The Aggies will be trying for their 5th straight win Friday at 8 pm when they travel to San Francisco to play the Dons in the War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. This looks to be a tough game for the Ags who are coming off a week of finals after beating William Jessop 86-52 a week ago. The Dons will be playing at home for the 8th time in 9 games so far this season.
USF is coming off a nice win over Eastern Washington 81-71 and have also beaten St Francis 75-63, Sonoma State 78-55, Central Arkansas 78-76 and Sac State 69-56. The Ags beat Sac State 64-47 by comparison. The Dons losses have been to LBSU 83-71, UCSB 79-72, and Arizona State 75-57.
San Francisco is led by 3 players scoring in double figures: 6'3 F G Souley Boum at 15.2 ppg, 6'5 So G Jordan Ratinho at 12.5 ppg, and 6'5 Sr F Chase Foster at 11.1 ppg. They have good height with 5 players on the roster 6'8 and taller including 7'0 and and 6'11 post players. As a team they are averaging 72.6 ppg to their opponent's 69.8 ppg while shooting an overall average of 39.1% from the field and only 30.6% from 3.
Chima Moneke continues to lead the Aggies with 20.7 ppg and 11 rebounds per game. Siler Schneider is chipping in 12.2 ppg and TJ Shorts is adding 12.1 ppg. As a team the Aggies are shooting a good 47% overall and 41% from beyond the arc while averaging 70.3 ppg and holding their opponents to just 62 ppg. Rogers Printup has been seeing some playing time lately with Joe Mooney ailing and has been on fire from 3 hitting 9-18 from long distance.
This game is actually game #1 for the Ags in the Continental Tire Classic which will culminate with two games in Las Vegas after the Ags play their second game of the tourney at Nevada next Tuesday. On Friday the 23rd the Aggies will play Lamar in Vegas and another game TBD on Saturday the 24th.
Live online stream 8 pm Friday from the WCC Network:
That would be great. My wife and I and our son will be in SF for 3 days but we will be at the ACT Theater to see a production of "A Christmas Carol" Friday evening so I'll be checking the score at intermission.
In reading the series history between these two teams, I was surprised to see that they have only played each other 7 times over years despite the close proximity of the two schools. The Dons lead the all-time series 6-1 with the only Aggie win coming in the 1939-40 season 45-30. The most recent win by San Francisco was on November 29, 1976, when they obliterated the Ags 120-76...ouch!
The oddsmakers currently are listing the Aggies as 3.5 point underdogs. Time for some payback after that last whooping we took 41 years ago!
Men played Santa Clara last year in the Cable Car tournament - season opening tournament hosted by SCU. Ags won...forget the score but it was a pretty entertaining game.
Dons 38-28 at halftime. Referees are giving favorable calls to the Dons. A little frustrating. I don't think the Ags are playing badly, so I think there is still hope in the second half.
74-61 final. Dons played better offensively. I just learned those "USA" cheers were really "USF." :) I don't feel bad about this game since the Ags didn't really play any boneheaded moves, but my basketball IQ is really low. I'll let the professional armchair quarterbacks make a better diagnosis.
Thanks for posting up, eba. I’ll post up a few thoughts later. Right now I’m having a couple of drinks with my wife and son enjoying an evening in the city.
Caught some of the end. Outrebounded by 7?, USF had more assists, 1st guess is better passing. Late in the game our offense didn't seem to have a flow. Are the Dons on Xmas break? (Gym empty.)
The Dons are tall, so I assumed being outrebounded as a given. I also wrongly assumed they would drive more to the basket with their height advantage. Instead, I was surprised they were content in finding the open man behind the arc. They did that efficiently.