The Aggies are making a run in the Big West and have won 4 straight and 5 of their last 6 games. They'll be trying for 5 in a row tonight at 7 pm in the Pavilion when they host Long Beach. The Ags lost the first game to The Beach 82-75 back on January 12th but since then the 49ers have only won 2 of their last 9 conference games. The 49ers are currently coming off a tough 85-82 loss at Fullerton on last Wednesday.
Long Beach is always long and athletic and this year's team is no different. The are led by two of the best players in the league: 6'3 Sr G Deishawn Booker leads the way with an 18 ppg average and big, strong 6-7 265 RSr Temidayo Yussuf adds 12.5 ppg and pulls down 7 boards per game too.
Yussuf is a load and he'll present a challenge for the Aggie big men. It will be interesting, however, to see how Coach Monson decides to defend 6'11 Aggie Matt Neufeld. Neufeld's offensive game at the low post has been impressive lately and he'll have a significant height advantage if he gets matched up with Yussuf defending him.
27-21 LBSU at the third media TO (~8min to go). Both teams firing away. Bob is counseling patience for the Aggies--thinks Long Beach could be running themselves out of the game.
Most of the stats are pretty equal at the half; the difference is how hot the Long Beach shooters are: (64% overall) and how many trip to the line they are getting (14 vs 4).
Much like the last few years of football gamedays, the in-game environment looks absolutely brutal. The AD must have some thoughts on how to cultivate an atmosphere for DI sports...but he came from Stanford where that piece of the puzzle doesn't matter...so maybe not. But still, there is a staff of full time employees who's job is specifically to manage these events. Reducing the role of the band-uh in favor of a DJ and a screaming old guy on the PA was a bad decision several years back and whoever is running the band today does not desire to connect with the crowd during timeouts. Adding the bar to the floor is some evidence of forward thinking but the execution was not great and the placement is a continued reminder of generations of poor communication between the athletic department and facilities management.
Bob Williams doing color commentary is the bright spot.
Some silly turnovers, huge missed free throws, and bad offensive possessions, but they grinded out a come back in the second half without Shorts. Huge win for the team, and hoping for a quick, full recovery for Shorts
This was a gritty, gutsy win by the Aggies. We could have packed it in after the way the first half went and TJ getting injured. Les said that it was a emotional locker room at halftime and the team vowed to win to win the game for him.
TJ was on the bench with a full leg brace in the second half. I'm sure they'll get him an MRI tomorrow and then we'll know what the deal is. I'm hoping this isn't a career ending injury. It looked like a Long Beach player fell into his the of TJ's left leg but it was hard to tell because four players hit the deck hard. TJ gets knocked around so much and plays so hard that you just expect him to pop back up but not this time. I'm hoping for the best for him. He's a warrior.
Bob Williams should be beside Scott Marsh for every Aggie game. He's great to listen to. He said this was the gutsiest win by the Ags he's seen this year of the games he's been at.
It's hard to believe that Long Beach could have sustained the almost 70% shoot from the first half. You have to like Stef and Silar for the way they worked after TJ went down. There were lots of opportunities for the Ags to lose the game - but they chose the path to win it.
This was a great game to watch. I wish I had recorded the broadcast. I haven't heard Bob Williams with Scott Marsh - I have to think they are a killer team.
Great night at the pavilion. I was worried when we missed the front end of 1-and-1 on back to back possessions. Knock down 3 of those and we would have put the pressure on them. I thought Silar played well, very aggressive on offense. He can’t buy a roll right now. He had 2 great drives that somehow rolled out. But he was smart with the ball, made some nice passes inside which created scoring opportunities. Goode came up HUGE with FT’s and that tip out at the end. Big night for Printup. Gutty win.
I fear we’ve seen the last of TJ from the look of that brace, the look on Blue’s face after the half, and Les’ comments post game. A shame. One of those plays where some bodies flew and happened to land on his exposed leg. I hope I’m wrong
so sad to hear about tj. It doesn’t sound good but I guess we’ll know more this week. But similarly to when we lost Chima last year the rest of the team will need to come together. I caught the end of the game, which is usually tj time. We’ll need to figure out how to win down the stretch if tj is out. You can certainly count on the determination of this Aggie team!
Bob Williams has nothing but praise for the grit of the Aggies, and admiration at the culture Les (and Hawkins!) has created. He sounded like he really enjoyed being part of the broadcast, and even mentioned attending football games this year. Still has his heart in Davis
It was great to hear Williams say all those great things about the culture of Aggie athletics and how the players have bought into it. He credited tonight's win to the culture that Les has created and, like you noted, he said he sees that with Hawkins also. I remember on Wednesday when Marsh made a comment about how smart the players are and Williams said, "Yep, typical Aggie athletes."
I would guess we won’t hear about TJ’s MRI until Thursday. I’ve heard nothing. Hoping my gut reaction is wrong and we have the pleasure of watching more of him!