Late games of Dec. 21:

Omaha (5-9) 86, Cal Poly (away, 6-8/0-2) 82
UC San Diego (away, 11-2/2-0) 77, San Diego (3-9) 71
Portland State (7-5) 59, CSU Bakersfield (home, 6-7/0-2) 58

So, every higher seed won every game after the first round?

Well, the sad truth is that most teams have games like this. Note the Warriors recent loss to Memphis by 51 in which Steph Curry was 0-7 from the field. This is not to say that the team can just shrug it off. Coach Les' comments already indicate that he is going to give his guys the old chewing out over their sloppiness and lackadaisical play what with Big West play to arrive shortly. I think the Ags will be ready.

Early games of Dec. 21:

Duquesne (4-8) 70, UC Irvine (away, 10-2/1-0) 54
UNLV (6-5) 66, UC Riverside (away, 8-5/2-0) 53
CSUN (home, 8-4/1-1) 81, Chicago State (0-14) 57

It's gone from bad to ugly. I'm out.

65-33 and I'm tempted to just stop watching. Ags just had one of those days when the shots just weren't falling and the other team was having what might have been their best game this season, given that the Waves were 0-4 against the Big West before today.

Rocak is the leading scorer with 5 points on 2 for 3 shooting. Meanwhile, TY is 1 of 7 and Sevilla is 2 of 7.

Ags have had a tendency to start slow then rally and Pepperdine will likely cool off on offense, but being down 43-19 will require a historical comeback by UC Davis. I hope Coach Les can figure something out, but I think this is going to down as an L.

Ags should have gone to a zone and not a matchup zone. Waves are getting a lot of mismatches. Their height advantage also shows on their defense. Pepperdine players on full scholarship are saving $77,000 in tuition! No wonder they're playing well.

Ags off to a rough start, especially Leo who has 3 turnovers and a foul in the first four minutes.

Out of curiosity, I googled Russell Turner and found he's been at UCI since 2010. He had a rough start but turned it around in the 2012-13 season going 21-16 and a spot in the CIT. I was surprised, though, to see that he's only taken the Anteaters to two NCAA tournaments in 2015 and 2019, despite 8 20+ win seasons. It shows how competitive the Big West has been.

Games of Dec. 19:

UC Irvine (away, 10-1/2-0) 92, Belmont (9-3) 80
Long Beach State (away, 5-8/2-0) 79, Pepperdine (5-8) 76

Anteaters roll all the way in Nashville.

The thing about Niko is that he gets up so quickly. He usually wins the opening tip over taller players and opponents misjudge his ability to block their shots. Of course, his timing and body control make him a quintessential shot blocker too. The other thing about the Aggie players is that they have a high basketball IQ--something Steve Kerr also looks for.

Of the 16 missed free throws, TY and Tamba accounted for 11 of them. The rest of the team shot 17 for 22, 77.3%. So what Coach said applies to the individual, it wasn't a team epidemic of bricks.

Games of Dec. 18:

UC Riverside (home, 8-4/2-0) 83, Montana State (5-7) 80
USC (8-4) 90, CSUN (away, 7-4/1-1) 69
CSU Bakersfield (away, 6-6/0-2) 81, Portland (4-8) 64
Loyola Marymount (6-4) 60, UC Santa Barbara (away, 7-4/0-2 ) 58

The end of this game is a lot more tense than it should have been. 16 missed free throws!

It's a very sloppy game, but the Aggies are playing very solid defense to offset the offense, which is clicking on zero cylinders. The D clamped down on Mitchell, #14 after he hit 3 treys early and he's been shut down since then. Likewise for their top scorers: Mims, Mrus and Payne, who have only 2 points between them at the 15:38 mark in the 2nd half.

The good news: Ags are taking it to the hoop and drawing lots of fouls, 5 before the 15 minute mark. Bad news: they're 4 of 8 from the foul line. Other good news: Vandals are 1 of 7 from the floor.

Correction: According to ESPN, the Aggies are not hosting Idaho this week, but Idho. :)

Note that both Tamba and DeBruhl are both averaging in double figures now, plus Sevilla is scoring at a 9.2 clip. We were looking for who would provide offensive support for TY and this looks like decent support. No one was going to do what Eli did last year.