Looks like we're in for another tough, physical basketball game...4th game in a row for us...hope we some gas left in the tank!

Long Beach was hitting hitting shots from everywhere against Irvine. I hope they don't do that against us. We won't be able to give them room beyond the arc while betting that they'll shoot a poor percentage.

Totally agree. I hope we get slotted in the play-in round if we win the Big West Tournament. At least we'd have a chance to win a game.

And we CANT get killed on the boards. — DrMike

Long Beach has big advantage on the boards with their length and quick athleticism. I don't think we can win the battle of the boards but, like you said, we just can't get killed on the boards. They were able to get offensive boards in our previous games with them by simply going over the top of us with their length even when we had 2 or 3 players in good position for the rebound.

It's going to be tough to go inside on them also. They have the ability to swat a lot of shots at the rim so we need our shooters to be on target from the outside. We could see them using a box and one to slow down Pepper so we really need Milling and Johnson to shoot a high percentage to help take some of the pressure off Eli.

Long Beach will be emotionally sky high. They finished the regular season losing 4 of their last 5 and then Monson got let go so they feel like they have something to prove and, of course, they want to win a championship for Monson as his swansong. I've watched several of their games this year and they got slapped with a few technicals for taunting and trash talking. We need to be careful and not let any of that stuff get to us and take us out of our focus of playing smart basketball and keeping our heads cool.

Defensively, we have to be disruptive without getting into foul trouble. Les preaches that good defense leads to good offense and it's true. If you look at the Hawai'i game, for example, when our defense was solid and disruptive, our offense was on fire and, when we started having defensive breakdowns or committed TO's, our offense stagnated. So it's imperative that our defense is locked in and disruptive and we take care of the ball.

The Beach has looked scary good in their last two wins over Riverside and Irvine. We may be the #2 seed but I think we're the underdog in this one given how they're playing right now and how difficult it is to match up with their length and athleticism. The crowd will be decidedly bigger for them also. We'll need to have our A game going from the start to finish. Go Ags!

I mean beautiful basketball into the most careless basketball I have ever seen. We are LUCKY… — SoCalAggie

Took the words right out of my mouth...

Unless, of course, he scores 50 tomorrow. — Toke69

Wouldn't that be something...

All I can say is that we survived but the way we lost those big leads in both halves and nearly threw the game away with TO's in the final 3 minutes makes this win feel kind of hollow to me. I'm happy we won and happy for the team to play for a championship regardless.

We came out firing hot and were playing outstanding defense. We built a 16 point lead and then had some defensive breakdowns and missed some easy shots while letting Hawai'i seize all the momentum. That was a discouraging...

The athleticism and length of LB is as scary as is the size and depth of Irvine.

#4 Long Beach 47 #1 Irvine 38 at the half in a really good basketball game. The Beach is playing inspired basketball. They look like the team that beat Michigan early in the season right now.

Great win for the Aggies! This team has grit in spades...winning 3 games in 3 days is grueling but we need one more!

Turning the ball over on that 5 second call nearly doomed us. I couldn't believe Mazzie or Jen didn't take a time out before turning it over. Then we dodged the bullet when Wahinekapu misses both FT's and Mazzie steps up and makes both of hers.

On to the Finals!!

The telecast zoomed in on her at one point when she was on the bench and she was in tears with her arm in a sling and ice on her shoulder. I like her fearlessness and energy. She plays hard with some attitude and it can give the team a boost

The #1 Irvine vs #4 Long Beach will be an intense battle between these two rivalry schools especially now that The Beach wants to win so badly for Monson.

I was able to watch the game on replay after skiing yesterday. Like you said, it wasn't pretty but the Ags move on.

It was a very physical game. I was happy to that the Aggies matched the tough, physical play of the Mustangs. Poly was aggressive and their defense was very tough and the officials were letting the teams play. We handled their pressure pretty well but those unforced TO's mostly due to lazy, telegraphed passes hurt us too often.

I didn't like the no call on the play where Baker got injured when she ran into a rock solid screen. It looked like the Poly player extended her folded arms and gave Baker a bit of a forearm shiver. I think they should have reviewed the play to seer if it was flagrant. The same official who made the no call rang up Norris later in the game for setting a screen that involved much less contact. Unfortunately, Baker's injury looks serious so she may be out now.

Epps had perhaps her best game as an Aggie. She really starting to come on.

Mitchell had a tough time in the OT period. He didn't score and, during a 28 second stretch from 3:24 to 2:56 to go in OT, he missed 3 straight jumpers.

CSUN 87 Santa Barbara 84 in OT. This was CSUN's first BW Tournament win 2014.

Many people thought Santa Barbara was the team to beat in Big West in the pre-season predictions. On paper, they were as loaded but, it goes to show, that there's a whole lot more to building a winning team than the sum of the players' resumes on the roster.

#7 Long Beach 90 #6 Santa Barbara 75

#5 Riverside 83 #8 Bakersfield 78

Nice win for the Aggies! I've been skiing all day so I'll have to watch it on replay.