The Aggies have a monumental task today when they face UCSB in the Thunderdome at 2 pm. The Gauchos are rolling along right now and are the heavy favorites in today's game. No one thought the Aggies, playing without Chima Moneke, would beat Long Beach in their house a couple of weeks ago either but look at what happened there. If the Ags were to somehow find a way to win today it would be an even bigger upset than the spectacular win over the 49ers.

GauchoFreg asked me to write up something for his pregame post over on the Gaucho Boards forum. The following is a copy of my write up and GauchoFreg's keys to the game segment:


View from an Aggie Fan: With credit and thanks to BlueGoldAg (Updated, 2/17/2018)

So many things have changed in the past couple of weeks for the Aggies starting with the indefinite suspension of Chima Moneke. Then the Ags followed up that disappointing news with an improbable 105-104 double OT win at Long Beach. Although that game was one of the most remarkable wins in Aggie D1 history, a dark cloud still hung over the team and the fans as the the realization of the loss of Moneke began to sink in. There still has been no word from the university regarding Moneke's suspension and, at this point, most Aggie fans do not think we will get see him play again.

Not only has the loss of Moneke been huge for the team but it has had to be emotionally very difficult for Chima as well. Chima has an outgoing personality, always upbeat and entertaining and was not shy about expressing his love for his teammates. Now he's on the sidelines watching and the dream of possibly playing in the NCAA Tournament again appears to have vanished as well. In addition, Chima has not seen his parents for 9 years and they were scheduled to make a trip to Davis to finally see him play and that may not happen now either. It's just been tough all around.

When Santa Barbara came to Davis the Aggies were sporting the the nation's 4th longest home game winning streak at 19 games. The Gauchos started the game on fire from beyond the arc and ended the Aggies streak in a hard fought game. The Ags pulled to within 5 points with 1:28 to go and missed an open 3 before eventually losing 90-81 as the Gauchos made their FT's down the stretch. After the game Jim Les said that he "was very disappointed with the Aggie defense." It was a good effort by the Aggies but we simply have no big men who can replace the kind of talent and energy that Chima brings to the floor.

So the 19 game home winning streak was over and Fullerton was coming to town. The Titans had handed the Aggies their worst conference loss of the year in the first game. Like the Gauchos, Fullerton came out sizzling from 3 and hit 10 in that game. This time Khalil Amad lit up the Pavilion with 21 first half points and the Aggies found themselves trailing by double digits until late in the game when they put on a furious rally to briefly take the lead. The Ags had a chance at the buzzer but TJ Shorts 5 footer in the paint rimmed out and the Ags now had a 2 game home losing streak.

One thing for sure about a Jim Les coached team is that there will be no quit in effort no matter what the circumstances. Les demands a hard work all the time and, when he sees anything less than that, players quickly find themselves on the bench. Aggie fans felt like the team gave a good effort all things considered but Les' expectations for his team were no different even without Moneke.

It was time for the Ags to regroup and head to Cal Poly for a game that seems to always be tough for the Aggies. Poly erased the Aggies double digit lead late in the second half and took the lead by 5 with 3 minutes to go but the Aggies clawed back to force OT and, finally, after the 3rd overtime the Aggies prevailed 92-84. Four Aggie players logged 40 to 50 minutes and Michael Onlybalu had a career high 25 points. It was the kind of effort that Jim Les relishes; he called it "gutsy" and said, that his team "just would not hang their heads and quit."

Now we have the rematch with the Santa Barbara who is in the driver's seat for the Big West title. Realistically, I think it is fair to say that the Gauchos are heavily favored and maybe even a double digit favorite. The Ags got close in the first game but the Gauchos have been playing well lately and they are playing at home.

In order to stay within striking distance the Ags will have to play outstanding defense. The Gauchos are too talented offensively for the Aggies to get into a shootout with. The Ags will need the kind of tenacious grit we saw at Cal Poly. Our guards have stepped up in the absence of Moneke but we need better contributions from AJ John and Colin Russell inside. Garrison Goode has been more aggressive on offense lately than we have ever seen him and we'll need that to continue.

TJ Shorts continues to impress even when he isn't scoring 20+ points. He gets into the lane so quickly and dishes out assists. He even led the Ags with 10 boards against Poly. Santa Barbara made things difficult for Shorts in the first meeting before he started doggedly taking the ball to the rim in the second half. There's no doubt the the Gauchos will focus on stopping Shorts from driving into the lane and, when that happens, TJ will need to kick the ball out and, hopefully, the Ags can knock down a few 3's.

So the task for the Aggies is tall, very tall, and it will take a superlative effort for the them to put themselves in a position to win by end of the game but, then again, no one thought the Ags would have a chance against Long Beach either and look what happened.


Game One, February 8 Recap with credit and thanks to GauchoFreg

The Gauchos did their best Golden State Warriors impression and were blazing hot from outside and jumped to an early 20 point lead, going 8-13 from three. They put up 49 points in the first half against one of the best defenses in the conference. Taking advantage of Moneke’s absence, King went for 19 pts and 15 rebounds and Blackmon added 8 points. Gabe, Max and Marcus were a combined 9-12 from deep!
Conversely, the Gaucho pack-line defense gave up the perimeter and the Aggies took advantage, going 10-19. However, starting forwards John and Goode were a combined 3-9 for just 6 points.

Match-up & prediction:
Technically the status of the suspensions to both Moneke and Canty are unknown but it is starting to look like Moneke won’t be back for a while and Canty is also dealing with an injury so will assume they will be both be out.

Keys for the Gauchos:
1) Stop Shorts. Hey Gaucho defenders: Shorts is left handed and he likes to go to his left! Got it? Shorts may be the best pg in the league but UCSB did a decent job limiting him in the first half. In the second half he adjusted to the Gauchos extending out to stop him by beginning his drives earlier. Will be interesting to see how that chess match proceeds.
2) Again, take advantage in the post. King has been tremendous since Canty went out and our offense will be working through him a lot. Ami should exploit his size advantage while avoiding offensive fouls and wear the Aggies out. Blackmon has also been fantastic in picking up minutes in Canty’s absence and continues to improve.
3) Don’t ignore Schneider.
4) Gabe’s Dad says, “DEFENSE! Defense Gauchos, DEFENSE!!!”

Davis is coming off a triple OT game and UCSB is clicking on all cylinders. Plus it is Domecoming and our crowd should be solid. Less mystery this time around. If the Gauchos continue to do what they do, win every 4 minute battle, they have the advantage.
UCSB 81 Davis 68

You can read GauchoFreg's entire pre-game post here and Aggie fans are welcome to discuss the game with the Gaucho fans here also:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/ucsbgauchos/ucsb-vs-uc-davis-game-2-domecoming-t21886.html

Live online stream from Big West TV at 2 pm:

http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=754

Go Ags!