Bonus: the downtown store finally had a t- shirt in my size ! Almost got the cow- tipping one but I'm not country enough to make that work. Not quite Billy Bob from Varsity Blues. But it's funny. Some guy in front of me asked if they had other sizes in the back and was informed that no, they did not. There was no option to order provided.

This game was a tale of two halves. If there really is such a thing as a finals hangover it was on display in the first half this game. The Ags came out flat as a pancake and had little energy. They were being out hustled and out played on both ends of the floor. UCF was the aggressor from the start and the Ags failed to match the Knights' energy and dug themselves a very big hole down 21 points at the half. It's like the team was playing in a daze.

A minute and a half into the second half the Ags were down 25 and looked dead in the water. With 4 minutes gone in the 3rd quarter they were still down 23. Jen Gross knew she needed someone to step up and bring some life to the team. She also needed someone match the Knights' athleticism and aggressiveness. Nina Bessolo and Cierra Hall did just that. Their defensive pressure started forcing turnovers and shots started falling for the Ags. Morgan Bertsch had been getting pretty much manhandled by the Knights' 6'3 Fr post, Masseny Kaba, and suddenly she got determined and more aggressive too.

The energy that Bessolo and Hall brought to the floor ignited the entire team and the Aggies woke up. They battled back and got as close as 5 but the hole was too deep and they lost for the first time this year.

In some ways this game may be a blessing in disguise. The Ags now know that you have to be ready to play against teams that have good talent no matter what their record looks like. They got beat because they were not the aggressors in the first half. UCF was and the Ags were hanging their heads when the shots weren't falling and Knights' lead kept growing.

When you play with energy on the defensive end it carries over to the offensive end. That wasn't happening in the first half. The Aggies would have won this game by double digits if they had played the first half like they played in the final 16 minutes.

I'm sure the team is disappointed and are not happy with the way they played in the first half. So now the unbeaten streak is over and they need to regroup and then head up to play their toughest opponent of the year, Oregon State, next Wednesday, and, you know what, they just might be even more determined after the way things went tonight.

By the way, there was a really nice size crowd today which was nice to see. Too bad it took the Ags so long to wake up and make a game out of it. In the end it was a great effort to come back from being so far down.

Being that this was my first time seeing this group of student- athletes play basketball I'd say Bertsch reminds me of Aggie great Janae (sp ?) Henning, albeit possibly a bit more athletic. I think they're about the same height too. That 1998-99 team had so much basketball talent that Henning was only getting garbage minutes at the ends of blowout wins as a freshman. Luckily that was almost every home game, so she was able to step right in and start in 99- 00.

That's what I'm talking about for baseball. The team has to find more opportunities for younger players, especially pitchers. It's not like they're in the playoff hunt and can't afford mistakes. It should be mandatory in blow- out games (either way.) that a freshman pitches the last 1- 2 innings. The basketball teams have this sort of continuity planning down. Let me just say there should never be seasons when you end with more questions than you started. How many basketball seasons do we have when we have absolutely no idea who might start (even allowing for newcomers)at a given position the next year ? Just about none, right ? You always have some idea. Football ?

I see what people are saying about lack of leadership in the Aggie Pack. The emcee for timeout promotions was some random female student. Didn't have a sign or a costume. I don't even think she even introduced herself. It was like, "I have a microphone. That means you have to do what I say...or not". What was her character ? Random Woman in Drab- Colored Outfit ?

I have to say I don't care for that playground on the upper level. I'm just walking along slowly and * Pow* this kid sprints from the playground at my far right directly into my path. I checked to see if he was ok, but he's lucky he ran into me, as he could've fallen down the stairs as fast as he was going It took his old man over a minute to get there. That's terrible parent response time. A millennial, no surprise. Was probably watching YouTube videos instead of his kid. A child that small cannot be allowed to just wander around.

Coach Gross must have given orders to to hit the locker room immediately. following the game. I have rarely seen players on the second level, and when I have it's a couple of the men heading to their locker room in preparation for the second game of a dh. I gave Cierra Hall a "Good game !" as I passed. She was gracious enough to say thank you.

Well, Goags20172, I'm glad you at least got to see the Aggies make a run at UCF because the first 24 minutes of the game were the was the most lackluster play I've seen from them this year. I've seen them go through stretches where the shots weren't falling as all teams do but, when they would go through a short stretches like that, they made up for it with solid play on the defensive end.

Yesterday, however, when they got behind early, I saw players hanging their heads, failing to hustle back into good defensive position, standing around the basket flat-footed instead of aggressively blocking out and going hard for the rebound and playing tentatively instead of playing with focused determination. None of this kind of play has been characteristic of this team this year.

UCF was a quicker team overall and, when you add in a lack of aggressiveness from the Ags, that's a recipe for getting blown out. I thought Jen Gross could have dialed up the pressure on defense earlier in the first half instead of waiting until the second half to start double teaming the ball and applying pressure at mid-court. When the Ags did start making a run it was because of the defensive pressure and rebounding assertiveness by Bessolo and Hall which sparked the team, but coming back from 25 down with only 16 minutes left to play was just to much.

There were times on the offensive end when we had a chance to push the ball and get out and run but we often pulled up or passed up a quick look and settled into our half court offense. When that happened the Knights defended the perimeter well with their quickness. Run and gun is not our style but I would have liked to have seen us try to penetrate and kick the ball out before UCF got a chance to get set in their 2-3 zone. Morgan Bertsch has wonderful, quick spin moves in the paint but she was off her game in the first half too and was missing shots that she normally cans.

The strength of the Ags is their togetherness, maturity, smart play, and good depth. They do not, however, have exceptional overall team quickness and speed and that makes teams like UCF a tough match-up for the Aggies.

How will the Ags respond to this disappointing loss. Jen Gross had this to say after the game: "The biggest adjustment that we had to make was that we had to play with a lot more fight," Head Coach Jennifer Gross said. "We were a watered down version of ourselves in the first half and I think the players felt that. However, I was really proud of our group for responding and playing with a lot more fire in the second half. Every game, win or lose, we're going to learn from it and use it to make us better."

More comments from Gross here:

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/121717aab.html