I missed the first 12.5 minutes. Looks like a low scoring game. Has it been good defense or just poor shooting?

The game has started, but ESPN+ is not showing anything yet. Does anyone else have it?

It's hard to believe that CSU will be able to host a game tonight with all the fires in that area, but there is no news about it and I am sure that a basketball game is not a priority nor should it be in the middle of this terrible conflagration. They're going ahead with the game.

A very telling stat was points in the paint. CSUN had 40 to our 12! I had a sense from the very start that the Ags were letting the Matadors get too many layups and not even on fast breaks (where he difference was only 12 to 11). And to take BlueGold's point, a lot of those intertior scores were by Jones and Fofana, both 6'6".

Hard to tell how well Borra would have been this season, but I was never impressed with him in the past. His athleticism was limited and he was slow. Quicker big men took advantage of him. Last season was his best but he still only averaged 12.6 minutes a game. For his height he was not a great rebounder or rim protector. He had more fouls than rebounds. Ade Adebayo, at 6'5" and lack of offense, was much more effective in the front-court alongside Nico. It's likely he would have been better this season but how much we'll never know.

Games of Jan. 4:

UC San Diego (13-2/3-0) 90, CSU Fullerton (home, 5-11/0-3) 51
UC Irvine (home, 10-2/1-0) 81, UC Riverside (10-6/1-3) 57
CSU Bakersfield (home, 8-8/2-2) 80, Long Beach State (6-10/2-2) 65
Hawai’i (home, 9-5/1-2) 68, Cal Poly (6-10/0-4) 55

It's kind of a chicken and egg problem because more assists also improves shooting percentages.

Looking back at the last half dozen years or so of solid point guard play, I see that the Ags usually average 12 assists per game for the whole season. This year it's 10.8 not that far below. Maybe Coach Les doesn't stress assists that much or maybe TY just isn't that great about distributing the ball. It would be good to see him penetrate and kick the ball out more often.

He did play for a grand total of 2 poorly played minutes.

Giving credit to the Matadors, they're a lot better this year. Their defense was very good. Adams is a great addition, noting that he was 5 for 9 from the arc and had 28 points. Also, Keonte Jones ripped down 20 boards. When was the last time that happened against us? On the other hand, the Ags continue to struggle from the floor and I note that their assist to turnover ratio in their last two games is 16:28. BlueGold was right about not covering the 8.5 spread. Dr. Mike was right about not being able to win shooting under 30%. Coach Les has to figure out how to right the ship before it sinks.

I'd like to see TY pull up for a short J instead of trying to force a shot inside, even if he draws a foul. He's only 6 for 9 from the free throw line in this game.

Nicole? Did you mean Nico Rocak?

Aggies down 34-25 at the half and it could have been worse. Seems like the guys are in a collective shooting slump these last two games. CSUN is playing solid defense, but that's no excuse for a 6/24 effort by UC Davis. Rocak, DeBruhl and Tamba have a total of 4 points between them and TY is 1 for 5. They can still turn this around. Focusing on Mani, I get the impression that his basketball IQ is not very high, as if lacks experience or something. He had 2 turnovers, foul and a goal-tending call on plays when he should have played smarter.

The thing about sports is that you never know for sure what's going to happen. Go Ags! Sevilla drains two treys in a row and defensive rebounding seems better. Trouble is, everyone else is 0 for 5.

That group behind the Aggie bench was there deliberately, making a lot of noise during the timeouts to interfere with the coach's instructions. It's consistent with the Bakersfield brand of sportsmanship. Extra glad there's only one more visit there. Hope they never schedule them again for anything.

Games of Jan. 2:

UC Irvine (11-2/2-0) 98, Cal Poly (home, 6-9/0-3) 89 OT
CSUN (9-4/2-1) 95, CSU Fullerton (home, 4-10/0-3) 65
UC Riverside (10-5/1-2) 76, Long Beach State (home, 6-9/2-1) 60
UC Santa Barbara (9-5/1-2) 64, Hawai’i (home, 8-5/0-2) 61

Cal Poly is going to be tough to beat at home as shown by taking the Anteaters to overtime.
I watched the second half of the Hawai`i game. The Gauchos built an 13 point lead with a 15-0 run in the second half and almost blew it at the end making only one field goal over the last 7 minutes.

I've said it before, but the Aggies have trouble playing team ball on offense. They only had 5 assists but that is not unusual. They had only 5 against Pepperdine. In fact, with the exception of the Oregon State game they have single digits in assists i every loss this season. Between that, the lack of rebounding at both ends and poor outside shooting (4 of 21) there's a lot of blame to spread around. Things will only get harder Saturday vs.CSUN.

Tamba was a non-factor in this game (4 pts. no rebounds) until the end, but the rest of the team failed to give TY much offensive support with Sevilla's 10 and no one else in double figures. Ugly game, ugly place to play, ugly commentators and even their PA announcer was trying to rattle TY's foul shooting.

Ags shooting has really tailed off so that they're just about even now around 35%. It's clear that UCD is not comfortable playing in this kind of game, both last year and this year.

Don't think much of the Roadrunners TV guys. They're about the worst homers in the league asking for fouls on the Bakersdfield players. One of them was calling Rocak "Mani" in the second half. They also have made a bunch of mistakes on the number of fouls on Aggie players.