I made it out alive, but while the Aggies had the lead, I was wondering about how much verbal abuse I might get if they won. The crowds in Hawai`i have gotten much more vociferous in recent years. I might have been the only UC Davis fan there. I had a seat close to the bench and was wearing my UC Davis hoodie, so when I saw Jim Les look up at stands pregame I gave him a V sign and he grinned and pointed to my hoodie. I also was yelling "Go Aggies" as loud as I could and thus attracted a lot of attention. I figure I was outnumbered 5000-1.

As I drove home, I listened to coach Ganot. He said that the Ags did a good job of icing Hawai`i, i.e. forcing the guards out of the paint off the high post screens that the Warriors run. Asa result, the coach said he made a half time adjustment to space the offense in a way that opened the middle for the big men to penetrate and they got a lot more drives and jams as a result. Note the increase in offense on both sides in the second half. Unfortunately, the change was to Hawai's advantage.

Later they interviewed Da Silva who noted that their defense was keying on Eli and T.Y. and that, as we saw was effective. They both looked very frustrated. Both Anigwe and Beasley too over much of the scoring. UCD was also good at shutting down their leading scorer, Noel Coleman who only got 7 points.

Yeah, I had a chuckle at that one. I doubt that the reporter had seen us play at all, so he probably over-generalized from something that coach Les told him. Note: rebounding will be the key. The only games the Ags have lost were the ones they were out-rebounded and only Milwaukee beat us when we out-rebounded them, but they shot 62% from 3.

Hawai`i's coach, Eran Ganot, might be the best coach they have ever had. He is already second in victories. He is 8-5 vs. Jim Les, including only one loss in Honolulu. Today's Honolulu Star-Advertiser had this to say about the game (in part):

"UC Davis presents several challenges. Six-foot-4 ElLijah Pepper (19.7 points and a6.2 rebounds per game), 6-3 Loyola-Chicago transfer Ty Johnson (16.3 and 5.) and 6-5 Ade Adebayo can [all] shoot from the outside, post up or drive and pitch.

"'We try to use the the versatility of our guys,' UCD coach JimLes said. 'We don't pigeon-hole and of them into, 'hey, so-and-so is a point guard,' and 'so-andso is a shooting guard.' Multiple guys will rbing the ball up the floor. They'll push it on the break.'

"The Aggies average 16.3 fastbreak [points] per game.

"Christian Anigwe, a 6-foot-9 post, averages 5.3 rebounds and has blocked 20 shots [this season].

"'We've been stressing with this group to have a physical nature to us.' Les said. 'Part of that is a physical defensive group. And good defense has to finish their defense with, hopefully, first rebounds.'"

[Brackets are mine.]

I'm going to guess that Hawai`i will dominate the boards, including the offensive boards and otherwise limit the Ags ability to fast break. They won't be intimidates by a physical game since they are entirely capable of being physical themselves. The key for a UCD win will be if they can get 3-point shots to fall over the Warriors tough perimeter defense. If they win, I hope I can get out of the arena in one piece, but I agree with BlueGold about a 10 point loss.

UC Davis is a 7 point underdog and as loyal an Aggies as I am, if I were a betting man, I'd take Hawai`i to win by more than that. The sports page here in Honolulu was extolling the potential of a 7'1" freshman named Mor Seck, from Senegal. He has looked pretty raw all season, but against Washington State he had 6 rebounds in 8 and half minutes. They think he is due for a breakout game and it might come against us, which could make us more sick.

Brilliant!

After watching Hawai'i beat 3 very good teams, including one Pac-12 and one Big12 school, I need to revise what I wrote above. I don't see think any team in the Big West is better than Hawai`i. A major qualifier is that Hawai`i has not played a single game away from Honolulu and they are notorious for folding on the road. I can see them losing 4-6 games to the UC schools plus the Beach.

I don't think we'll play a better defense all season. Whew! Bruins had 8 steals and 7 blocks. They did a good job of forcing the game at their pace, neutralizing the Ags speed, which is our only advantage over UCLA. Still, I won't call it a blow-out since the final margin was close to the point spread. My hope is that the game will provide coach Les with some teaching points. It was a clinic on how to lay man-to-man defense. Next up: Big West play.

Ags still fighting, but the differences are beginning to show. I hope the team doesn't lose any wheels, even while the vehicle is getting wrecked.

UCLA does have a drama department, right? I wonder how many acting classes their team has gotten? I counted at least 3 flops resulting in offensive fouls called against the Aggies. Of course, that doesn't explain the score, but it helped.

Ags leading through most of first half, despite shooting only 29% from the field!

The AP has UCLA at #13 and the coaches poll has them at #9. This leads me to ask what was the highest ranked team that UCD has ever played? If my memory serves (and lately, it has served me none too well), in 1968 the Aggies played Santa Clara in the old Men's gym. The Broncos were ranked #2 at the time. I was at that game and it was no contest. Subsequently, Sports Illustrated ran a story on SCU, which featured Dennis Awtrey and the Ogden brothers, in which they mentioned that Santa Clara had "swatted such flies" as UC Davis. Taking umbrage, a friend of mine wrote a letter to SI upbraiding them for dismissing us and SI printed the letter. But I digress. Assuming I'm correct, have the Ags ever played a#1 team?

From Wikipedia: "In December 2022, (Holy Names) announced plans to close after the spring 2023 semester. It cited "rising operational costs, declining enrollment, and an increased need for institutional aid", particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn. It has formed a relationship with Dominican University of California to allow students to continue their studies there after Holy Names closes." It's kind of too far for Cal to use it for students, but Milll's is just down the road.

I wondered over the hyperbole of the EWU broadcasters calling us the best team in the Big West or one of the best teams in California. I guess that's how they pump up the Eagles to make the W a lot bigger than it really is.

This was easily the worst I've seen the team play this year. They lost their composure when they lost their lead. I'm going to guess that they will come home in January against UCI hoping to avoid a 4th straight loss. Hope I'm wrong.

Hard to believe that the Ags have now missed 17 3s in a row since the early minutes, one by Pepper and one by Milling.

Eagles have more assists (13-7) and rebounds (31-29). Ags have 10 more points from the foul line, but the 3s push everything to EWU's advantage.

:D

Good to see Milling back. He's made half of their 3s. John Stockton is in the audience.

The end of the half was pretty strange.Lots of odd calls by the refs. Ags not hitting from the 3 line so far: 18%. If they were stroking at their usual rate, they might be ahead by double figures. I think the Eagles made an early mistake trying to get the ball to their big man, Price. The Aggies did a great job of collapsing on him and forcing turnovers or missed shots. I notice they gave up on that at about the mid-point of the half. Nice that we have the lead. Even nicer that they're shooting 90% from the free throw line. I suspect they worked on the mental angle over the finals break.

So far, so good. Ags making 100% of their free throws. :)