The Aggies face Weber State in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout tonight at 9pm PST. What better way to embrace the tryptophan than to get comfortable on the couch and watch the Aggies from Anchorage on CBSSN? Happy Thanksgiving!
CBS Sports Network channel listings are available on Wikipedia.
We'll have our hands full with the Wildcats. They have been getting into post-season tournaments with regularity and are perennially the best or one of the best in the Big Sky Conference. The Big Sky is not as strong as the Big West in basketball so that's helps them pile up wins and get into post-season play easier than if played in a better conference. That said, they would probably be able to compete pretty well with the better Big West teams.
They will have a small size advantage over the Ags but they are not a huge team so I hope we will be able to compete well inside and on the boards. Moneke, White, Adenrele and Henn will need to play well on the defensive boards especially if Garrison Goode is still out with an ankle or foot injury.
As usual, our defensive intensity will be the key to winning the game. When our defense is playing well it ignites our offense.
Weber is shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from behind the arc. We're going to need to step up our defense and rebound the heck out of the ball. If you force a good shooting team into bad shots it is great defense, until you give up the offensive rebound and a layup!
I've actually done that before, 6th, just to get a sports package for a couple of months to see a few games. Unfortunately, I have Consolidated Communications (formerly Surewest), and it doesn't carry CBSSN. So I'll be listening on the radio and checking in on live stats.
Aggies up 22-17 with 6:45 left in the 1st. Strong play thus far, converting from the charity stripe and they're already in the bonus. If it weren't for a quick 8-0 run by Weber State....
Aggies down 7 at the half, went over a 4:00 stretch without a bucket from the field. Combine that with Weber going thermonuclear from downtown and an early lead disappeared very quickly. Several quick runs by the Wildcats.
For those of you watching what are your thoughts from what you've seen? From listening to the radio it sounded like it was ugly early and then we squandered an 11 point lead when our defense broke down and the offense went cold.
The Ags played well, aside from the 4 minute stretch when Weber State went on their run. We weren't attacking the rim as much, and we actually haven't been shooting as many 3s as I would have expected from a Les team. Henn is a beast, as is Moneke, though they are on the shorter end of the spectrum. JT has been too passive offensively - he is better than he is showing. Brynton is playing well, creating offense. Funtarov gave a good spark, as well!
Our man defense looked really good early on, and our bigs show on high screens as aggressively as you'll see. The rotations broke down during our bad stretch, however.
Overall, I like our squad and I'm impressed with who/what Les and Co. have put together.
Short quick bursts from Weber combined with going cold from the field - it seemed like there were 2, maybe 3 8-2 runs by the Wildcats. During the first 10:00 the Ags looked great, really squeezed the air out of the ball with methodical sets and driving the lane combined with stingy defense and tons of defensive rebounds as well.
Thanks for the recaps guys. I hate listening on the radio...to damn nerve wracking when I can't actually see what is taking place. Hope we can get it going and put this one in the W column!