will make the headline if we ended up losing this game with 17pts lead
can't imagine to be this sloppy at the end of the game given how much focus on defense Les put on this team

that's the thing, it wasn't the defense that led to the collapse. It was not being aggressive enough on offense

And at the end, three turnovers in the last minute or so.

I feel like those turnovers were also due to lack of aggressive offense. If they all know you're going to run clock maybe just take it in for a layup instead of playing hot potato

No shots on like 3-4 possessions is inexcusable

My heart can’t take this

I thought they started milking the clock too early. Not only does that lead to forced shots, but it takes away their aggressiveness on offense. I would rather play UCI than the Beach. They're on a roll and want to win for Monson. The Aggies cannot lose their composure tomorrow and expect to win.

I mean beautiful basketball into the most careless basketball I have ever seen. We are LUCKY…

Where are you seeing us as the 16 seed. Crazy that Irvine is a 12 in a lot of spots and we’d drop to 16…

All I can say is that we survived but the way we lost those big leads in both halves and nearly threw the game away with TO's in the final 3 minutes makes this win feel kind of hollow to me. I'm happy we won and happy for the team to play for a championship regardless.

We're #16 seed here.
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2024-march-madness-men-field-predictions

The three at the end weren't due to not being aggressive. One was Johnson trying to dribble around right under our own basket when he could have passed to an open guy. The second was the pass to Pepper on the inbounds that he fumbled off his knee. The last we actually broke the press and our guy (can't remember who) tried to pass across the court and Hawaii picked it off.

KenPom ranks Irvine 77 and us 172. The NET rating has Irvine at 73 and us at 168. That's why there's the huge drop in terms of projected seed.

I mean beautiful basketball into the most careless basketball I have ever seen. We are LUCKY… — SoCalAggie

Took the words right out of my mouth...

maybe not consecutively, but draining click and being trapped in the corner leaving 1 second to get a shot off not long before impacted momentum.

On the Johnson one I recall was after a risky cross court pass, and couldn't draw a foul because he shot from a standstill after giving up a dribble

The inbound pass I think was just nerves and bad luck, just terrible in the context of the other plays

Then passing across the court for a turnover is exactly what I mean. That's the time to be physical

My blood was boiling so maybe my memory is hazy

I looked at several dozen bracketologies, and UC Davis is generally chosen as the #15 seed. It looks like UCD is clearly better than five teams who have a NET rating worse than 200.

Scary how fast that almost went south. Up 8 with 1:30 we run a perfect inbound (saving that all year?) to Tamba with 1 on shot clock, it rolls out and we foul on the rebound. So, instead of up 10 with the clock running with less than 1:30, they sink 2 FTs with a stopped clock and 6 point deficit and can set up their press (TY turnover).

That ball rolls in and we’re spending the last minute at the FT line icing the game.

Whew

2 point favorites, but ESPN likes them at 56%.

Need another hot start from Milling. Can’t get too reliant on Pepper - 23 shots I think indicates a stagnant offense. And we CANT get killed on the boards.

And we CANT get killed on the boards. — DrMike

Long Beach has big advantage on the boards with their length and quick athleticism. I don't think we can win the battle of the boards but, like you said, we just can't get killed on the boards. They were able to get offensive boards in our previous games with them by simply going over the top of us with their length even when we had 2 or 3 players in good position for the rebound.

It's going to be tough to go inside on them also. They have the ability to swat a lot of shots at the rim so we need our shooters to be on target from the outside. We could see them using a box and one to slow down Pepper so we really need Milling and Johnson to shoot a high percentage to help take some of the pressure off Eli.

Long Beach will be emotionally sky high. They finished the regular season losing 4 of their last 5 and then Monson got let go so they feel like they have something to prove and, of course, they want to win a championship for Monson as his swansong. I've watched several of their games this year and they got slapped with a few technicals for taunting and trash talking. We need to be careful and not let any of that stuff get to us and take us out of our focus of playing smart basketball and keeping our heads cool.

Defensively, we have to be disruptive without getting into foul trouble. Les preaches that good defense leads to good offense and it's true. If you look at the Hawai'i game, for example, when our defense was solid and disruptive, our offense was on fire and, when we started having defensive breakdowns or committed TO's, our offense stagnated. So it's imperative that our defense is locked in and disruptive and we take care of the ball.

The Beach has looked scary good in their last two wins over Riverside and Irvine. We may be the #2 seed but I think we're the underdog in this one given how they're playing right now and how difficult it is to match up with their length and athleticism. The crowd will be decidedly bigger for them also. We'll need to have our A game going from the start to finish. Go Ags!

The way ESPN has it, it's the exact reverse of the Hawai`i game: UCD is a 1.5 point favorite but the analytics give the Beach a 54.4% chance to win. I agree that we will probably not win the rebound battle. In the last matchup, Long Beach had a 39-25 edge. What helped was that they only made 3 of 16 from 3 land and that's not likely to happen again.

Last night, I noticed that TY was missing on his shots from the perimeter. I think he only made one and I can't remember him penetrating to make a lay-up (as opposed to getting fast break lay-ups). I think he might be the key today along with Milling. If they are both hitting, we've got a chance, because we know that Pepper will be on.

Long Beach was hitting hitting shots from everywhere against Irvine. I hope they don't do that against us. We won't be able to give them room beyond the arc while betting that they'll shoot a poor percentage.

I just noticed that all four of ESPN's college basketball experts picked UC Irvine to win the Big West. Well, I guess they were wrong, but hard to blame them.

On ESPN2, the preceding game is going past 6:30. Anyone know whenthe Aggies actual tip off will be?

Says will tip at 6:34 on ESPN News. You should be able to stream it if you get ESPN2.

Thanks! Got it.

Not off to a great start down 6-2 14:00 to go. 1-11 from field

This team looks so lost and inexperienced right now.

Playing much better the last few minutes. Not nearly as hesitant offensively as they were at the beginning.

That Kane Milling sequence was so beautiful.

If TY and Pepper can make their shots, they'll be playing catch up with us. Just have to play some good defense.

Great turn-around after a scary start!

Still playing like crap