At the midway point of Big West Play, the Aggies head south for two critical games, first against UC Riverside. Quoting Big West Banter: “Mike Magpayo is the best hoops coach Riverside has had in their D1 history. As written, in the first three years he coached Riverside, they had a winning record, both overall and in Big West play.” Last year, the Highlanders had a decent season going 10-10 in Big West competition so with four returning starters, their expectations were high. This year they have had some disappointing losses including a loss away to Idaho, a loss at home to Hawai`i and being shellacked by UCI 81-57, albeit in Irvine. Now they come off a huge upset win over the Anteaters, plus a solid win away over Bakersfield which indicates they are much improved team. They’re now tied with UCD for third in the league.

Barrington Hargress is clearly UCR’s biggest offensive threat, averaging over 20 points a game, second leading scorer in the Big West after TY, the only player in the league with a higher scoring average. Last year at Riverside, the Ags were able to hold the then freshman guard to only 6 points. It will be much harder to hold him that low this year. UCR also has Joel Armotrading, the 6’ 10” center transfer from Cal Poly, who gathered in 13 rebounds against UCD in SLO last year. It should come as no surprise that he leads the Highlanders in rebounding at 6.8 rpg. contributing to UCR’s rank of third in the league in rebounds per game (38 rpg.).