Proud team effort after a lackluster first half that's for sure.
I loved those confident 3's from both Leo and Christian. We need that kind of offensive support for Pepper who's going to continue to draw a crowd every time he touches the ball. Christian had 5 blocks also...wow!
I listened to Les in the post-game interview. He said he was proud with how hard the Ags kept fighting and their resiliency. He also acknowledged how Pepper keeps finding a way to score despite teams concentrating on stopping him. He said that Pepper is getting bumped and grabbed a lot and he would like to see him get the respect he deserves and get the fouls called when he's getting grabbed and pushed around.
Irvine is a solid basketball team on both ends of the floor and they've got plenty of depth. Their ball movement, especially in the first half, was outstanding and their interior passing is excellent. I think they are the best team in the league overall.
This was a very poorly officiated game. Lots of non-calls when there were clear infractions and calls when there was nothing there. At least (unlike the Super Bowl) none of them affected the final outcome as the refs made bad calls both ways and none at the end.
I feel bad for the team. This was their third loss by one lousy possession. Three plays made the difference versus UCR, the Beach and today. We could have been 11-4 and in second place. I know--what's done is done. Gotta move forward and hope that they can get healthy and win the tournament somehow. I agree that they don't have the talent some other teams do, but no other team has this much heart.
Looks to me like catching LB is our only chance. Every one ahead of us has 2 easy games, Fullerton too big a lead. Not sure what tiebreaker might be if we split with LB and end up tie
Hawaii 70 Long Beach 67 (LB barely misses a half court shot at the buzzer)
Riverside 74 Santa Barbara 63 (First time ever that Riverside has swept SB)
Fullerton 83 Poly 62
San Diego 75 CSUN 62