Is it on ESPN+ because it's not showing up for me and it's not show as being streamed on any of the ESPN pages. We'll need to listen to Greg on streaming. Or maybe broadcast?

For some reason, occasionally i don’t see ag games on the espn guide. If i do a search for ncaa football or bball, it will show up. I haven’t looked for todays game yet.

I see there IS a link on the UCD Men's BB site to the game on ESPN+

My apologies for putting out bum dope!

And a better start for the Ags as they're up 5-2 @ 17:45

I tuned in late. Did anyone say why TY didn't start? Maybe because DeBruhl has played better lately?

The announcer didn't say why DcBruhl and Lose started for TY and Milling. I assume just trying to shake things up

Ags up 38-29 at half. Good overall half for the Ags. Defense all around was solid, and Pepper does what Pepper does (17 Pts).

Good to see Pepper heat up at the end of the half. Up to then, over half of his points had been on charity shots.

Interesting to listen to the play-by-play guy when he's neutral as opposed to when he was rooting for Montana on Sunday. He's not bad at doing both the play-by-play and the commentary.

Agreed, the announcer is solid. I did find it funny that he called Leo DeBruhl, Led.

I couldn't believe the announcer when he said DeBruhl was from Australia and that the Aggies were a very international team with 8 transfers! Way wrong!

Great job on the boards by the Aggies: 25-19 which includes 12 offensive boards that have led to 9 second chance points. Leo is playing some really good ball right now too.

This game gives us an answer to the question: Where do the Ags get their scoring when Pepper is not shooting all that well? The answer: No one. Pepper just shoots more and UCD outscores opponents at the foul line.

Yep, free throws and hopefully good defense that leads to breaks. That's the hope when Pepper is on the bench.

The commentator has called DeBruhl "Led" a number of times, so it has to be that he is seeing the "o" as a "d."

Great win for the Ags. Ade with some clutch baskets down the stretch, and great defense all around. Les has to be pleased with the effort today.

I liked the fact that, despite the height disadvantage, the Aggies held a big advantage on the offensive glass, 18-10. That gave us 9 more shots, making up for the poor percentage.

Aggies get a very good win 68-53. This was a solid win from start to finish for the Aggies over a perennially good NDSU team that has dominated the Summit League recently.

I thought the biggest difference was the Aggie's aggressive defense and the +10 rebounding margin that included 18 offensive boards. Pepper was Pepper but I also thought that Leo and Ade played very well and Ade made some critical buckets down the stretch. Losé and Tamba are excellent defenders and Manu is showing more of his skills in the limited minutes he gets. Milling is still struggling to find his shot but he is defending and rebounding well.

Overall, I think we began to see the team play in a way that Les has envisioned: tough, tough defense, excellent blocking out, aggressive rebounding and efficient scoring.

I caught the tail end and while I haven't followed as closely in recent years, many past Davis teams would've let this slip when NDSU went on that run halfway through the second half. Nice way to close out! Loved the interior defense and rebounding intensity

Loved the interior defense and rebounding intensity — quadshock

Absolutely. We're not all that big inside so that interior defense and rebounding was just good effort and hard-nosed basketball.

Hopefully the interior defense/rebounding only gets better with Mani and Bora back. Assuming they come back soon. Next game is until the 26th, so there's time for them to get back on the court.

Yes, we certainly can use their size inside for sure. Bob Williams mentioned that the coaching staff is very high on Jac Mani so I'm anxious to see him in action.

Just to recognize some guys that don't get much time, I really like Lose and Manu's efforts today. Both played solid defense, and while they didn't score a bunch, seemed to fit into the flow of the offense. Lose even hit a 3, which I think the team sees a lot of in practice (Bob Williams has mentioned his good work in practice several times), and Manu dunked on a nice pick play. Maybe the offense will come a little more as the season progresses, but even if it doesn't, their defense should keep both in the rotation.

I also think that we're getting some good minutes from Niko Rocak. The more minutes he gets, the more confident he's looking.

It looks like the team has enough bench depth that Les will be able to use a lot of players and get good contributions in smaller but significant doses.

I agree with all of the above. I just wish guys like Lose and Manu and even Milling would be more aggressive on offense. They all pass on a lot of open shots preferring to pass the ball or drive closer to the basket where they miss more contested attempts.

Missoula, MT. — Elijah Pepper scored a game-high 24 points to help lead the UC Davis men's basketball team past the North Dakota State Bison 68-53 at Dahlberg Arena Tuesday afternoon.

With his scoring contributions today, Pepper is now tied for second in program history for total career points, as he sits at 1,694 points, right alongside former Aggie great, Corey Hawkins. Pepper needs just 128 more points this season to become the program's all-time scoring leader.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2023/11/14/mens-basketball-pepper-scores-24-points-in-uc-davis-68-53-win-over-north-dakota-state.aspx

It must have been strange playing in such an empty arena. The official attendance was 71!

Also, the zone switch to m-t-m is causing some confusion with teams. Ags start in a zone, but switch to man to man as soon as the ball is thrown in to a man flashing to the middle. I would imagine teams will start to scout this switch up and will be better prepared to attack it, but for these early games against unique opponents, its pretty effective. If nothing else, it slows down the opponents offense as they try and adapt. Don't know for sure, but NDSU had at least 3 shot clock violations.

I wonder why the North Dakota State coaching staff did not pick up on the Zone to Man switch. I can't believe they didn't see it when we played Montana since they must have had scouts watching both teams on Sunday. The problem with that defense is that when we start in a zone, sometimes we stay in it and sometimes it becomes a matchup zone, so hard for the players on the court to adjust on the fly. It's brilliant defense IMHO.

You're right, some times we do stay in a matchup zone and sometimes we switch. It requires all 5 guys on the floor being in synch. I don't remember us using this before, but maybe i wasn't paying close enough attention.

I really like the zone to man switching and, even if teams prepare for it, it's still going to be pretty effective since they have to adjust on the fly. I like the soft 1-2-2 zone press we use a lot also. It doesn't often get us a TO but it does burn 8-10 off the shot clock and then teams have only 20-22 seconds to figure out our switching defense. Pretty cool strategy.

I what triggers the switch and when we stay in the zone or not. Whatever it is, I think it took a lot of practice to get everyone in sync and on the same page with each other.