Kihei Clark, a 5'9 PG out of Woodland Hills, originally committed to the Aggies 2018 and then switched to Virgina. Virginia went on to win the 2019 National Championship in his freshman year. He played in all 38 of their games (35-3) and started in 20 of them including the national championship game.

There's a lot on the line for both teams tonight. It will probably be a nail biter.

Huge game for the Aggies. Need to get back on track and play really good basketball in these final 3 games so that we have some positive momentum heading into the BW Tournament.

The Ags should have no problem getting emotionally up for this game. The team will want to send our 5 seniors off with a win in their final game at home and the Ags have a good rivalry with Hawai'i. I expect this game will be a real dogfight and I think it will be a very physical game. The Ags will need to come out aggressively from the get go, seize the home court advantage and get the crowd into the game.

The predicted rain could keep some of the fair weather, Aggie fans at home but I'm hoping the magnitude of this game and the chance to see our seniors for the final time will motivate majority of them to make it to the game regardless of the weather. Our seniors deserve to be sent off with a big, appreciative crowd.

We need to win this game in a big way! Go Ags!

I've watched Ezra a few times in the past 2 years when Vandy has been playing on a nationally televised game. He's continued to grow and excel against top tier teams in the SEC. I was bummed when he left but he has certainly shown that he has talent to play at the top level of college basketball. Many players, who are lured away by the bright lights of playing on a bigger stage, end up riding the bench more than playing. That's not been the case with Ezra.

An Aggie lineup with Manjon, Pepper, Johnson on the floor at the same time would have been amazing. Can you imagine teams trying to slow down all 3 of those players at once? It would have been a nightmare for our opponents!

I think Eli has been pressing lately and has also been affected by the intensity of the smothering defenses teams have been throwing at him recently. Both have affected him and he has looked frustrated at times. I hope he relaxes a bit and finds his rhythm Thursday against Hawai'i.

I remember Les saying that Pepper had an offer to transfer last year to a big time program but he decided he wanted to stay at Davis and help win a championship for Les. It's not going to be easy for that to happen now but it certainly would be great if we somehow manage to win the tournament. I'd love to see the team and especially our graduating seniors get a chance to play in the post-season.

Thanks. I just saw that email in my inbox too.

It certainly looks like it will be a huge rebuilding year. We'll have a lot of talent to replace since we're losing Pepper, Adebayo, Milling, Manu and apparently Rocak too. Les will have to have an incredible recruiting year to fill the void left by these players.

Yikes, we'll be losing a whole lot. Where did you read about him leaving?

I wonder why Rocak is not staying to play another year? Is he graduating and simply getting on with his career?

I think we will see the Ags break out of their slump against Hawai'i. The Aggies and the Bows have a pretty good rivalry going and it's senior night for the Aggies. It will be the last home game for Pepper, Adebayo, Milling and Manu so the Ags should have no problem being emotionally ready for the Rainbow Warriors. I expect there will be a good crowd on hand also.

I was glad to see Les put Mani, Carter, Manu and Sevilla into the game in the final minutes when the game was out of reach. We've seen Sevilla a few times this season and he looks like he has a lot of potential to become a good PG and plays with a lot of confidence for a true freshman.

Manu saw quite a few minutes in the pre-conference games but, once the conference games began, Les has stuck almost entirely with DeBruhl, Tamba, Losé and Borra of the Bench. Manu plays hard and I like the energy he brings to the floor. I'm not sure why Les hasn't given him much playing time at all since the conference began.

We've heard a lot of praise from the coaching staff about the potential for Mani to be one of the best big men we've had in a long while. He has a beautiful shot from distance and has drained a couple of 3's in the few minutes we've seen him but he looks like he has a ways to good to get as strong and physical that he needs to be to play tough minutes in the interior. He could certainly develop in to a good stretch forward for us.

Carter has only seen 22 minutes total in 8 appearances this year but, in those few minutes, he has shown that he can shoot from beyond the arc with a beautiful stroke. The big question will be whether or not he will be quick enough to defend well against bigger and quicker guards. It will be interesting to see how he develops.

2/24 Scores:

Bakersfield 75 Aggies 56
San Diego 92 Irvine 88 in OT
Riverside 84 Cal Poly 78
CSUN 65 Fullerton 60
Hawai'i 73 Long Beach 65

Current standings:

In the post-game interview Les said, "Give Bakersfield credit...we got the butt kicking we deserved...they were the aggressor, dominated us on the boards and won nearly every 50-50 ball. We came out casual and didn't play with the energy or desire that we needed."

I think it's going to be a long bus ride home...

Ags get thumped 75-56. Dominating win by Bake.

We are not playing good basketball right now when, ideally, you want your team to be peaking prior to the BW Tournament. Unless we somehow stop the bleeding real quick, I don't see us winning any of our final 3 games.

I'm shocked at how quickly we have gone from playing pretty darn good basketball to playing so poorly. It will be interesting to here what Les has to say after this game although he tends to not show up for the post-game, radio interview when he's very disappointed with the team.

We were playing our best basketball when Eli and TY were scoring in bunches. We just don't have anyone filling the offensive void now that Pepper is struggling.

Eli can't buy a basket even when he's wide open. It's got to be mental at this point...going from such an elite scorer to barely able to score. I hope he finds a way to break out of this slump.

Ade is a great defender but he's never been a scorer. He will often make some good moves to get to the basket but struggles to finish. We see that with Tamba and Losé also although, lately, Tamba looks like he may be able to give us some offensive help.

I agree. Les often has a lineup on the floor that has very little offensive punch. I love good defense but you can't win on defense alone.

Bake is killing us on the boards. They have 13 offensive boards already. We don't match up well with their length and athleticism.

Ags down 33-26 at the half and not playing well at all. We've been in a rut lately, especially on offense, and it appears that we are still in it. Eli is off his game again too.