We’re actually 14-9,7-4.

Riverside has lost 3 of their last 4. That was a game I thought we could have won. If heathy, we can beat these guys

Current Big West Standings

1. UC Santa Barbara 9-2 18-4
2. UC Irvine 8-3 15-8
3. Hawai'i 8-4 17-7
3. UC Riverside 8-4 15-9
3. Long Beach State 8-4 14-10
6. UC Davis 7-4 14-9
7. Cal State Fullerton 7-6 13-12
8. CSU Bakersfield 4-8 8-15
9. UC San Diego 3-9 8-16
10. CSUN 2-10 5-18
11. Cal Poly 1-11 7-17

Other Big West Games on Thursday

Cal Poly at Irvine at 6 pm
CSUN at Bakersfield at 7 pm
Santa Barbara at Long Beach at 8 pm
San Diego at Hawaii at 9 pm

I think I would have liked to see Fullerton and Long Beach lose Saturday to keep ahead of them.

As if we need a reminder how good Pepper is:

How about that…awesome!

Any word on Robby or Christian?

they don't announce injury updates. Beasley was hurt a couple weeks ago, so if he's not ready tonight it might be a long rehab. Hopefully, a week of rest will be enough for Anigwe's ankle.

I don't know, Mike, Robby has a groin injury and those can take a long time to heal depending upon the severity. Christian looked like he could barely walk after he injured his leg again in the Hawaii game. I'm hoping we'll see them back in action against Riverside but I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them are still out.

hopefully, we see them both in about an hour!

Christian didn't look good when he came back onto the bench against Hawaii - was leaning on a teammate. In Les' postgame comments, he was hoping a week's rest would get him back out there.

Christian is out there and seems to be moving well. Wish Ags were shooting better, but they seem to start cold in a lot of games. ESPN listed Pepper as 5-8. Either they're wrong or he plays A lot taller than he is. Refs should keep an eye on how UCR inbounds the ball on a made Aggie shot. I saw pone of them step on the line before he threw it in bounds.

Down 6 at half while shooting that bad seems not so bad! Pepper with 18 of our 27. TY and Christian struggling. But within spitting distance

Only caught part of the first half but looked like we were getting killed on the boards.

Ty is really off his game. If he was scoring at his usual average, he would have 8 points and this sucker would be all tied up. P+D=UCD+4

No Rocek? I’m just following on liveststs

Just turned it on as he came in. Leo with 4 FG outs, Ty with 3. Yikes

He has a turnover in a couple of second half minutes. Borra also not seeing much action.

Pepper looks beat. We’re a step slower than them

I HATE when TY lets the inbounds pass roll. Terrible

Too many mistakes at the end once we got within 5. Didn’t get much help from the refs either

Johnson had probably his worst game as an Aggie. More turnovers than points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2/10 from the floor. Overall lack of balance in scoring as Pepper, DeBruhl and Anigwe got all but 11 of the team's points. Rebounding didn't help either, as they let the Highlanders snatch 16 offensive boards.

I had to watch the game on replay. UCR had our defense scrambling around a lot and they just killed us on the boards. We got close but the Highlanders won this game from the start to the finish. I hope we play much better on Saturday or we'll be coming home 0-2 on this road trip.

Post-game comments from Les:

(Regarding Pepper's 32 points) “We just didn’t give him much help,” said Aggie head coach Jim Les of Pepper, who now has 117 points in his last four games.

“Right from the get-go, Riverside was more aggressive and more physical and their effort on those 50-50 balls was greater than ours. Early on we had some good looks that didn’t go down and that affected us on the defensive end. We started the second half with that same lackluster effort.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/basketball-uc-davis-men-on-the-road/

i missed the first half, but in the second half we just looked a step (or two) slow. toward the end, we had a couple defensive sequences where we forced a bad shot, were slow to the rebound, force a bad shot, slow to the loose ball and finally gave up a bucket. 2 points and about a minute off the clock. Pepper looked beat at the end. Losing the 20+ minutes of Beasley puts alot of pressure on Eli (and Johnson) and shortens the bench. Plus, he's one of the few that doesn't have more turnovers than assists.

My pet peeve with this team is letting the inbounds pass roll out to about half court. you maybe save a second BUT when you pick up the ball, the defender is right on you and you have to rush the offense. I've even seen us do it on a dead ball where there's no time advantage. when Ty did it late and TRAVELED i almost turned on the stream. very high school (JV) like.

I noticed that Les seemed to be particularly animated and upset with some of his players during the game last night. He was really barking at several of them when he subbed them out and they came to the bench.

I think Les is a excellent basketball coach and his teams are always highly competitive and disciplined and he certainly gets the most out of the talent he has. He is also very emotional and intense during the games particularly when he thinks his team is underperforming or being out hustled as was the case last night. It's frustrating when he sees his team making fundamental mistakes or being out played.

However, I'm not sure how effective it is for him to really grill a player in the heat of the moment when they come to the bench. Last night I noticed that, when a player was getting chewed out, they generally just looked away and took a seat on the bench. That made me wonder how much the player was actually taking in or whether the message was getting lost in the heat of the moment.

I'm think many of us know from our own personal experience in athletics or just in our own personal interactions at one time or another, that it's really hard to actually listen to someone and truly hear what they are saying when they are angry and are shouting. I also know that, as a coach, Les can't take a moment to step away and calm down since the game is ongoing and he wants to get something to change immediately.

I get it but I wonder if his players might better hear what he is saying if he wasn't so hot when he delivers his messages.

Compete--compete-compete. In a basketball game the environment is chaotic, dynamic, physically challenging, and when diving for 50-50 balls can be painful. As an athlete it is a privilege to wear your team's uniform and rep on the floor. Leaving players on the floor who are not competing can dig a hole that will lead to a loss. That is why a coaching staff exists to guide the athletes.

Here is an interesting video about basketball and body language from the U-Conn coach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp4mIONS51E

Sports are different than school, home and work. College players have been playing for usually a decade and need to handle their arena.

Les is a very good coach and does a great job here at UCD. He has been here for a long time and his players typically get better and his team compete.

I think one of Les' strongest qualities as a coach is ability to find and develop overlooked players. He doesn't always land the most "highly rated" players and transfers who come in with glowing resumes already but he regularly finds players who just need some time to develop and are diamonds in the rough. SB and LB often go after and bring in some players with extensive, previous experience elsewhere and Irvine certainly has a reputation for landing and developing bigs.

That's a great video and right on point. Thanks for posting it.

I think he’s really toned down his act on the sideline over the years, but last night he was really on a couple guys. After we got it to 5, we let them get 3 shots and an easy hoop on what must have been a brain fart. He was livid with player who, to his credit, took it in and was ready to get back at it.

The first couple seasons, he was really tough on a few guys - those guys never seem to play loose. I think he’s mellowed……until last night!

I agree, Mike, he has mellowed from those early years.