It looks like the Ags have clinched at least a 3 seed.

Did I hear Scott Marsh say that Long Beach had two key players out tonight?

Great to see Pepper break out on Senior night! Does this clinch at least a four seed?

Pepper is still struggling from outside, but he still got 10. He and TY are the difference in the game, but Ade now has the energy that had been missing recently. In fact, the whole team has energy, which shows on the boards. They have 4 offensive rebounds to Hawai`i's 0. Only 2 turnovers to Hawai`i's 7.

Great start! Smart of Jim Les to set up a play for Eli to get a wide open mid-range shot to get him going. Hope it works.

The Honoluly paper had some nice quotations from Coach Les and underscored the importance of the game for both teams, noting that Hawai`i i has--as of pre-game--a mathematical shot at the two seed.

Hawai`i has swept UCD at least 4 times since both teams joined the Big West. When the Rainbow Warriors first joined, I thought they would dominate since it was a step down from them from the Mountain West and teams like Utah and Brigham Young, but they've never done well on the road and that has been their Achilles heel. Hope that continues tonight.

Given what Eli Pepper has invested in staying at Davis, he must be terribly frustrated at how his recent shooting slump has been much of the problem in their last three games, two losses and a close win at CSUN. I wonder if he's putting too much pressure on himself. I don't think it's due to anything special that defenses are doing, after all, it's not like his abilities are new to the other coaches. I hope he can shake it off down the stretch. The Ags have enough talent to win the tournament if they do't beat themselves.

True and this season, Hawai`i has not gotten a W against a Big West team with a winning record. They're 3-5 with their three wins coming over UCR, Poly and Fullerton. I hope that trend continues.

Good news: Hawai`i beats the Beach so Ags still have the second seed.

Bad news: Hawai`i comes to Davis next week.

The stats tell much of the story. Ags got out-rebounded 39-27 and on the offensive boards 16-7. CSUB had 8 more assists and twice as many steals and blocks as UCD. Ags made only 25% of their 3s while the Runners gunned for 39%. The question is why? How does a team lose that much focus and energy from not that long ago?

I second what everyone else has written. This is both mystifying and sad. Tonight had to be the worst game of the season considering the opponent. I mean losing by nearly 20 to a team that will not likely qualify for the playoffs does not bode well for the Aggies as we head down the stretch against Hawai`i, UCSD and the Beach. Even fourth place is starting to look shaky now.

I have to admit that Pepper is not shooting well. His shot looks fine from the foul line, but he has missed badly on most of his 3s. Generally, the team seems out of focus as they have the past five games. They're being outhustled by the Roadrunners. Note, for example, the difference in both rebounds and turnovers in the first half.

Eli has had trouble in the last two games. In the previous two (Hawaii and Long Beach) he got 29 and 32 points respectively. It looked to me that both UCR and CSUN had some success denying him the ball. He got a total of 23 shots in those games, while he had 25 in one game vs. Hawai`i. Here's where we hope that Coach Les figures out how to get him the ball.

Pepper made one incredible defensive play after he missed a baseline shot and ran all the way down to chase down a Matador who had a layup and was able to make a clean block. That got the broadcasters' attention.

So now the worst that UC Davis can finish is 11-9 good for at least 8th and a playoff spot, but if I understand the new tournament structure, they would get at least one bye by finishing 3rd or fourth. I don't know how much of an advantage it is having two byes and sitting around that long.

We certainly did not deserve it, but not only do we have TY to thank but the Matadors missed two shots at the very end, of which the last was a missed tip in, so we got lucky. With the exception of Bostick CSUN does not seem very talented, so I think the Ags earlier crushing of them was more illustrative of the difference in quality between the two teams. In other words, the guys still seem to be in a funk and if not for TY would have dropped their fourth in a row. Maybe they'll find their mojo in Bakersfield. (By the way, anyone know why CSUN is called the Matadors?)

Whoever is directing the broadcast is pretty clueless, showing replays over live action and cameras on the sidelines when a play is going on. Maybe some media production major at CSUN?

We're lucky that CSUN is only 5 of 11 from the foul line, but their number 0 is killing us having scored almost half their points on a lot of shots in the paint. Meanwhile Pepper is 0 for 6 despite a couple of good looks. Rocak, too, seems off his game.

It's distressing that so many teams in the Big West are hitting their stride as the playoffs approach, while UC Davis has badly stumbled. I'm hoping that we see things turn around tonight.