I see on ESPN that the UC Davis men's team opens the season on November 25 at the Pavilion against Nicholls State. The Colonels are a Southland Conference team that was 21-10 last year, but has lost six seniors. They are at Davis to start a long swing through the west. A legitimate Div. 1 team they should provide a good test for the Ags as they force a lot of turnovers and are returning both starting guards.
The Colonels look like they like to play up tempo and run. They averaged 77 ppg last year and, like you said, they force a lot of turnovers...18 per game last year. They will be very athletic and scrappy. I think this will be a tough test for the Ags.
I haven’t seen any links for coverage. Blue mentioned that it would be online during a donor meeting earlier this week. It might be a feed from Santa Clara. Really tough test coming in with a limited preseason practice schedule
Santa Clara’s website doesn’t show the tournament at all. Hopefully they get the stream up.
This game reminds me of the last time we started the season down at at SCU. It was Chima’s first year and we started with a loss to an athletic Tennessee State team. That was a good test, as this one will be. We need to figure out on offense how to replace our shooters, and on defense how to match up with bigger teams. The big west has some quality big men (UCI most notably) that we’ll need to contain.
Thanks DrMike, the ESPN site I saw made it look like a home game for the Aggies, but it's pretty clear now that it's a tournament including UC Davis, Nicholls State, Santa Clara and Idaho State.
Finally some information for this weeks invitational at SCU. It mentions that the SCU games will be streamed, but doesn't say anything about the non-SCU games.
Bronco Invitational Schedule
Date Game Time
Wed., Nov. 25 Idaho State at Santa Clara 4 p.m.
UC Davis vs. Nicholls State 7 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 27 Santa Clara vs. UC Davis 1 p.m.
Idaho State vs. Nicholls State 4 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 28 UC Davis vs. Idaho State 1 p.m.
Santa Clara vs. Nicholls State 4 p.m.
It looks like there will only be radio with Scott Marsh on KHTK 1140 AM and Live Stats for this game and for the game with Idaho State. I expect the Santa Clara game will be live streamed.
The Ags are 2-0 lifetime against Nicholls State having beat the Colonels 82-71 back on December 22, 2012.
So no Hogland this weekend. Hurt his hand in practice. Borra is out due to his knee injury in high school. He might make it back late in the season. Anigwe is sitting out due to transfer rules. Ags have appealed that and hope they can get him at some point. So back to small ball.
Turnovers were a concern coming in, especially with the odd preseason practices. Les can’t be thrilled about giving up 101. Looks like we can score; defense will be a challenge