-time score. Both team shooting just above 30% and it's not just because of good defense.

Anyone know what happened to Adebayo?

Here's some reasons I got from Reddit:

"D2 has different initial eligibility standards than D1, and those eligibility rules are such that there are players who are ineligible to play in D1 but are eligible in D2. So the waiting period is designed to allow the players who were recruited under the D2 rules to cycle out of the program."

"The rule is in place so that schools won't make knee jerk decisions. This prevents a school being in D2 and getting a good coach who lands some stars from being able to transition to D1 for when those players are seniors."

"The idea is to bring stability and ensure schools are committed to being at a level. They don't want a lot of teams moving up and down divisions. So schools are free to move up, but they have to be committed enough to go through the four year probation period."

"I think it has to do with how many scholarship positions/roster spots are allowed on D2 vs D1 teams. They give 4 years for them to meet those requirements and not have to kick players off the team, but make them ineligible for postseason play."

I have no idea who is writing these things, but they make some sense.

I vaguely remember Bob Williams mentioning the rationale for the waiting period but I can't remember what it was, just that it made sense.

Not just huge but from NBA range!