That's for sure!

North Dakota State defeated Montana 78-69 yesterday in the final game of the Basketball Travelers Mike Montgomery Classic in Missoula. All 3 teams, Aggies, Montana, and NDSU, ended up going 1-1 in the Classic.

Yes, unfortunately, the heaviest rain will fall between 7 and 3, although I don't think it will be drenching, but it will surely keep the attendance down.

The Big West Champion, UC Irvine, was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round losing to Loyola Marymount 4-2.

My wife and I were at that game but I can't remember what year it was. My wife gave up and headed for the car to listen to the game on the radio when they asked the fans to seek shelter. I stuck it out inside the stadium. I think we won that game..??

Hawaii 92 Niagara 73

Bakersfield 77 St Katharine 44
Central Florida 72 Fullerton 44

The worst conditions that I can ever remember for the Causeway was the 2000 game held at Sacramento City College Hughes Stadium. High wind and torrential, sideways rain had turned sections of the field into a shallow, muck filled lake with 6" of standing water or deeper.

The #2 ranked Aggies came into the game undefeated and were averaging 560 yards and 55 points per game. The wind and rain all but shut down our passing attack but JT O'Sullivan hit Onome Ojo with an 80 yard TD pass midway through the 3rd quarter and we eked out a 13-10 win.

"This was special," said Davis coach Bob Biggs, whose team has its best record since a 10-0 regular-season mark in 1996. "Not to have the weather in our favor, not to be able to pass the ball and have to pound it out. We had to not turn the ball over and let our defense play and that's what we did."

https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/davis-dumps-sacramento-st-in-rain-wind-3051072.php

Here is an eye-popping score from a game between 2 future Aggie opponents:

Nevada 88 Pacific 39 - Nevada was ahead 55-15 at the half and ended the game with a 51-27 rebounding advantage.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday will mark the 70th meeting between the two rivals as the Aggies boast a 46-23 all-time advantage. The two programs have played annually since 1954 with the exception of the pandemic canceled 2020 season. Last year the Aggies were edged, 27-21 at Sacramento. The series is tied in games played at UC Davis Health Stadium, 3-3. The Ags are 24-11 all-time as the home team.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2023/11/14/football-aggies-set-to-clash-with-sacramento-state-on-saturday.aspx

I really like the zone to man switching and, even if teams prepare for it, it's still going to be pretty effective since they have to adjust on the fly. I like the soft 1-2-2 zone press we use a lot also. It doesn't often get us a TO but it does burn 8-10 off the shot clock and then teams have only 20-22 seconds to figure out our switching defense. Pretty cool strategy.

I what triggers the switch and when we stay in the zone or not. Whatever it is, I think it took a lot of practice to get everyone in sync and on the same page with each other.

11/14 Games:

Aggies 69 North Dakota State 53
CSUN 74 Chicago State 64
San Diego State 88 Long Beach State 76
Irvine 70 #16 USC 60
Hawaii 82 Hawaii-Hilo 66

Irvine's upset of #16 USC is a big win for the Anteaters and the conference. It was a very physical game with neither team shooting well and USC was without their #2 & #3 scorers who combine for 35 ppg. Nevertheless, it was an impressive win for Irvine given how big and deep USC is.

Long Beach stayed within reach of a very talented San Diego State team. The Beach has lots of length and athleticism.

It must have been strange playing in such an empty arena. The official attendance was 71!

Missoula, MT. — Elijah Pepper scored a game-high 24 points to help lead the UC Davis men's basketball team past the North Dakota State Bison 68-53 at Dahlberg Arena Tuesday afternoon.

With his scoring contributions today, Pepper is now tied for second in program history for total career points, as he sits at 1,694 points, right alongside former Aggie great, Corey Hawkins. Pepper needs just 128 more points this season to become the program's all-time scoring leader.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2023/11/14/mens-basketball-pepper-scores-24-points-in-uc-davis-68-53-win-over-north-dakota-state.aspx

I agree. I think their smaller players were quicker than our taller players also. The Aztecs reacted to the ball much quicker.

I saw Sac do that against NAU also. They have speed in their WR's and their QB's can get the ball downfield with accuracy. Sac can be explosive.

I also think that we're getting some good minutes from Niko Rocak. The more minutes he gets, the more confident he's looking.

It looks like the team has enough bench depth that Les will be able to use a lot of players and get good contributions in smaller but significant doses.

It was a frustrating loss for sure but I though it was a significant improvement over the PSU game. I too wasn't impressed with their lack of blocking out and rebounding despite our height advantage. You have to give SDSU credit though. What they lacked in height they made up for with good shooting and aggressiveness. They're small but they've got some good athletes.

Yes, we certainly can use their size inside for sure. Bob Williams mentioned that the coaching staff is very high on Jac Mani so I'm anxious to see him in action.

Loved the interior defense and rebounding intensity — quadshock

Absolutely. We're not all that big inside so that interior defense and rebounding was just good effort and hard-nosed basketball.