I watched a good portion of the first half of LMU's loss to Riverside. LMU is athletic and has some good shooters and they will get out and run when they get a chance. I'm sure they are not happy with losing at home on a last second shot to Riverside after blowing a huge lead so they'll be very motivated to turn things around against the Aggies.

The Aggies win over Cal was impressive but the win over Cal Maritime left a lot to be desired. Coach Les was not happy with his team and I agree with him. We looked like a team who thought they could run away with the game just by showing up. There was a distinct lack of focus and intensity by the Ags for most of the game. The intensity and cohesive play that got us the win at Cal was missing against the Keelhaulers and, if we play like that against LMU, it won't go well.

I'm sure Coach Les has gotten his players gotten his players attention in the past couple of days and I'm hoping that we'll see the Ags playing with the kind of effort that we saw at Cal. This is a winnable game for the Aggies but only if we take the floor mentally prepared and play hard and focused on both ends of the court.

Coach Les was not happy with his team's performance despite the margin of victory.

“This was a step back,” Les said flatly.

“On defense especially, our intensity was just not there. We were not dictating play, we were reacting. It’s all correctable, but it was certainly not up to our standards.”

The casual fan might argue that such a letdown was predictable after the big win in Berkeley just two days prior, but Les rejected that notion.

“We have a certain expectation of how we want to play,” he added.

“Good teams have an almost businesslike identity, no matter who the opponent is. You have to bring it every night, know your job and do it. Otherwise, this game will humble you and there were times tonight when that’s what happened.”

“Our starters didn’t get us going and we just weren’t aggressive on defense,” Les noted.

“It’s up to us as coaches to teach them and correct that. You have to respect every opponent, but we didn’t show the maturity we would like.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/basketball-aggies-assert-superiority-over-keelhaulers/

UC Riverside beat LMU tonight 81-79. Zyon Pullin hit a step back jumper with 1.6 seconds left to win it for UCR. The Highlanders trailed 52-34 at the half but roared back and outscored LMU 47-27 in the second half to get the win. Great win for Riverside.

As will mine!

I think the Cal Maritime game was hard for the players to get mentally up for after the win over Cal. I didn't think we looked particularly sharp in our execution. We'll certainly need more focus in order to win at LMU though.

I hope Pepper and Adebayo are back in action for the LMU game. We'll need both of them.

Ags win 90-67.

ESPN+ has been a mess for this game...practically unwatchable...

Anigwe has played 13 minutes and has 11 points. Johnson with 16 in 12 minutes of PT.

Scott Marsh is saying T. Y. also so I think the Cal announcers had it right.

I hate to say it but this is beginning to remind me of the Academy of Art embarrassments...

ESPN+ is having a lot of technical problems. Also Live Stats is not working.

Ags don't look like they are mentally into this game. Tied at 14.

Pepper sprained his ankle in the final 2 minutes of the Cal game.

Sloppy play by the Aggies so far.

That's true so I changed the title of the thread.

From the Enterprise article:

“We have a really good team,” said senior forward Christian Anigwe, as if there were any doubters.

“We came to make a statement,” Anigwe added with a broad smile. “We’re not Cal’s little brother. This team has a real bond going. Our coaches prepared us well for this game and we all felt this was a game we could win.”

Asked where he ranked this win in his 12 years as Aggie head coach, Les demurred.
“I don’t really look at it that way,” he said.

“Maybe when I’m retired, I’ll look back and have an assessment like that, but right now it’s what it means for this team and all the hard work they’ve put in during practice. There’s not a player we had on the court tonight who didn’t contribute in a significant way. And believe it or not, when we look at the film, we’ll find a number of things where we can improve.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/basketball-aggie-men-take-down-cal-in-opener/

Cal coach gives credit to the Aggies and points out how well the Ags played together as a team.

Interesting post from the AGS Forum by a NDSU fan (Chalupa Batman):

UC Davis is probably one of the best 25 teams in the country, but their schedule hasn't done them any favors so far. They have played only really good teams so far, or really bad teams. Their 3 FCS losses are to teams currently ranked #1, #3, & #6 and a combined 24-2 against FCS teams (with those 2 losses by 8 combined points against the #1 & #3 teams). Their 5 wins are against teams a combined 9-29 against FCS teams (and 5 of those wins are among each other). Their schedule hasn't had any teams in the 20-50 range that would count as good/solid wins. It wouldn't change their playoff outlook if their wins were against better opponents but it would probably lead to them being ranked.

Of course next on tap for them are the #11 & #2 teams in the country. If Idaho wins out the Aggies will have played half of the final top 10. What a brutal schedule.

https://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthread.php?317165-AGS-Poll-Results-2022-SEASON-Wk-10/page5

I thought that DeBruhl looked good too. He hit a nice 3 pointer and, of course, he plays with a ton of energy. Was Joaquin Strong dressed for the game?

On thing that surprised me when looking at the box score was that we had 24 fast break points and Cal only had 2. It looks like we're going to play fast this year and run every chance we get. Cal held the edge on points off turnovers though 20-17.

I think your comments are spot on. We were the better team for the majority of the game. Both teams were shooting lights out in the first 10 minutes. We cooled off a little but Cal ended the first half shooting 56%.

I figured that Les would be telling his team that, if they are going to win the game, they have to do a better job on the defensive end. The game got a little bit ragged in the first 10 minutes of the second half and Cal surged to take the lead but our defense was great in the final 10 minutes and, I thought, that was the big reason we won the game.

Several things that really stood out to me:
1. Ty Johnson is very talented and athletic. He's going to be fun to watch this year.
2. Les has very good depth on this team and that's something that has been missing for a long time. I think we'll see him playing a lot of different players. I thought everyone who played last night contributed.
3. Anigwe has made huge progress in the off season. He's added the 3 point shot to his repertoire which makes him a tough match up.
4. I hope Borra heals up quickly. We need another big body to be able to help us defend the interior especially against teams that have a 7 footer at the post. We have a few of those teams coming up on the schedule. Rocak should help here also.