Irvine's size will be a big problem for us. they have been winning the rebound battle 41-32 for the season (not sure the Big West breakdown). we'll have to be lights out from beyond the arc to pull this one out.

The Anteaters’ coach would make an effective foghorn. Booming voice.

UCI up 43-27 at the half. Anteaters hitting shots at a 61% rate. This does not look good at all.

That’s the first time I’ve seen a half court shot attempt that failed to reach the top of the key.

We’re not getting killed on the boards as I feared; maybe cuz they are shooting 61%? Printup reappears. Maybe to give us some length.

The worst part is Irvine shot only 1 of 7 behind the arc. If they improve to even average it’s going to very hard to overtake them.

Not Neufeld’s best game.

he looks like he’s lost all confidence. Such a change from the early games

Yes, Neufeld was pretty much a non-factor in Hawaii.

We got beat by a much better basketball team tonight. We did not play our best, for sure, but we don't have the overall talent, especially the kind of talented big men, that Irvine has. I know Les feels the team is letting our opponents come into our house and get into a rhythm and take over the game. There is some truth to that but we don't match up well with teams that have talented big men. Chima was the last dynamic big man we've had that could really take over in the paint. Until Les recruits some talented big men we'll continue to lose more often than not to teams with talented posts and power forwards.

Anyone know what the next recruiting class looks like? Any hope for some difference-making big men?

We have 2 players who are currently redshirting and one other commit. Wesley Harris is a 6'6 So from Phoenix and Aaron Murphy is a 6'6 Fr from Modesto. Both of them are redshirting this season. We also have signed Caleb McGill from Aurora, Colorado, and he is 6'7. Oliver Gerhke from Sweden has left the team and he was 6'7. So we have 3 forwards coming in but no really big power forwards or posts at this time. It seems that well over half of the offers Les gives out are to guards.

Was the high shooting percentage partly attributable to 6'9" and above players posting up 6'6" forwards & wing players?

I think we take the contributions of guys like Adenrele and Goode for granted. They were both very good and physical inside defenders, who contributed on the offensive end without scoring much. I think we saw Printup last night because he provides some of that defensive toughness.

I’ve heard we’re high on the radar of a grad transfer mid major big man.

I've got to think you're right about a grad transfer. There's no way that we head into next year with just Koehler as a proven big man. Even if Murphy and Harris contribute, that still leaves us severely undersized. We are losing 4 players, plus the scholarship from Gerhke, and only added so far one player, which means we have 4 spots left (unless they give a scholarship to a current walk-on like Shaw). Hopefully we get multiple big guys.

It was good to see Printup out there, and he does work hard on defense, and hit a 3. But it seems unfair of Les to not even play the guy a minute for many weeks then expect him to play great against UCI. You KNOW you are going to need his help so give him minutes here and there (of course, this is assuming he wasn't injured). I know a lot goes into the rotation that I don't see, it's just frustrating to watch.

Lot of pressure to win on Saturday. Have to stay out of that 9th spot!

Adenrele and Goode were, as you said, very good defenders inside and good rebounders but neither were an offensive threat. Printup is a tough defender too but he's only 6'4 and even Moneke was only 6'6 but he had incredible quickness and leaping ability. So size isn't everything when it comes to and interior presence but athletic size is a big plus.

I'll take an athletic, quick 6'6 player like Chima anyday over a static, slow 7 footer. This year Neufeld and Koehler are our only 2 big men at 6'11 and 6'7 respectively and neither are that quick or have great leaping ability. Irvine outscored us 40-12 in the paint last night. Collin Welp 6'9 is an outstanding player and Tommy Rutherford at 6'8 and 240 has been punishing us for 4 years. Les recruited Rutherford also.

Irvine has a history of good big men and the top Big West teams this year have a strong inside presence. Santa Barbara has Amadou Sow 6'9 235, Hawaii has 3 seven footers and Raimo who's a beast with an inside/outside game, and CSUN has Lamine Diane and, although he's only 6'7 and 205, he plays much bigger and is arguably the best player in the league.

We have been a guard dominated team during the Les era here and he's had success with that formula but our lack of an interior game has really been apparent last year and this year though. When the better defensive teams lock down on our guards, clog up the lane and contest our 3's, it spells trouble for us. We can't depend on Gonzalez to catch fire every night and Mooney is currently in a bit of a shooting slump. Manjon and Pepper have been stepping up too but our weaknesses in the paint on both ends of the floor is making things tough for us.

Any insight on who the possible grad transfer is and where he might be coming from?

The big man who did the most damage was Collin Welp (whose father, Christian, I saw play at the U. of Washington and went to the NBA), bu the starting big men, did not score inside so much as they hit the boards. I wonder why Welp doesn't start. He lead UCI in rebounds and was second in scoring.

no real info. Just something I heard.