Comments from Coach Les:

Aggie coach Jim Les, who picked up his 300th victory between coaching stints at Bradley and UC Davis, was high in his praise of Anigwe.

“I challenged him before the game that we need him to be a double-double guy for us,” Les said. “He has such great versatility, and when he plays like that it gives everyone a little more confidence.”

“I loved our start,” Les added. “Our attention to detail and our aggressiveness on defense was impressive. We set the tone right at the beginning. The challenge, of course, is to maintain that edge from starters to bench and back to starters.”

“I really like this group,” he said. “They’re allowing us to coach them and they’re practicing well and performing well in games. I’m not going to say I’m surprised because there’s a lot of ability there.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/uc-davis-mens-basketball-tops-eastern-washington-coach-les-picks-up-300th-win/?utm_source=DE&utm_campaign=0b90d2e7a0-Daily_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_be64fee185-0b90d2e7a0-171004309

I thoughts the refs took over the game in the second half and destroyed the flow and rhythm of the game for both teams but especially the Aggies in the final 10 minutes. I really do not like it when officiating crews do not allow the players to play. Basketball is not a non-contact sport. Of course, the refs can't let the game turn into free-for-all but every bump and touch doesn't warrant a foul and the refs turned the second half into an interminable march to the FT line.

There were several offensive fouls on the Aggies where the EWU players were obviously flopping to sell the charge and the refs bought into it. Flops are supposed to be a focus this year since there has been so much flopping and refs often react to the defensive player going down without having a clear view of the contact that would warrant a charge. This officiating crew needs to review the difference between flops and legitimate offensive fouls before they officiate another game.

Last night's great game between #4 Villanova at #2 UCLA was a great example of an officiating crew letting both teams play physical basketball while keeping the game under control. It's the way the game should be played, IMO. No one enjoys hearing whistle after whistle especially when the fouls being called are so inconsistent.

Pint the Wonder Dog is retiring and will be honored today too:



https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/wonder-dog-for-aggies-football-set-to-retire/?utm_source=DE&utm_campaign=0b90d2e7a0-Daily_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_be64fee185-0b90d2e7a0-171004309

How cool is that! I'm super proud that the Ags are doing this!

Wow...the hazing was much worse than I could have ever imagined and it reportedly has been going since as far back as 2009/10. Truly shocking!

They took us to us on the boards in the second half though. They ended up with 51 rebounds to our 41 and they had 20 offensive boards to our 12. They have a height advantage and we battled but 20 offensive boards is way to many. We did a better job against Utah State 41-41.

We definitely want to beat either both EWU and Sac or at least one of them so we don't either up with this kind of geographically biased, predicted bracket:



https://herosports.com/fcs-football-2021-playoff-predictions-10-bzbz/

You could take in the women's game and then have a couple of hours to poke around the campus before the football game.

Here is someone who thinks the Ags are a lock regardless of how they do in their final two games:



More playoff possibilities here:

https://www.missourivalleybeat.com/post/pre-week-11-fcs-playoffs-snapshot

Caleb showed his frustration with his shooting when he finally hit a 3 and then threw his hands up like he was saying to himself, "Finally, thank God!" He's 1 for 9 from long range so far this year. I think he'll turn it around. Hopefully, Kane Milling will start hitting from the outside also. That is supposed to be his strength. Lots of frustration to spread around since no one has shot well from distance so far.

Nice...a bike ride down memory lane with your son.

I really liked our energy, hustle and defense in the first half although our perimeter shooting was not good. EWU's zone gave us problems offensively in the second half and we couldn't buy 3 point shot. It's tough to break a zone down against a team with superior height inside when you can't hit from the outside. Then there game got ragged in the final 10 minutes with lots of fouls and poor FT shooting.

We have not shown that we can hit the 3 so far this year. We are 12 of 47 for 25.5% from beyond the arc. We're going to see a lot of zone until we can establish that we can be dangerous from the perimeter.

I feel like we have more depth this year and can get some solid contributions from the bench. It's nice to see Murphy getting minutes. He's battles tough inside. McGill is coming along nicely this year and he looks like he could become and inside/outside threat. DeBruhl is young but you can see the talent is there. He plays hard and he's going to continue to get better as the year goes along. He'll be able to give Manjon a breather and we'll be able to have a different look with both of them in the game on occasion.

We finally saw BJ Shaw for a couple of minutes today but Cameron Ba hasn't played. I'm not sure what's going on with those two.

We've got work to do but a 2-0 start is promising.

Five resignations counting the spring,,,that a lot of unhappy coaches who were originally hired by Best. EWU might be better served if Best resigned...

:rofl:

I’m at the game. The Aggie defense have been outstanding. Very aggressive with active hands and the help is there when a player gets beat. Impressive.

The feeling I get from the quotes from Hawkins and Coombs is that they know it going to be very tough to beat EWU but, if we can keep it close, then we have a chance. They both realize just how explosive EWU's offense can be and how good EB3 is.

I think this is a game that could get away from really quick if our defense simply can not contain EB3 and get off the field and allow our offense to not always be playing catch up. The Ags have never beaten the Eagles (0-9) and we will need to bring our best effort of the season plus a bit of luck to finally win one against them.

Hawkins on Barriere and EWU:

Dan Hawkins says Eastern Washington quarterback Eric Barriere may well be the most productive football player in the
country at any level.

“He’s the best player in the FCS and maybe all of college football,” said the UC Davis head coach. “He’s arguably the best player I’ve ever coached against, and I’ve coached against five Heisman Trophy winners. He’s super explosive and throws a very accurate pass. He’s also a gifted, gifted runner and is tough to handle.”

“They have been the gold standard in our conference for a long time,” Hawkins added. “They always are at or near the top and they have won a national championship. It will be a challenge to try to stay with them. If you beat them, it will be close.”

“Our guys continue to show up and work hard,” he said. “They’re obviously mindful that this is a momentous game for us, but I still think we haven’t played our best football yet. We just have to figure out a way to slow down their offense and somehow break serve.”

That task falls to UCD defensive coordinator Matt Coombs, who notes simply, “We’ll have our hands full for sure.”

Added Coombs, “Barriere is as good a player as there is around. You have to be smart if you pressure the passer because he is so elusive and can hurt you with his feet. He’s really smart and great at diagnosing where your coverage is coming from.

“It’s a great challenge, but our guys have worked hard to put themselves in a position to play in these types of games. They’re excited for the opportunity.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggies-preparing-for-the-eagles/

San Jose State beats Fullerton on an 8 foot jumper at the buzzer 78-76. Tough loss for UCR after coming back from 16 down to tie the game in the final 2 minutes.

UC Riverside upsets Arizona State 66-65 on JP Moorman's 3/4 court shot at the buzzer. Moorman is a SR 6'7 transfer from Temple. Riverside looked solid the whole game. Great win for the Big West.

Thursday games:

Riverside at Arizona Stater 6:30 pm PAC12 Network
Fullerton at San Jose State 7 pm Mountain West Network
Northern Colorado at Hawaii 9 pm ESPN+

Friday games

EWU at UCD at 2 pm ESPN+
NDSU at Cal Poly at 2 pm ESPN+