Looking forward to the game. $5 and my Vandal ticket stub from the afternoon game gets me in.

The Aggies lead 27-26 at the half in a game dominated by defense. Both teams are shooting 41%. JT has 3 fouls and Moneke has 2. Garrison Goode is still not with the team so his injury must be fairly serious.

The live stream camera angle is from higher up than usual and gives you a very nice wide view of the game and you can really see the player movement, screens and cuts. Pretty cool.

Ags lead 41 to 38 with 12 minutes to go. Chima and JT both have 4 fouls and have had limited PT. The last foul on Chima was pure bunk.

We make a big run at the end of the second half to tie the game...then give up a layup at the buzzer to lose 68-66.

Wow, I feel this was a game we should have easily won. On to the next.

Aggies lose to Idaho for the 7th straight time 68-66. Brynton Lemar had a chance to put the Ags up by one but missed the second shot of a 1 and 1 with 6 seconds left. The Vandals got the rebound and found a wide open Jordan Scott for a buzzer beater lay up.

The Aggie defense simply broke down after the Lemar miss. Coach Les chose not to take his players away from the FT lane and have them lay back on defense in case Lemar missed and it cost the team.

The zebras played a role in this one as they ticky-tacked JT and Chima early and often and both spent most of the night on the bench. Idaho took advantage of that and hammered the Ags by scoring 38 points in the paint. With Garrsion Goode out and JT and Chima sitting the Ags couldn't stop the Vandals inside game.

The other thing that hurts this team is that we struggle to have a offensive punch. Our defense keeps us close but the offense is inconsistent.

Tough loss. Next up is a visit to Cal.

Frustrating loss. Too many missed opportunities and we miss Goode

Generally speaking, I think Coach Les is very good at making critical decisions during the heat of the game. Last night he made a surprising decision that made it much easier for Idaho to score on an uncontested layup at the buzzer.

With the score tied with 6 seconds left in the game, Idaho called a time out after Lemar had hit the front end of a 1&1 to tie the game at 66. They wanted to discuss their options for the various scenarios that could ensue when Lemar went back to the line. Conventional coaching wisdom says that you do not have your players take their normal positions on either side of the lane in a end game situation like this. Surprisingly, Coach Les did just that so now we had 3 players, 2 including the shooter, in their normal positions around the FT lane.

Why was this an unwise decision? Because more bad things can happen in these final seconds in a situation like that than good when you don't pull your players back and put them at a defensive advantage if and when the Vandals get the ball back with a few seconds left.

If Lemar hits the FT then the Ags have several defensive options. They could go to their 1-2-2 zone press to help slow Idaho from advancing the ball quickly up the floor or have all 5 Aggies back to defend against the full court pass over the top or even pick up everyone in a man press. Lots of defensive choices, all of which, are designed to force Idaho to take a long range, hopefully contested, shot and not be able to throw the ball the length of the court.

If Lemar misses the FT, more things can go wrong than right with us having 3 players at the FT lane. Best case scenario is that we get the rebound but getting the rebound off a missed FT is a low percentage likelihood. Worst case scenarios are: One, that we get called for a foul battling for the rebound and two, we have several players scramble for the ball off the miss and don't have enough players back to defend against the long pass.

Bad case scenario two is what happened. Lemar missed the free throw and we had a couple of players scramble for the rebound and that left us defensively out of position down court and confused. Idaho got the ball and threw a long pass to Jordan Scott who had slipped behind the defense because we didn't have enough players already back to defend, and he scores on an uncontested layup. Game over.

This was a frustrating loss for the team. They battled hard with Garrison Goode still out and JT and Chima sitting most of the game with foul trouble. They deserved a better outcome.

That's a good point. The staff usually has the team in the right position.

I agree so I was very surprised to see how we lined up after Idaho's timeout. I would like to know why Les decided to not pull his players away from the FT lane?

I just noticed that he acknowledged it was not a good choice in this statement: “We didn’t do a good job of getting back in transition off that free throw,” UCD coach Jim Les said afterward. “In hindsight, I should have had all the guys back."

Hindsight is always 20-20 though. We've all been there and know that.

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggie-men-rally-fall-just-short-at-idaho-68-66/

The team sounds very competitive in a pre-season tougher than Les' contract year (Hawkins senior year). League will be interesting.

We've played 8 games. Of those 8 games, four teams have an RPI of 300+ (NAU, Sac State, Weber State, and Drake), one in the 200's (Santa Clara at 295), Oakland and Idaho are in the 100's though pushing 200, and Tennessee State is the team with the highest RPI at 63.

You can't compare any schedule to the NIT run because that was loaded with patsies. This year, while it feels better, isn't that much better.

I agree, 6th. I do not think we have improved that much if at all overall. I know that there are high expectations for Hawkins and the future of Aggie football and, I just hope that Blue holds the same high achievement expectations for Coach Les as well.

We need to see continual improvement and need to be competitive for Big West championships and post-season bids in basketball too. Football isn't the only program we should have high expectations for. If Les can't get it done, he should feel the heat also.

For what it's worth, I saw Goode around town this weekend, still in a boot. Doesn't mean he didn't get it off the next day. Just hoping he's back and in game shape by the time league starts.