Holy Names is an NCAA Division 2 school located in Oakland, who has played UC Davis with some frequency but with little success over the last few years (in 2020, the Ags won 101-41). They are a member of the PacWest Conference which features teams from Hawai`i and California. This season they are 34-6 with one common opponent with UCD: California Maritime Academy, whom they edged 84-81. Their main scoring threat would seem to be L. J. Smith who hits 45% of his 3 point attempts, but they have very balanced scoring with five players averaging double figures, three with higher averages than Smith. I hope this will be a W, but the Ags might be a little rusty, while the Hawks will have played a home game the day before. For what it’s worth, ESPN gives UCD a 99% chance of winning; a rate I don’t ever remember seeing. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
I'm not a big fan of these kind of games. I feel like Holy Names has everything to gain and nothing to lose and it's just the opposite for the Aggies. Games like this are hard to for the players to get emotionally ready and focused to play hard. We could be a bit rusty coming off a long layoff for finals and I expect that the crowd will be small as well. Holy Names be fired up for the opportunity to pull a big upset and we all know what can happen given our past history with The Academy of Art. These kind of games can be a trap.
I hope we're ready to take care of business tonight and put this game away early. It would be nice to see the whole bench get a lot of playing time. Go Ags!
Hopefully Bora and/or Mani are health enough to play. And we haven't seen Sam Manu or DeAndre Henry play much at all recently even though I think they are healthy...might be nice to get them some playing time. I'll probably just stream this one and wait for our next home game (1/5 against UCI). Go Ags!
19-2, Aggies in the first 4 and half minutes. Holy Names is no match in either size or speed with UCD. This reminds me of the days of the Far West Conference when we wold play Div. I teams and the game would effectively be over in the first 10 minutes.
Ags don't look rusty or over-confident, but nice to see them hitting their free throws (81%), especially Anigwe who is 4/4. Note that Ags hold a 29-8 rebound edge and a 8-1 assist edge. Bob Williams, however, made a good point about the last game played by the Hawks, a tough 92-91 win over a league opponent, Chaminade College of Honolulu, only last night. They're not only over-matched, they're probably a bit tired.
I think Henry can give us some help in the middle especially with Borra still out. He's a wide body and is physical. He has a nice stroke on his shot also.
I thought that might be the case. Keeping everybody well is not easy right now with the flu on the the increase, Covid still lurking and that respiratory virus on the rise. Almost makes me want to stay home!
Hard to be critical after a solid performance, especially with a lot of bench time. But, passing at times was getting sloppy. We got away with it against Holy, but better opponents would eat up those wild passes.
You're right agalum. You could see the team getting lazy with its passes and defense about midway through the first half. I'd bet that coach Les chewed the out the first chance he got. The Hawks did take some advantage of it, but they lacked the ability to do what Boston U. did back in Milwaukee.
seems like the turnovers came in spurts. not sure if we lost focus, or just that we were playing different combinations. we went the first 5 minutes without one, and then had 5 in the next 3 plus minutes. another bout of 3 in 2 minutes midway through the 2nd, and 3 in the last 90 seconds! Both TJ and Leo were pressing (4 each). I think its easy to get sloppy in a game like that where it seems so easy -> start trying to do things out of character that (hopefully) you don't try against a better opponent.
Like seeing Henry out there (i had to look him up!). Rocek improves every game. Beasley is just a really solid player - 18 points, 6 rebounds, zero turnovers. And his outside shot looks much better.
We do need the other 2 big guys out there for BW play.
Took a look at Ezra manjons stats at Vanderbilt. Despite playing and mostly starting a lot, his stats are not that impressive yet. Team is 5-5. He is averaging 6.4 Points a game. 1 for 10 in threes. Sure wish he was still with us.
That's too bad. Small private schools have really been hurt by the pandemic. I hope they'll find a good use for the campus + not let it go to heck. The Aggies used to play Bethany College in WBB, and it closed.