Surprisingly, the Big West tournament is NOT the talk of the hotel here in Henderson. I think teams are at the Green Valley Inn, next to the arena. Convenient and the room price for tonight was $750! Drops $500 after 4 teams go home after tonight. — DrMike

Wow! That's too rich for my budget!!

From The Big West Banter by Gauchodan:

The Mustangs (14-18, 8-12) have changed the narrative of their program, ending a conference losing streak that spanned 3 seasons with 8 wins in 12 games. Cal Poly won its last 3 games by an average of 26.3 points as it became increasingly more comfortable in Mike DeGeorge’s helter skelter offense. Cal Poly also held its last 3 opponents to a combined .400 field goal percentage. One team the Mustangs haven’t been able to beat is UC Davis, committing 53 turnovers in two losses.

The Aggies (15-16, 9-11) limp into Henderson on a 6-game losing streak. Regular season scoring leader TY Johnson was shut down by UC San Diego in the season finale, going 2 for 15 from the field for his only single digit scoring performance (5) of the season. UC Davis has shot .386 or less from the field in 4 consecutive games and has not topped .500 vs. a Division I opponent this season.

https://bigwestbanter.substack.com/p/big-west-tips-off-its-tournament?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3137908&post_id=158900955&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=31ratq&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

It's been a pleasure watching TY during his years here. He's right up there with the very best guards to have worn an Aggie uniform and we've had some great ones.

This year has been a struggle for the Aggies and, if we don't win at least one game in the BW Tournament, we'll end up with a losing record for the season. That won't help with recruiting for next year and, with our move to a higher level of competition in the MWC in 2026, we need to step up the recruiting and turn things around quickly if we are going to have a chance to compete successfully in the MWC.

Do you have a link to this list?

As for their coach….he does come off as a smug bastard. He’s overtaken Pasternik in my disliked coaches ranking. — DrMike

My thinking as well. At one point in the game a Triton player put up a long air ball as the play clock was expiring only to have it fall right into the hands of their big guy and he tipped it in for an easy two almost like it was meant to be a lob pass. There was a big groan from the Aggie crowd and the Triton bench jumped to their feet to celebrate and their coach looked over at the Aggie bench with a big, gloating smile on his face and seemed to enjoy rubbing it in. He's seems smug for sure and his team can be cocky but, so far, they're walking the talk. I don't care for it though...

It was really great to see Leo have a career night in his last home game in front of a big crowd but it was also really unfortunate to see TY have such a tough game. Nils Cooper has made great progress this season and he was a warrior on the boards last night. He's tough as nails but he also takes a physical beating underneath the basket. I think he'll become even stronger and more physical next season after a solid training program in the off season.

Niko was almost absent with no blocks, 2 points and only 2 rebounds. — Toke69

I think Niko had an injured hand the last few games.

Official attendance: 4281.

They may well be. There are a bunch of football players here.

We have struggled on offense all season but we’ve really slumped late in the season. I sure hope we can make a run at them in the second half and give this something to get really excited about.

The entire lower sections are full. Great crowd and great energy in the house! Now, if we can just make some baskets!

A group of about 30 guys, maybe a frat, just came in and are sitting behind the south basket and are wildly cheering every Aggie dunk and our players really put on a show. It’s so good to see them having fun!

I’d say only about 30% of capacity so far but the really good for us with 35 minutes to tip off.

45 minutes to tip off and the students are arriving. Hope they keep coming. The upper sections are pulled out and the seats on the floor at the south end are marked reserved.

It looks like the Athletics Department has done a good job of promoting this game. I think that we just may have the largest crowd of the season which is a good thing. However, we may also get run out of the building considering the the polar opposite directions that these two teams are currently heading and that would not be a good thing especially if it happens in front of a big crowd on national TV.

The Ags have lost 5 straight and we were completely outmatched in the blowout loss to Irvine on Thursday. Irvine was on fire and our defense did little to slow them down. The Eaters were simply a superior team.

We were never in that game from the start and the team looked absolutely demoralized. Les exited the floor quickly after the game and did not come out for the post-game, radio interview either. We've seen him do that before when he is very disappointed with the team.

Maybe the fact that this is the final game for our seniors combined with it being played in front of a big crowd on national TV, will be motivational enough for the Ags to make a competitive game out of tonight's contest. Fingers crossed...

I just looked at Live Stats and saw that the Aggies were ahead by 7 points 53-43 with 4:25 to go and didn't score for the rest of the game.

Another tough loss. The Ags have to find a way to win these close games.

I sure hope the second half goes better than the first. This is the best turnout of students we’ve had this year and a blowout loss won’t help bring them back on Saturday.