So the stars have aligned for the Aggies and we now control our own destiny for the the Big West Championship.

I'll tell you what. I could not be more proud of this group of Aggies after the huge disappointment of losing Chima. They have played their hearts out in every game when they could have easily hung their heads and caved in. We're not the same team without Chima but we've become a very good team without him also.

It was tough tonight to see Chima walk onto the floor arm and arm with his mother and his two brothers. He was embraced warmly by Coach Les who then gave him the framed montage of photos that each senior got. The crowd was on their feet and the ovation was long and that's when Chima just broke into sobs along with his mother. I'm so happy that the Aggie fans acknowledged Chima the way they did because this has been very tough for him and the team and it showed tonight. You could see that there is a lot of love for Chima from his teammates and they support him. He may be in street clothes but he's still a significant emotional part of this team.

All nine of the Aggies got into the game tonight and every one of them contributed to this win. The offense and defense in the first half was a thing of beauty. It was certainly one of their best halves of basketball of the entire year.

Now they have one more big challenge ahead and I wouldn't bet against this team. They're just so damn determined.

Yes that was some payback for sure but I'm sure Coach Les will remind them of the 30 point loss to keep them focused and bit revengeful...

If the other three win then I believe UCI would have a better record and UCSB, CSF, and UCD would be in a 3-way tie; UCD would lose the h2h tiebreaker with CSF for being swept and lose the next-level tiebreaker with UCSB for having a worse record vs CSF.

My hats off to this team. Control their own destiny on the last game, despite the circumstances. Players stepping up, locking down on defense, hitting key shots, buzzer beaters. Still hoping Chima will be back, but can't count us out without him. Les will have them hungry on Sat and certainly throughout the BWT. Go Ags!

Really feels like a dynasty is brewing at this point. The last few games show that the whole starting lineup can turn over and Davis is still potentially the best team in the conference.

Enjoyed being at the game last night and sitting with Dr. Mike. The team just looks tremendous, with excellent defense. Super exciting game with the Ags in control the entire game. Anybody want to dance?

Well-worth the midweek drive up to watch the game. This is a really enjoyable team to watch. Defense in the first half was stifling. The ball movement has improved tremendously as the season as progressed, and there is a much higher degree of confidence in their outside shooting. Only downside was the high number of turnovers; we've been really good as of late protecting the ball, so the 19 last night was a minor red flag (especially since so many seemed unforced). That steal, save, wild layup of Shorts was really an amazing play. Fun sitting with Agalum and his grandson -> he really seemed to enjoy the atmosphere!

Drive home in the heavy rain wasn't so much fun. Listening to the post-game with Marsh talking to Onyebalu, Hemmings and Les made the 1st 15 minutes enjoyable. that last 60 minutes...not so much. I don't think we can count on help from Poly (v UCSB) or Hawaii (v Fullerton), so we really need to win on Saturday to make the BWT run a real possibility.

Couple of other observations. Chancellor May was in his courtside seat, interacting with fans throughout the game. Provost Ralph Hexter was sitting behind the basket, wearing what looked like a UCD block jacket -> that guy is a enthusiastic fan! AD Blue is sitting among the fans, getting into the action. Just a real good look for the program.

Also, ran into Bob Biggs at halftime and had a very interesting discussion about the team, their tenacious defense and their grit. That's kind of a unique Davis thing -> coaches from the past sticking around and being active parts of the entire athletic program. It was similar to seeing Sochor sitting up in section 206 dissecting the games!

My wife and I enjoyed every minute last night as well. We just love the grit and determination of this team. There's no quit in them. Les always gets the most out his players. He seems to have a way to get players to overachieve. Michael Onybalu's story from an unknown walk-on to a solid starter this year is the epitome of Aggie Pride and Aggie Athletics. Every player contributed last night.

Glad my drive home is only 20 minutes!

Post-game quotes from the Davis Enterprise article about the game:

“We’re peaking at the right time,” said 5-foot-9 guard T.J. Shorts II, who continued his torrid play over the second half of the season with a game-high 21 points — 16 in the second half.

“We need to keep this momentum going,” added Shorts, who was five-of-six from the field after intermission and for the game made all eight free throw attempts.
“We know Irvine is a great team and it’s going to be tough, but we’ll be ready for them,” Shorts noted.

“It’s a great feeling to control our own destiny,” said Schneider, who had 16 points in the first half, which ended with the Aggies up, 36-21.

Aggie coach Jim Les was all smiles afterward as he looks ahead to Saturday night in Irvine:

“Irvine is a really good team, a lot like us,” he said. “It’ll be a knock-down, drag-out battle.”

Looking back on the final home game of the campaign, Les added, “I can’t be more proud of this group. They battle and they fight and they win the old-fashioned way. They know they’re not the most talented team in the league, but they make up for it by playing together and doing all the little things. That makes it fun.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/its-for-all-the-marbles-when-aggie-men-meet-irvine/

Zander, Yes, that was my analysis, but thanks for sending me the link to gauchodon's breakdown. That was a very thorough explanation of every team's scenarios and he did it more than once last night. He's really on it. Bottom line is what bluegoldag wrote: UC Davis controls its own destiny and that's the best way to go. Glad my fellow fans had a better time of it against Hawaii than I did out here in Honolulu, but honestly, the Warriors are a mystery. Good team then bad team. Who knows which team will show up at Fullerton? Hope the good ones arrive to beat the Titans.

Winning on the road is tough for any team but Hawai'i seems to struggle more with road games than most it seems. They're always tough at home for the most part. I think thier unusual travel situation and the fact that they play so many home games early in the season makes it hard to judge how they will do later especially on the road.

They didn't look like a team that was emotionally ready play hard last night and the Aggies clearly played with more intensity throughout the game.

two very early fouls against their best player,Thomas, put Hawai’i in a hole they really couldn’t crawl out of.

Here are some great game photos taken by an Aggie fan, Adam Bridge, who goes by abridge683 over on the Big West Forums:

https://adam-bridge.smugmug.com/Sports/Basketball/Mens-Basketball/UC-Davis/2017-2018-Season/University-of-Hawaii-at-UC-Davis/

that and the big difference in 3 point shooting in the 1st half. we were 6-13, while they were 2-11. On the Island, Purchase really hurt us with his 3 pointers, but only had 2 last night (1 in the 1st half). I also agree with BlueGoldAg's statement that they didn't seem ready to play. they went to a full court zone in the 2nd half and got more aggresive but it was late by then.

you know what was a big play? they made a little run early in the second half to bring a 17 point lead down to 11 on a long 3-pointer. and the guy who made it got a 'T'. Shorts made the 2 free throws, John made a 3-pointer and we were up 16 again. that sucked the remaining life out of them.

The Hawai'i player who got the T was Sheriff Drammeh. Some like to call him "Sheriff Drama." He's a pretty talented guy who is very colorful and likes to talk and get under the skin of players. He loves "styling" on the court and can be pretty funny at times too. He probably tried to show up whoever was guarding him when he drained that long 3 and got T'ed up for taunting. Ganot was not happy with that though and pulled him from the game for quite a long sit.

I also thought a momentum changing play was that incredible steal by TJ when he just flat out raced a Hawai'i player to get to the ball and then made that spectacular reverse layup. Wow...that electrified the crowd. There's a slo-mo video of the play on the Men's Basketball twitter page. If he'd had wings he would have lifted off in flight. He has amazing hops for player his size.

https://twitter.com/UCDavisMBB

Drammeh was the guy who hit Chima in the face with the ball out here in Hawaii. He's basically a poor sport.

That was a dirty play.