My box score shows he has started, and I'm quite sure Shorts has started.

Thanks eastbay, I see ESPN has changed the box score.

ESPN box score was fouled up all game. Showed three starters none of whom were starters

BlueGold Ag, I was able to watch the video on BigWestTV. I totally agree with your reply to eastbayaggie. UC Davis played excellent man-to-man defense. This was especially impressive coming off a triple OT game on Thursday. Plus they clearly have adjusted to being without Moneke. At the same time, the Aggie offense was aggressive and found some nice lanes inside, although the Gaucho defense was kind of lagging most times, committing hard fouls a few times when they let an Aggie get by them. Ironic that UCD ended UCSB's 12 game home win streak after UCSB ended UCD's 19 game streak. Nothing like sibling rivalry.

What a win; I was at another game but was able to follow the box score. I like that a Chima-less team can still beat the best team in the conference -- bodes well for next year.

Winning out with 2/3 remaining games at home will also be good for a top 3 finish in the conference and maybe a co-championship.

Jim Les was understandably very happy after the game in the post-game radio interview. He said he gave the game ball to the Aggie trainer for working overtime to give the players massages and ice treatment in order to help get them as fresh as they could be after 3OT game at Poly on Thursday. He also said that after the 2 home loses he emphasized that the team just needed to get back to "who we are" which is a team that leads with defense first. I think we saw a great example of that today.

It was interesting listening to the Gauchos' coach, Joe Pasternak, after the game. He said he thought his team came out flat and was tired. Maybe that was the case but if anyone should "have been tired" it would be the Aggies. They have played 5 OT's in their last 3 road games and every one of their last 5 games without Chima have been closely contested. This game was a real tribute to the gutsy character of this team.

Well, the Big West Tournament is going to be REALLY interesting.

Huge road wins.

Great defense today....

Yes great defense. But being able to regroup after the loss of a major player is much bigger. This team has real heart and skill. Someone said you cant coach heart. But maybe the players can coach it themselves. Still give coach les a real thumbs up on this one. Great game.

Elsewhere around the league today:

Fullerton 88 CSUN 70
Hawai'i 74 Riverside 69 OT
Irvine 75 Poly 58

So here's where we stand:

UCSB 9-3
Aggies 9-4
Irvine 9-4
Fullerton 8-4
Long Beach 7-5
Hawai'i 6-6
Cal Poly 3-10
CSUN 3-10
Riverside 2-10

The following was put together by gauchodan over on the Big West Boards:

Remaining schedules

UC Santa Barbara (9-3)
02/22 at UC Irvine
02/24 at CSUN
03/01 Long Beach State
03/03 Cal Poly

UC Davis (9-4)
02/24 UC Riverside
03/01 Hawai'i
03/03 at UC Irvine

UC Irvine (9-4)
02/22 UC Santa Barbara
02/24 at Hawai'i
03/03 UC Davis

Cal State Fullerton (8-4)
02/21 at UC Riverside
02/24 Long Beach State
02/28 at CSUN
03/03 Hawai'i

Long Beach State (7-5)
02/22 at Hawai'i
02/24 at Cal State Fullerton
03/01 at UC Santa Barbara
03/03 UC Riverside

Some thoughts...
UCSB wins the conference outright by winning out.
If UCSB loses once, the Gauchos would tie for the conference title with (possibly) Cal State Fullerton and (possibly) the winner of the UC Davis/UC Irvine game.
If UCSB, Fullerton and Davis tie at 12-4, UCSB will be the #1 seed, Fullerton will be the #2 seed and Davis will be the #3 seed.
If UCSB, Fullerton and Irvine tie at 12-4, UCSB will be the #1 seed and Fullerton and Irvine have sub-scenarios to determine #2 and #3 seed.
If UCSB ties with Fullerton only at 12-4, UCSB will be the #1 seed and Fullerton will be the #2 seed.
If UCSB ties with Irvine only at 12-4, #1 and #2 seeding will depend on where Fullerton (SB sweep) and Long Beach (Irvine sweep) finish.
If UCSB loses twice, it's a free-for-all.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/bigwest/handicapping-the-big-west-race-t21806-s10.html

Is there a scenario involving a 5 way tie? Long Beach wins out. Fullerton loses only to the Beach. UCI loses to UCD, but beats UCSB, who also has lost to Long Beach and the Aggies somehow lose to Hawaii or UCR. I think I go that right and it would make all teams 11-5. Highly unlikely but it might make Sports Center if it does. I'd prefer the same scenario without the Ags losing another game and finishing in first. That seems less improbable.

Wouldn't that be a free-for-all!

Post-game comments from Jim Les and AJ John from the Davis Enterprise article:

“I don’t think we defended really well at our home,” Aggie head coach Jim Les said. “I was watching some of those clips (from Feb. 8), and it wasn’t really to chastise the guys, it was more to say, ‘Hey, we’re a lot better than this, and we had too many breakdowns in too many places. Let’s get back to being us and being solid at what we do.’

“And I thought the guys did that in a big way (Saturday), and set the tone right from the tip that nothing was going to be easy against (us) tonight. I think it frustrated the Gauchos a little bit. “

“We feel like we have really good balance,” Les said. “We’ve been getting good scoring off our bench, Rogers (Printup) and Joe the other night, and they came in (Saturday) and gave us some good looks. It’s different guys every night. We don’t have one guy you can necessarily key on and say, ‘Hey, if you stop him, you’re going to stop UC Davis.'”

The Aggies have gone 3-2 without leading scorer Chima Moneke, who is serving an indefinite suspension following an undisclosed incident during a road trip to Cal State Northridge earlier this month.

“There’s no new news other than the initial announcement,” Les said. When asked if fans should assume he won’t return, the seventh-year coach responded: “I wouldn’t assume anything other than there’s an indefinite suspension.”

“We locked in defensively,” said John, who also had two blocks and six rebounds. “It really was a team victory. We can’t get that (offensive) run without getting some stops.”

“We play a lot of equal-opportunity offense,” Les said. “When a guy gets going we call his number. I think T. J.’s penetration was strong, and either he got to the basket to score or he was finding open players. A. J., because of his size, he’s such a hard cover that (the opponents’) big guy (is drawn) away from the basket. So now, if the big guy helps at the basket, A. J.’s out on the perimeter shooting wide-open 3s.

“We like it when we can put the defense in a position where they have to make some choices. Our guys made the right decisions based on what the defense was giving them.”

Les “gave the game ball” to head Athletic Trainer Tina Tubbs, “who spent the last 48 hours with ice bags and recovery and calf massages and just trying to get these guys ready after the triple overtime win at Cal Poly. So she’s the MVP because she got them ready to play.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/ ... ara-71-54/

"A. J., because of his size, he’s such a hard cover that (the opponents’) big guy (is drawn) away from the basket. So now, if the big guy helps at the basket, A. J.’s out on the perimeter shooting wide-open 3s."

Hmmm. I'll try to look for this in future games. I like big guys who can shoot threes. This reminds me of Josh Ritchart.

AJ has a very nice shot from distance but he has struggled to shoot a high percentage this season. That has been improving lately. I love it when we have a big man that can stretch defenses out to the perimeter. Chima was starting to do that this year and Josh Ritchart was deadly from 3.

And Jason cox from the D2 days.

What a series this has turned out to be this season. Both teams delivering dominating performances on the other team's court but at least Davis fought back in their home game.
Would be very interesting to see what happens should the two teams play again and I think there's a pretty good chance of that happening in Anaheim.
The Big West is wide open; SB, Davis, UCI and Fullerton with all similar odds to win it at this point. And LB & Hawaii with outside shots to take it.

How can any Aggie, who is old enough to remember, ever forget his deep 3 with time running out that won the D2 National Championship in 1998?

It's the Wild, Wild Big West!

Was watching at The Grad...it got seriously loud when Jason made that shot. :strong:

And he got the glass!! Wish i could know where all those players are now and how they’re doing. What a great team for any level of play!