Correction: According to ESPN, the Aggies are not hosting Idaho this week, but Idho. :)

We’re listed as 7.5 point favorites. Need to get off to a strong start - we almost dug ourselves into an inescapable hole vs Sac. They will be well aware of TY’s ability to get to the hoop so we need to hit the open 3’s. Not expecting much of a crowd which hopefully won’t effect their concentration.

Of course, we were 5.5 favorites over Norfolk and that didn’t go well.

The good news: Ags are taking it to the hoop and drawing lots of fouls, 5 before the 15 minute mark. Bad news: they're 4 of 8 from the foul line. Other good news: Vandals are 1 of 7 from the floor.

32-25 Aggies at the half. Ags could be up 15 if they could make some FT’s…only 11-21.

It's a very sloppy game, but the Aggies are playing very solid defense to offset the offense, which is clicking on zero cylinders. The D clamped down on Mitchell, #14 after he hit 3 treys early and he's been shut down since then. Likewise for their top scorers: Mims, Mrus and Payne, who have only 2 points between them at the 15:38 mark in the 2nd half.

Defense has been solid; FTs not so much. Feels like we should be up 20 instead of 10. 4 to go.



Quiet crowd inside the pavilion

The end of this game is a lot more tense than it should have been. 16 missed free throws!

les can’t be happy about that, but nice to get another win. This team has some serious potential.

Uninspired play. The Ags were just flat. Like others have said, FTs were about as bad as they could be. I actually started feeling bored and left early. I guess every team has an off day.
They had a new dance group at the game. Sad to see they ignored the national anthem and sat with their backs to the flag.

new dance group? Fun! The missed ft? Must have made you want to jump out of your seat!

why do you think the ft we’re so off? I didn’t even think that was a major issue early this year.

Les joked about how good the Idaho FT defense was in the post-game, radio interview. He also said that, when team starts missing a bunch of FT's, the players "start seeing the misses instead of the makes" when they get to the line so mentally there's just more pressure and the misses keep coming.

Of the 16 missed free throws, TY and Tamba accounted for 11 of them. The rest of the team shot 17 for 22, 77.3%. So what Coach said applies to the individual, it wasn't a team epidemic of bricks.

Tamba missed his first two FTs in our first possession and never looked comfortable after that. TY missed two right before halftime (first time he’s ever done that?) and looked a bit bewildered when he came off the court.

If those two shot like they normally do, it’s a 15-point win. If the ref doesn’t call a T on Tamba as he’s mumbling walking off the court about 15 feet away from him, it would have been a 15-point win (four point boast in Idaho’s 10 point run).

one more thing on TY : that guy is getting hammered every time he goes to the basket. On the foul i was referring to above just before the half, he got blasted by a couple of guys. He took at elbow to the eye early in the game (garnering a T on Idaho) that required a bandage to stop the bleeding. I thought he should have drawn 3-4 more fouls last night, but the refs seemed to let that go (but called a whole bunch of ticky-tack stuff on both teams).

He's pressing a bit now, but it feels like a breakout game is coming. He's still a menace on defense.

Speaking of defensive menaces....Niko was a terror last night. 4 blocks, 4 steals, and a ton of altered passes and shots.

Can't say I'm a big fan of our new 'Majorettes' who sat in the baseline bleachers and danced randomly to the timeout music.

I enjoyed the Majorettes. At least they were there which is more than can be said for the band who have missed more home games than they have made.

The thing about Niko is that he gets up so quickly. He usually wins the opening tip over taller players and opponents misjudge his ability to block their shots. Of course, his timing and body control make him a quintessential shot blocker too. The other thing about the Aggie players is that they have a high basketball IQ--something Steve Kerr also looks for.

and he’s doing it with minimal fouls!