The Aggies (5-5) hit the road again for their 7th straight road game as they head to Fargo to play the Bison of North Dakota State (6-4). The Ags have lost 3 out of their last four games and the Bison lead the all-time series record 3-0.
On paper this game looks like a toss-up. Neither team has a significant size advantage and both teams are defensive minded. The Bison spread their offense mainly over 7 players with senior guard Paul Miller leading the team in scoring at 11.2 ppg. Statistically, nothing jumps out as being dominating by the Bison. They do not appear to be a good 3 point shooting team as they are only shooting 30% from downtown.
This is a winnable game for the Aggies but they need to come out and play with the aggressiveness and determination that they showed in the second half of their last game with Cal. If they do that, they have a good chance to stop their 3 game slide.
Live video stream on ESPN3 at 5 pm Pacific time Wednesday:
If I remember right, last year the game was ours to win until we choked away a lead by missing FTs, allowing the Bison to force OT with all the momentum.
Excellent half of defense by the Aggies. Both teams struggled on offense for much of the first half before the Ags opened up a 9 point lead 29-20. SDSU closed within 1 before the Ags ended the half with a spurt to go up by 7.
The Aggies shot 50% overall and 50% from 3 while winning the boards 19-12. Chima has 10 and JT and White have 7 each. Nice to see JT getting into a better offensive flow and White drove the ball hard to the basket for a couple of 3 point plays.
Garrison Goode is on the bench but doesn't have a boot on so hopefully we'll see him back for league at least.
When I left to go to a Christmas get-together the Ags were up by 9 points with 5 minutes or so to go. We were playing well and keeping a 5-11 point lead in the second half.
If I'm reading the live stats right, it looks like the Aggies went 1 for 10 down the stretch while the Bison were 5 of 6.
This is a pretty candid comment, “They’re either going to decide to want to change the course of where this is going or they’re going to try to keep doing what they’re doing — and that’s play undisciplined basketball and not doing some of the simple things we’re asking them to do.”