https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/ucd-men-head-into-big-west/article_352193d4-a44d-11ee-b7f7-977d9a1a7ddb.html

After UC Davis dismantled UC Merced, 80-57, four days before Christmas, Aggie men's basketball head coach Jim Les predicted his team is ready to make some noise in the Big West Conference race.

"We're playing well and we're ready" noted Les as he begins his 13th conference campaign leading Aggie fortunes.

The Aggies bring a 5-6 mark into Thursday's 6 p.m. Big West opener against powerhouse UC Santa Barbara at the University Credit Union Center. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

UCD continues conference play at home Saturday at 2 p.m. against Cal Poly SLO.

It will be a "first and worst" weekend, given that UCSB won the conference tournament and NCAA bid last year, while Cal Poly was dead last in the Big West with a woeful 1-18 mark.

“ UCSB may well be the class of the conference again after posting a school-record 27-8 campaign in 2022-2023 and taking a No. 14 seed into the NCAA tournament before falling to No. 3 Baylor, 74-56.

The Gauchos return Big West Player of the Year Ajay Mitchell, a 6-5 junior from Limburg, Belgium, who is off and running this year with 19.8 points a game.

Santa Barbara has five players averaging in double figures, including 6-11 Auburn transfer Yohan Traore, who is at 15.7 points per game while hitting 64.8 percent of his field goal attempts.

UCSB brings a 7-3 mark into Thursday night's game, including a 69-65 win over Fresno State.”

Current standings after completion of the non-conference games:

Not sure when I'll be able to see this game, so I may be absent from this site for a day or three.

Just got our tickets. Assuming that the student section will be sparse, we plan on sitting in the first row. Go Ags!

The Vegas oddsmakers currently have the Aggies as only 1.5 point underdogs. I'm surprised that the spread isn't much larger to tell you the truth. I hope they know something that we don't!

I like how Milling has been getting his scoring going again. We will need solid points from TY, Pepper, and Milling. The Griz seemed effective in frustrating Pepper and getting him in foul trouble early.

If the Ags had any semblance of a scoring forecourt I'd be optimistic but I don't see this game being competitive unless our backcourt rules the floor. Using UC Merced as a benchmark seems disconnected from the world in which we're going to be playing. I haven't watched the team play since late November but I've followed the broadcasts. I think we're a 2nd division team, to use old-style speak.

Ags up 5 at the half.

39-34 Ags at the half. Pretty good defense by the Aggies and Pepper with 20. We’re having a tough time defending the 6’ 11 Auburn transfer, Yohan Traore, in the paint.

we’ve done a good job on Mitchell so far. He’ll come alive but so far defense has been good. Difference in intensity between out of conference and conference games is pretty stark.

Up 16!

Urgh, no points in 5.5 minutes. Ags up 10.

Ags are trying their best to lose this game

Bora fouls out, Ags up 8.

Just saw my recording of the game and finished it in real time. TY did a great job in denying Ajay Mitchell the ball. Mitchell only had 12 points and 3 assists. Meanwhile, UCD got 18 assists and a solid performance from Pepper who is clearly out of his slump (maybe it helps that he has the record now). The overall defense was outstanding, plus they had 7 offensive rebounds while holding the bigger Gauchos to only 2. Did you notice that the Ags were making their free throws?

This was a great, total team win by the Aggies 76-62.

The Aggie defense was outstanding tonight. UCSB came into the game averaging 83 ppg and we held them to just 62. The Ags forced 16 TO's which led to 22 points off TO's. We also had 9 steals, 5 blocks and 7 offensive boards. Offensively, we had good ball movement, 18 assists and shot 46% overall and 73% from the line...only 6-20 from 3 though. This game was a perfect example of how the Aggies need to play to be a contender in the Big West.

Fun game tonight great energy on defense and good ball movement on offense. Great way to start the conference season

TY only had 9 points tonight but he dished out 10 assists and his defense really disrupted AJ Mitchell's game. That's the most assists by an Aggie since TJ Shorts had 11 back in 2019.

Super fun game last night. Mitchell was totally frustrated. But the overall theme was a solid team effort by the Ags and our big guys were effective in the paint. Loved it!

FROM HEAD COACH JOE PASTERNACK

"Tonight was a tough game for our team. It's hard to win on the road when you get 16 turnovers and only seven assists. I will give credit to UC Davis, they out-rebounded us 35 to 30. Defensively, giving up 76 points on the road is not a recipe for a victory."

https://ucsbgauchos.com/news/2023/12/28/mens-basketball-traore-mitchell-lead-scoring-in-62-76-loss-to-aggies.aspx

Taking nothing away from the Aggies effort, it did seem like the Gauchos were out of synch a lot: making bad passes, not going to the boards very aggressively at either end and going 15 for 23 from the charity stripe. I suspect they'll be very pumped up when we go down to Santa Barbara on Feb. 1.

The Gauchos certainly did not play like the team I was expecting to see given the talent they have. However, I think a whole lot of them being "out of sync" was due to the excellent Aggie defense.

We couldn't stop Traore but we pretty much shut down the rest of the team. UCSB came into the game with 5 players averaging double figures and the Aggie D limited them to just 2 players in double figures. Mitchell was averaging 19 ppg and we held him to just 12. The Gauchos also had a +9 rebounding advantage per game and we out rebounded them by 5 boards. It was just a great whole team effort by the Aggies.

During one of the commercial breaks yesterday, they showed footage of the Varsity Theater in downtown Davis. I'd forgotten about that place. Man, it sure brought back a lot of fond memories.

I rewatched the game and saw that nice shot. Varsity shows more artsy-ish films in general, with good gelato in the lobby. FYI, Davis is back down to two theaters, Varsity and the regal on F st. The one on G street closed earlier this year.

Did anyone notice how often the Gauchos' head coach, Joe Pasternack, would actually go 5 or 6 feet into the court during the game. I've never seen a coach go that far onto the court and not get a technical or at least get a warning. At one point, he was went onto the court not far from the baseline and jogged up towards half court while yelling instructions to his players. The official nearly had to push him out of the way to get by him. I can't believe the officials allowed that.

Yep, I noticed that as well. I see coaches do that in my grandson’s traveling league. I wonder what the rule book says about that?

I was yelling at the ref about how far Pasternack was on the court, which he ignored of course. Pasternack did get a T for arguing the Lose block (which was clean). He is definitely a coach that is fun to root against.

Most coaches routinely step into the court or go past the black line that they are supposed to stay behind near the scorer's table but they don't go 6 feet onto the court, waving their arms and shouting at their players. It's ridiculous how the officials repeatedly allowed that.

The old Band-uh! had a "Siddown Coach!" cheer for those situations.