Well, we came home from our 2 game road trip with a 1-1 record in which the team showed a lot of fight in both games. However, I actually thought our game our game against UW was the better outing of the two for us. Idaho led for nearly 90% of the game before the Aggies took advantage of Idaho's 2 big men fouling late in the game. The Ags finally took the lead for good with 3:27 to go in the game.

The Vandals couldn't miss from beyond the arc especially in the first half. Give them credit for draining those shots but we have to contest those 3's better. They simply got too many open looks from the perimeter.

Idaho returned 10 players from last year's team but they were only 11-21 last year overall and they were picked to finish 7th this year in the Big Sky by the Big Sky coaches and 9th by the media. So they aren't expected to be a contender in the Big Sky but you never know.

It's a good sign that the Ags played really hard in both games and never caved in when they got down by double digits but Jim Les teams always play very hard so that was to be expected. We also saw how much we are currently relying on TY to carry the majority of our offense which is both a great thing to see when he does it but it also is worrisome that he needed to carry a disproportionate bulk of the team's offense in both games. Our upcoming opponents will certainly take notice of how dependent we are on him and will do everything they can to slow him down including playing him very physical and throwing double teams at him. That should open things up a bit for some other players to score but, other than Tamba's best ever 17 points against the Vandals, we haven't seen where that offensive punch is going to come from.

I know it's extremely early in the season and we all know that Les is masterful at figuring out how to get the best from the talent that he has. It's also pretty common for us to have a rough time in the pre-conference schedule each year as Les likes to challenge his players against some tough teams early in order to get his them battle tested before conference play begins. It will be interesting to see how he puts the pieces of the puzzle together this year especially offensively and to see what he has in mind for a bunch of players who have yet to see any playing time at all.

FT's: Aggies 20-25 Vandals 15-25
Points off TO's: Aggies 25 Vandals 8

Our 3 point shooting so far this year is nothing to write home about. We were 6-27 at Washington and 7-27 tonight. So we are 13-54 after 2 games which is a paltry 24%.

Also, we've yet to see much playing time for the 4 transfers we brought in this year:
Carl Dougherty - 27 minutes total
Derek Sangster - 2 minutes total
Nils Cooper - 0
Jamaal Unuakhalu - 0

We also have not seen Jac Mani, Francesco Borra or Marsalis Roberson get any playing time.

I listened to the radio, post-game interview with Les and he said he was proud with how the team grinding it out even though it wasn't pretty. He said we made a lot of mistakes and we have of things to clean up. He wasn't happy with our 3 point defense. He felt we just didn't do a good job of contesting their 3's but gave the Vandals credit for hitting their 3's. It was also win #250 for Jim Les in his coaching career.

TY said he came back because "Coach Les is one of a kind...I'm also trying to pick his brain about basketball...he's like a father figure...not many coaches out there like that...he's the reason I decided to play here for my last year."

I think we got a big break when their two bigs fouled out. It wasn't a pretty win and we looked pretty ragged at times but we never quit and got the win.

Les preaches defense but it's nowhere to be found tonight...

We will not win this game if we don't start defending the perimeter. Idaho can't miss from 3 because we aren't making them take difficult shots.

11/5 games:

San Francisco 86 Cal Poly 78
Washington 79 Aggies 73

11/6 games:

CSUN 97 LeMoyne 75
San Diego State 63 UC San Diego 58

Spot on observation. Last year we had Pepper and TY carrying the bulk of the scoring but, so far this year, no one else but TY has really showed a good scoring punch.

Most of the offense is coming from TY again. He has 15 and Tamba is next with only 6. We can't just live and die by TY...

40-37 Idaho at the half. I don't think Les is going to be pleased with the Aggie defense especially our perimeter defense. Idaho is 9-16 for 56% from 3.

Oh how we are missing Pepper's 3 point shooting so far this year...

Really poor defense by the Aggies...not stopping the dribble drive and not rotating to the 3 point shooter...

Keep us posted, Mike. and help bring us back 3-0!

I liked our fight against UW especially given their size advantage. We looked ragged at times but I thought that, overall, we showed a lot of potential. Hopefully, things will go smoother tonight and we'll improve our 3 point shooting.

TY made a statement against the Huskies since he scored nearly half of our points against them. So he's most definitely going to be the focus of our opponents' defenses. We'll need to get some solid offensive output from a couple of other players to help take some pressure off him.

It's very apparent that Les has built a team with a defense first focus, which isn't all that surprising, and I thought our defense was physical and tough in the opener. Great defense will keep us in games when the ball isn't finding the net for us.

Go Ags!

The Aggies have not fared well historically against the Vandals:

Series History

The Vandals carry a 7-1 overall record and 4-0 at home against Davis. The Aggies earned their lone victory over Idaho with a 65-64 win at the Red Wolves Classic in Jonesboro, Ark. on Nov. 14, 2019.

https://govandals.com/news/2024/11/6/mens-basketball-vandal-hoops-prepare-for-home-test-against-uc-davis-thursday-night.aspx