I'd be fine with this too but I think that finding a quality opponent to replace this game could be tough. I would think that most teams have their schedules for the 2021 season already set.

I think we were up 9 with 24 seconds and barely hung on but a win on the road in this conference is huge regardless of how we won. Our first half was about as good a half of basketball we've had this season. The Ags were led by Manjon and Pepper...2 true freshmen...that bodes well for us...

Long Beach is making a big run as the Age turn the ball over...

Ags up 45-32 at the half largely due to 8-17 from 3.

What? 29 TO's and still won the game? That's crazy and lucky...

Song and Besselo still out with injuries.

Remarkable...thanks for posting this info.

I was watching this game periodically while watching the Niners. Sanders caught fire from 3 and hit 5 of them as the Ags sprinted out to a 24 point lead late in the 3rd quarter but then had to hang on as Hawaii cut the lead to 5 late in the game. This is a good win for this team after the disappointing loss at Riverside. I'm sure Gross won't be 100% happy with them nearly squandering a 24 point lead though.

The Ags shake off an ice cold first quarter and take a 10 point lead at the half 27-17.

We got off to a terrible start in the first 3 minutes and it seemed to set the emotional tone for us for the rest of the game even though we got within 3 late. We started the game with 4 TO's and had 6 TO's in the first 3 minutes. Riverside shot 64% in the first half so we were lucky to only be down 8 at the break. We don't have the size and quickness that they have and their defense disrupted us from getting into any offensive rhythm.

They were the better team tonight from start to finish. I think they could be a sleeper in the conference this year.

Ags trail 37-29 at the half. Riverside shooting 64%.

Anyone hear the radio interview with Coach Les?

Good point...and, losing to good teams doesn't hurt our RPI as much either...

I've found out that basketball scheduling is a lot more complicated that it seems it would be. The two biggest factors that influence who plays who and who goes where are 1) what will it cost? and 2) what will it do for our RPI win or lose. There is a 3rd factor unique to Davis also and that is how the Pavilion is managed. It's not under the administration of the Athletics Department and it is booked first come, first served. So there are often conflicts with the Pavilion's open dates and the dates teams are willing to schedule us and we can't hold a date for a team who is thinking about coming to Davis but is still working out their schedule. Once they have decided, the date they want may no longer be available. I've heard that Blue is working on this problem.

Our home court winning percentage works against us also. We are 54-15 at home for the past 6 years for 78.2% in the Pavilion. So we are winning nearly 8 of every 10 games in the Pavilion and we are 4-0 so far this season. Opponents know this and, since we often do not have a high RPI, they worry that they stand a good chance of losing on the road in Davis and, thus, their RPI can take a hit.

It's a bit of a Catch 22 for the Aggies: It's hard to attract good, non-conference competition to come here because we win 78.2% of the time in the Pavilion. So we end up playing fewer pre-conference games at home and have to go on the road a lot for those games where it is always tough to win. Then our RPI takes a hit when if we lose to teams that do not have great RPI's themselves. I guess the only way to really raise our RPI and reputation is to start winning against good competition on the road and practically run the table in the Big West.

We recently tried to schedule Sac for a home and home each year and Brian Katz did not want to do it. Also, the contract ran out this year for the Sac game to be played at the Golden One. Blue has been working to see if the contract can be renewed with the Golden One.

We will only have 12 out-of-conference games beginning next year with Bakersfield and San Diego joining he Big West which will give us 4 more conference games each season.

Les does like taking his team on the road during the pre-conference games because he does believe, like you stated, that it gives the team a chance to travel together, eat and sleep together and share the adversity of playing in tough environments. That said, when I spoke with him before the start of the season, he said he wants to play more home games especially against teams like UOP, St Mary's, Santa Clara, and San Francisco etc, but he said they are have trouble getting teams to come to Davis. They definitely did not want only 4 home games that included only two D1 teams. Hopefully, if we can continue to build a winning culture and raise our RPI, we'll be more likely to get those kind of games on a home and home basis.

Do you think that having only 4 home pre-conference, home games is by design? Why would we want to do that? No program wants to go on the road for 75% of their out-of-conference games.

I feel exactly the same way about this team. I often get frustrated in the early season with the teams that Les puts together: we generally lose a lot of the pre-conference games, don't look athletic or long enough to compete with the good mid-major teams, seem to rely on primarily on defense to win and can't seem to make baskets with a good percentage, but then we eventually come around, gel together and play pretty good basketball. I have to give Les credit. He builds very disciplined teams and gets a lot out of the players he's able to bring to Davis and his teams play as a team.

This year's team is very enjoyable to watch and I think the rest of the Big West is underestimating us. Our defense is solid and we play very hard from start to finish. Our offense is communing along nicely and we are play with better pace, good ball movement and more confidence. We will not be an easy out.

He looks like he would be a great addition to the Ags. The Aggie tradition of placing an emphasis on high quality academics might appeal to him too.

These kind of games also give the little schools a chance to play up also against tough competition in bigger facilities. The game counts as an exhibition game only for Holy Names but it counts as a win or loss for the Aggies so it would hurt the Ags' RPI severely if they lost. Sure, Holy Names was outmanned in this one but this is the 9th time these two teams have played each other so they know what they're getting into when they schedule us and they want to play us each year if possible.

Obviously, the Aggies have trouble getting teams to come and play us in the Pavilion. This year 12 of our first 16 games were on the road and only 2 of our 4 home games were against DI teams. Les would love to have more home games against good competition but most teams don't want to play us in the Pavilion partially due to the fact that we generally have a good home court winning percentage. It's not good from the perspective of Aggie fans but all the road games really toughens up the team and builds great chemistry and that's very apparent when you look at how far this team has come from being blown out in Chicago in our season opener.