I'm going with the kids. Looking forward to seeing the Ags in person in a game that counts. There is a good write up on Chima in the Sac Bee. As always, he'll be the focal point of our offense, but we'll win or lose based on our defensive energy.

Go Ags!

Sac State hasn't beaten a d1 team yet this year, which makes them easy to overlook. It also makes them dangerous. I'd give the hornets the edge in this game if Marcus Graves weren't out for the season. He's a real catalyst on offense

My wife and I will be there. I like having the game at the Golden One Center each year since it means we don't have to play in the Hornets Nest every other year. The crackerbox Hornets Nest is a horrible place to play for any visiting team and their fans.

Playing in the vast space of the Golden One Center will present it's own difficulties for both teams. I imagine that the crowd will be very small and the arena is so big that players will undoubtedly have their troubles dialing in their shots with such a large empty space in the background. The attendance last year was pretty good because of the SDSU vs Cal game which followed the Ags and Sac State. I was hoping we'd have a double header this year too. Scheduling a double header involving both the men's and women's teams would be a good idea also. It would be a great experience for the women's teams and would draw a slightly bigger audience.

Sac comes into the game at 1-2 with a win over Notre Dame de Namur 74-53 and loses on the road to Colorado State 72-81 and San Francisco 69-56. They are led in scoring by their talented 6'7 SR F Justin Strings 16.3 ppg followed by 5'9 Jr G Jordan Tolbert, a transfer from Western Texas JC, at 14.0 ppg and 6'8 So F Joshua Patton at 10 ppg. Their star player Sr G Macus Graves is out for the year due to back surgery.

The young Aggie squad is still working out the kinks with so many new players on the roster. I thought their offensive rhythm and ball movement was better in their loss at Utah Valley. They are still searching for offensive consistency though. Both teams are very defensive minded so, add in the intensity of the rivalry, and I expect that we will have a very physical game that, hopefully, won't end up an ugly, foul laden battle.

There doesn't appear to be any TV coverage so, if you can't make it to the game, you'll have to settle for listening to the radio broadcast on KSAC 105.5 FM at 7 pm.

Go Ags!

My irrational fantasy for the future of MBB is that the Ags get popular and reputable enough that the Golden 1 Center is actually necessary for marquee OoC games due to capacity concerns at the Pavilion. Won't ever happen regularly but I could see it happening maybe once if the program keeps improving and someone like Gonzaga comes to town.

Really is annoying that a team with two undefeated home records in the last three years can't consistently draw even 3000. I'm sure there will be a boost this year for casual fans and season tickets but something has to be done to get the students to turn up.

I think the Ags win tonight but it will be close and anything can happen in a rivalry. Other players have to step up because Chima can't carry the offense every game. (Relatedly, isn't that what happened to UCSB the year we won the regular season? I remember reading that Alan Williams had the flu or something.) Won't be able to even listen but hopefully I can check the halftime score.

Sac and UCD seem to always play close games. Even last year at Golden One, if I remember correctly, we seemed to be in control for most of the game, but it was never a comfortable lead. I expect it to come down to the last few minutes again tonight.

Ags up 36-20 at half.

Ragged start early by both teams but the Aggie defense has been relentless. Most of the fans here are Aggie. Seems like 3/4 Aggie fans.

Is TuneIn working for anyone?

Sac on a 12-0 run. 37- 32.

64-47 Ags win.

Withstood the run and put it away. Chima struggled with shooting but he’s a rebounding machine. Nice win

Just got home from the game. Pretty nice crowd and the Kings staff do a great job making every spare moment fun with music and their fan cam. Good turnout of Aggie fans. We had 2 or 3 times the number of fans there compared to the Hornets fans.

This was a blue collar game from start to finish. Very physical and, as a result, very ragged for some long stretches. Both teams started off the game shaky and there wasn't much offensive flow going for either team but then the Aggie defense took over and held the Hornets to only 20 points in the half.

We led 36-20 at the half and then scored only 6 points in the first 12 minutes of the second half and broke down defending the 3 point shot. Sac hit a few 3's while we went cold and turned the ball over and Sac whittled the lead down to 2 points with 8 minutes to go. We were totally out of sync and then Goode fouled out early.

Then TJ Shorts took it upon himself to make something happen on the offensive end of things. He made a couple of quick buckets on beautiful, twisting drives to the basket, got a steal, hit his FT's and got the Aggie engine fired up again. He's going to be fun to watch this year.

Sac played Chima very physical with double and triple teams down low and he was getting banged around hard but there's no quit it him. I think that just makes him more determined. He had a bunch of shots just roll off the rim tonight but he was a monster on the boards.

AJ John is looking better with each game. He's starting to hit his 3's and he's getting rebounds and playing tough defense. I also thought Siler played well tonight. He's a beautiful shooter and nobody works any harder than Siler when he's on the floor. I'd like to see him put up a few more 3's when he's got an opening.

Delvion Jackson is only going to get better and better as he gets more playing time. He's struggling a bit offensively but he works hard on defense and made a couple of great assists. He's a strong kid with a muscular frame. I expect were going to see some big things from him in the future. I also thought that Arell Hennings gave us some good minutes tonight. He's a smooth and confident ball handler.

Garrison Goode fouled out midway through the second half. As usual, he played good defense and really battles on the boards. I think he is capable of contributing more on offense. I'd like to see him take the ball to the rim with more authority. He can really sky.

There are still a lot of pieces that need to find the right fit on this team but you can see the progress and the potential.

Always great to beat Sac. Good job Ags!

Good win. Clearly John and Jackson’s best game. Chima was frustrated at not getting some calls but still put up 19 pts and 15 boards. Getting better all the time.!

I love that Chima has an off night and still contributes 19 and 15. Bodes well for nights when his shots are falling like rain.

Siler collected his third blocked shot in the last two games - he's really a pretty complete guard. Great secondary defense as well - got a couple of swats while someone else's assignment made a move through the lane. Also got a "grade school strip" in the low box; y'know where the guy picks up his dribble and then turns in to the defenders area dangling the ball right in their lap and it's easy pickins.

AJ John is a stud. His hustle and effort last night were awesome. Hit the deck on a couple of occasions diving for loose balls, etc. Nice stroke from outside, and the body and determination to bang inside when he needs to. Great game for John and I look forward to more in the future.

Shorts had another game that gives me comfort that during the season he and Hennings will steer the offense well.

Goode causes trouble in the paint for the other team, but I agree with BGA that I would like to see his offensive production improve.

Jackson is a man-child. Still so young, but sooo talented. Just young and needs experience.

Questions moving forward:
- Can Mooney get enough minutes to hit his stride consistently? Good shooter, plays hard. His low minutes, however, make it tough for him to make many errors and stay on the court.
- Will Printup see the floor much? Got a sweet stroke from distance but I have no idea about his current defensive prowess given how little he's played this season. In his freshman campaign, he looked good offensively and fair defensively.
- Which "big" comes off the bench when the ranks get thin from foul trouble or otherwise? Russel or Strom?
- With his early season productivity will John crack the starting line-up over Onyebalu?

Totally agree with everything you wrote. Siler also takes at least one, if not several, charges each game. He is really good at reading the drive, getting his feet set, and taking the charge.

Regarding your questions:
-Mooney seemed a little tentative last night. I thought he was really getting comfortable with looking for his shot in earlier games, so maybe this was just one of those nights. We'll need his outside shooting when teams continually triple team Chima.
-Printup...honestly, I root for the kid, and he came into the program with a great shooting reputation, but the game just seems to be a little fast for him at this moment. He's going to be someone that will have to prove himself in practice before Les gives him any meaningful minutes.
-Russell is probably the next big guy off the bench. He has a little more experience playing at this level, so I'm guessing Strom red-shirts this year (barring any injuries to other "bigs").
-Good question about John. I think we won't see a starting lineup of Shorts/Siler/AJ/Chima/Goode unless we happen to be facing a very large opponent. Les likes Michael's defense (he had a couple of nice offensive plays last night, too) so we'll probably see him in the starting lineup for a while. But, we will be seeing John and Jackson coming in very early in games if the offense sputters out of the gate. And we also saw the Chima/Jackson/Shorts/Siler/Michael for a long stretch near the end of the game last night. That's a group that can really play tough defense and set up some big mismatches on the offensive side.

Looking forward to seeing how this team does against a couple of Pac-12 teams (UW and WSU) on the road. Go Ags!

Nice comments by both of you.

-I'd really like to Joe Mooney settle into being a solid player off the bench. He has a really nice looking shot and we need as much quality depth from the bench as we can get. I hope Les will give him some extended minutes, even if he's struggling a bit, so he can have a chance to work out the kinks and settle in. I think the potential is there but Les can have a quick hook when a player, especially a non-starter, makes a couple of mistakes.

-I was very impressed with AJ John last night as well. I love his hustle plays and he has a nice looking perimeter shot. The Ags will struggle to be successful if Chima is our only big player that can contribute consistently in the paint. So it's great to see how John is developing.

-It really fun watching Delvion Jackson coming along with more playing time. He very young and raw right now but, every game, he's adapting into the fast pace and physicality of the D1 game. I'm looking forward to seeing his 3 balls starting to drop as he gets more comfortable.

-Les is an intense, competitive coach and, judging by the number of his foot stomps, he has very little tolerance for turning the ball over and lapses on defense. That intensity can be mentally tough on new, inexperienced players and, actually, get in the way of their performance.

-It would be nice if Russell is able to contribute some quality minutes and, I agree, that Strom will more than likely redshirt.

We've got a couple of big challenges ahead at Washington and Washington State. We'll need to take care of the ball a lot better than we did last night against Sac....18 TO's...way too many.

Go Ags!

We'll see more Printup as soon as Coach Les gets back from Staples with the paper and cartridges X-)

Did you see the headline on the SAC State website ? "UC DAVIS uses late run to eventually beat men's basketball." Huh ? Odd phrasing.

Watching the SDSU/Sac game and Sac has 14 (!!!!) at the half

They look like a very sloppy basketball team, but maybe the late tip-off and SDSU's size are getting to them.

SDSU 63 Sac 22 with 13 minutes to go. Kind of takes the shine off the Aggies win where Sac was within 2 with 8 minutes to go in the game.

Kind of reminds me of us vs cal last year when it took a late run to get to 18 in the first half. SDSU is good and it’s really easy for things to snowball. That was the game where, when it looked like men v boys, that my wife said ‘ we’ll never win, we have too many man buns’

You know what would be really good right now ? A Wikipedia article about viejas.

Naming were bought by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viejas_Group_of_Capitan_Grande_Band_of_Mission_Indians

Oh, you had to go and spoil my fun with facts. I'm going to edit my last post so you look like a weirdo. :D

Hahaha...hilarious post!

Thank you. Almost makes me wish I hadn't edited it to make 6thman look silly...haha. Oh, what the flock ? I'll re- type it, albeit with different timing and a new fact I learned from Wikipedia about USD.

Anytime!