Missoula, MT. — Elijah Pepper scored a game-high 24 points to help lead the UC Davis men's basketball team past the North Dakota State Bison 68-53 at Dahlberg Arena Tuesday afternoon.

With his scoring contributions today, Pepper is now tied for second in program history for total career points, as he sits at 1,694 points, right alongside former Aggie great, Corey Hawkins. Pepper needs just 128 more points this season to become the program's all-time scoring leader.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2023/11/14/mens-basketball-pepper-scores-24-points-in-uc-davis-68-53-win-over-north-dakota-state.aspx

I agree. I think their smaller players were quicker than our taller players also. The Aztecs reacted to the ball much quicker.

I saw Sac do that against NAU also. They have speed in their WR's and their QB's can get the ball downfield with accuracy. Sac can be explosive.

I also think that we're getting some good minutes from Niko Rocak. The more minutes he gets, the more confident he's looking.

It looks like the team has enough bench depth that Les will be able to use a lot of players and get good contributions in smaller but significant doses.

It was a frustrating loss for sure but I though it was a significant improvement over the PSU game. I too wasn't impressed with their lack of blocking out and rebounding despite our height advantage. You have to give SDSU credit though. What they lacked in height they made up for with good shooting and aggressiveness. They're small but they've got some good athletes.

Yes, we certainly can use their size inside for sure. Bob Williams mentioned that the coaching staff is very high on Jac Mani so I'm anxious to see him in action.

Loved the interior defense and rebounding intensity — quadshock

Absolutely. We're not all that big inside so that interior defense and rebounding was just good effort and hard-nosed basketball.

Aggies get a very good win 68-53. This was a solid win from start to finish for the Aggies over a perennially good NDSU team that has dominated the Summit League recently.

I thought the biggest difference was the Aggie's aggressive defense and the +10 rebounding margin that included 18 offensive boards. Pepper was Pepper but I also thought that Leo and Ade played very well and Ade made some critical buckets down the stretch. Losé and Tamba are excellent defenders and Manu is showing more of his skills in the limited minutes he gets. Milling is still struggling to find his shot but he is defending and rebounding well.

Overall, I think we began to see the team play in a way that Les has envisioned: tough, tough defense, excellent blocking out, aggressive rebounding and efficient scoring.

Great job on the boards by the Aggies: 25-19 which includes 12 offensive boards that have led to 9 second chance points. Leo is playing some really good ball right now too.

I couldn't believe the announcer when he said DeBruhl was from Australia and that the Aggies were a very international team with 8 transfers! Way wrong!

11/13 Scores:

UTEP 89 UCSB 76
Cal 83 Bakersfield 63
UCSD 116 LaVerne 57

Jen was clearly not happy with the officiating. The Ags couldn't get a call but were getting tagged for cheap bumps and phantom touches over and over. The disparity was big.

Regardless, the disappointing thing to me was that we were clearly out played in the final 6 minutes. We lost focus and got out hustled. SDSU was simply more aggressive down the stretch and it paid off for them.

The Aggies played well for the first 3 quarters and then self-destructed in the 4th. The Aggies were ahead 63-55 with 6 minutes to go and then the turnover bug hit again along with a bunch of fouls. The lead disappeared and the Aztecs went off on a 22-5 run to end the game with a win 77-68. The biggest factor in the win by the Aztecs was their good 3 point shooting (8-15) and 23-26 from the line.

As well as the Aggies played for 3 quarters, this is a very disappointing loss. Shooting only 24% from 3 on 5 of 21 didn't help either. The Ags had a distinct height advantage too. SDSU doesn't have a player over 6'0 but they out hustled the Aggies and got critical offensive rebounds when the Aggie got caught flat footed.

Overall, this game was an improvement compared to the loss to Portland State. Burns was much better at PG with 12 points, 9 assists and only 3 TO's.

55-51 Aggies after 3 quarters in a really good ball game. The Ags need had a chance to stretch the lead but are shooting poorly from 3...only 3-15 for 20%.

39-35 Aztecs at the half.

The Aggies are shooting 55% overall but only 29% from 3. Turner and Sabel have 9 apiece but Sabel had to sit out the entire 2nd quarter with 2 fouls.

SDSU is shooting 47% overall and 67% from 3. The Aggies went to a 2-3 zone for a while in the 2nd quarter and it was effective in slowing the Aztecs down. SDSU has some very talented players.

33-25 Aztecs with 6:15 to go in the half. The Ags need to tighten up their defense.

24-21 SDSU at the en of the first quarter.

Both teams are playing well. Sabel has 9 for the Ags but has to sit now with 2 fouls. The Aztecs are a very experienced team. They have two 4th year players, one 5th year and two 6th year players.

The Aggies received a few votes in the polls this week but are still not in the Top 25:

FCS Coaches Poll for Week 11:

#3 Montana
#4 Montana State
#8 Idaho
#10 Sac State
#34 Aggies (4 votes)

STATS Perform FCS Poll for Week 11:

#3 Montana
#4 Montana State
#6 Idaho
#8 Sac State
#31 Aggies (5 votes)

AGS Poll for Week 11:

#3 Montana
#4 Montana State
#7 Idaho
#10 Sac State
Aggies - no votes

Man, I sure hope he stays here for next season!

Turnovers have been the Achilles heel of Jen's teams the past couple of years. PG's should be your best ball handlers and passers and, when they are prone to throwing the ball away, it's a big problem. TO's also have an emotionally negative effect on the team and tend to lead to scoring runs by opponents.