• Toke69
    497
    The Mustangs are desperate for a win to keep their hopes alive for making the post-season. They are currently in 9th place but far from out of things. They are not a bad road team being 3-3 away. Hamad Mousa, #10, continues to be the leading scorer in the Big West now at 21.2 ppg. helped by his 36.2% accuracy from the 3 point arc. In their loss to CSUN on Thursday he scored 33 including making 7 of 11 three point tries. When the Ags lost down in San Luis Obispo he put 24 points on the board, but only 14 came from the field as he hit 10 of 10 from the free throw line. In fact, it could be argued that the Mustangs beat us from that line as they made 26 of 28 from the charity stripe, scoring nine more points form there than UCD did. Although Cal Poly lead the league in free throw percentage, it is unlikely that they will again hit 93% or even get 28 chances. That’s the good news along with UCD being a 6.5 point favorite. The bad news might be seeing the Aggies again play to the level of their opponent and Cal Poly seems a bad matchup.
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    Oddsmakers have us at 5.5 point favorites (looked like it started at 6.5). One site has its simulated games show us with about 80% chance of winning with a score of something like 84-76. I hope we can hold them to under 80 and score like the first half down there.

    Should be a decent size crowd today. Hope the football team is in the ‘barn’ again
  • abridge
    155
    The football guys added so much to the game. They were great.
  • abridge
    155
    Note that Nico didn’t play down at Poly
  • Toke69
    497
    Yes and that was Coach Les' mistake by his own admission.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    Really small crowd.
  • Toke69
    497
    But the football team is there!
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    I don’t see them, Toke.
  • Toke69
    497
    My mistake, I was looking at footage from Thursday and thought it was live:( Aggies playing down to the level of the opposition again. zero for 6 from 3, getting out-rebounded.
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    Lazy turnovers, giving up offensive rebounds and cold shooting….thankfully only down 12-10 with 11 to go.

    Surprised at the crowd. I was talking to someone in ticket office Thursday who implied an expected good turnout. And nobody in the ‘barn’
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    The crowd has filled in a little but the energy in the building is flat.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    Ugly basketball by both teams.
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    I think shooting 1-12 from 3 and getting killed on the offensive boards will do that!

    I don’t get our crowd - they show up 10-15 after the game starts. Getting into the parking lot can be a chore, but plan ahead.

    Down 22-17 with 3 to go. Feels like we should be down 15 or so
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    22-21 at the half. Not pretty. It was 47-38 last time we played each other
  • Toke69
    497
    Hard to say who is flatter, the fans, the Aggies or the Mustangs. I'm going to predict that both teams will start hitting 3s in the second half at a much higher rate. Of course, even 10% would be a higher rate fore the Ags.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    That was one of the ugliest halves of basketball I’ve seen in a long time. The Ags look really tired. I hope they have energy drinks in the locker room. Hope we can pull out an ugly win.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    Poly shot 21% and still has the lead 22-21 at the half…we obviously don’t have a shootout today!
  • Toke69
    497
    The most striking difference is on the boards. CPSLO had 27 v. 18. The Ags have no excuse for not fixing that in the second half.
  • Toke69
    497
    This illustrates how poor an offensive game this has been: Through 24 minutes of play, not one of the 20 players who had spent time on the court had scored in double figures. Now Wilson has 12.
  • Toke69
    497
    Maybe we'll win this one! Up 5 with 1:22 left.
  • SoCalAggie
    118
    The little streak continues!
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    In the words of Tina Turner ‘we don’t do anything nice and easy’

    Wilson and Sevilla were big on offense down the stretch but our defense and tenacity on the boards win this one.

    Stokes brings a lot of that tenacity - often stretching the rules a wee bit!

    We really need to get Cooper back in a groove. He looks really gunshy with the ball. A rebirth there will be big in these last few games
  • Toke69
    497
    I'd rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss. Ags really stepped up half way through the second period, but they started to do better on the boards and the treys from the start of the half as I hoped/expected. I wonder what Coach Les told them during the break? I'm guessing one thing he told them to do was block out. They out-rebounded Cal Poly 23-11.
  • abridge
    155
    Totally agree with the "block out" coaching. Very weird officiating. We were laughing at times because they had their choice of three fouls and three people and chose traveling .
  • abridge
    155
    Cooper walked to the locker room with his jersey pulled up over his head.
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    in this day and age, you worry that a guy starts looking for greener pastures if his playing time and role diminishes.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    Man, the first half was not pretty but the Ags hung in there and pulled out a gritty, hard fought win. Games like this go a long way in long run because the players learn that, if they just keep grinding when the shots aren't falling, they can still pull out a win if they can just keep game within reach.

    Another great game from Marcus Wilson and Connor Sevilla has ice in his veins at crunch time but it was our defensive pressure and rebounding in the second half that saved the day for us. The unsung heroes in this game were players like Jalen Stokes and Nils Cooper who did the tough, physical work in the paint boxing out and scrapping for rebounds. Jalen is tough as nails and battles hard for the 50-50 balls. Braydon Fagbemi came up with that crucial steal that set up Sevilla for a beautiful 3 that put us up 4 with 4 minutes to go. Total team effort today.
  • Toke69
    497
    The team has been consistently inconsistent this year, but this game felt like one of those they would have lost earlier in the season. I'm hoping that they've turned the corner now and have learned how to win as a team and be consistently consistent. If true, then it should show up next week against San Diego and there's a real shot at a top four finish.
  • abridge
    155
    I thought Nils did a really good job in the 2nd half - much of his work won't show up in the stats but he was a factor on the defensive end. I watched a few of his interactions with Les as he came off - Les seemed to find positive things to say (based entirely on his body language.)

    Marcus Wilson just plays such a steady game - you look up and suddenly he has 20 points.

    Les was really managing Nico. His shoulder must be bugging him and maybe something else?

    Sevilla made some killer 3's. He missed a few but they kept feeding him and he came through. A mentally tough kid.
  • DrMike
    1.1k
    agree with all your points especially Cooper. I think his okay of Niko was all about matchups. Remember he sat out the entire game down there
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.6k
    “It’s find a way February,” enthused UC Davis head coach Jim Les after his men’s basketball team rallied in the second half for a dramatic 67-58 Big West Conference win over Cal Poly before a crowd of 1,521 Saturday afternoon at the University Credit Union Center.

    “I thought we gutted out a win and battled through some tough stretches with a winning effort,” Les added.

    “Things don’t always go your way and our shots weren’t falling, even though we had some good looks, but we found some different ways to win. I’m really proud of how our guys did it today.”

    “It was really an unbelievable effort down the stretch,” Les went on.

    “Good teams find ways to win games when things are tough. As we move up in the standings, teams are going to bring their ‘A’ game against us and we have to be ready.”

    “I was frustrated when I went out so early with three fouls, but it was a blessing in disguise because all that time on the bench gave me fresh legs and I was able to get to my spots more quickly,” Sevilla explained.

    “Every day we come in with the same mentality, to play for each other.”

    “He’s steady and his demeanor never changes,” said Les of Sevilla.

    “He did it on both ends of the floor today.”

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