Riverside gets their first conference win and ends a 10 game losing streak by beating Hawai'i 64-60 on the island. This is the first time that Hawai'i has lost 4 straight conference games since joining the league. Wow...the wild, wild Big West...

Did anyone attend the NLI Signing Day Event at the El Macero Country Club tonight?

Aggies win 85-77 behind Morgan Bertsch's 26 points, 5 rebounds and 6 blocks. The 4th quarter was not without some drama though. Poly began to press and double team and cut the Aggie 17 point lead down to 7 before the Ags hung on for the win. Jen Gross has to find an answer for the Aggies' trouble with pressure defenses. Dynn Leaupepe had 34 for the Mustangs.

65-53 Aggies going into the 4th quarter. Poly has started to press and double team and the Aggies are having problems with it. In the last game we were up 20 early in the 4th and cut the lead 3. We'll see if the Ags can handle the pressure.

That's a good question. You would think that they dress because there is an outside chance that they may play...but...

The Ags have done a much better job of taking care of the ball and have only 7 TO's so far. Rebounding, however, is where we are getting clobbered 25-12...way too much standing around watching and waiting for the ball instead of going after it. We need to be much more aggressive on the boards.

Sure, it can figure into the equation but I think Les has to consider if Strom can really contribute at this point. There was a reason he decided to redshirt him this year. My guess is that Les didn't feel like he was ready for the speed and physicality of the D1 game and felt he needed a year of practicing with the team.

Aggies take a 5 point lead into the half 46-41 in a tight up and down game.

Poly 20 Aggies 18 at the end of the first quarter.

I noticed that as well. I don't think Les would want to burn a year of his eligibility at this point in the season. Of course, circumstances could force his hand.

I thought I heard that he had an injury a few weeks ago but, curiously, there has been nothing mentioned about him lately not even on the radio pre-game shows. He has not been seen in street clothes at the games either.

We could be without Colin Russell also. He went down with an ankle injury in the LB game. If that's the case we are going to be really thin inside.

It's sure looking that way, 6th. This is a sad situation for everyone especially Chima's teammates. I'm sure they're crushed considering the possibility that he may not get reinstated at all. This team has worked so hard to get to where they are right now and I'm sure they had dreams of going back to the Big Dance. Although that's certainly not out of the realm of possibilities, the path sure has gotten a lot more difficult. It's really such a shame.

Gauchofreg and gauchodan are good folks, Goags20172, and they do a great job over on the Big West Boards and the Gaucho forums. I think the back and forth banter isn't meant to be trolling and disparaging.

Gauchofreg asked me to write about the Aggies with respect to the big upcoming game and I appreciated that he wanted the Gaucho fans to be able to know more about the Aggies. I also invited any Gaucho fans to come over to our forum to talk about the game and I like it that our forum is a very welcoming group that isn't interested in talking smack.

I appreciate that you keep us very informed about Aggie baseball and I enjoy your offbeat sense of humor when you're feeling creative.

I'd like for fans of our opponents to feel welcome to come over to our forum and share their thoughts.

QB Gunnor Faulk has not signed...??

Thanks for the corrections. I mixed up the shooting percentages for the Gauchos. It should be 46.8% overall which is outstanding and 37.8% from 3 which isn't shabby either.

I was just speculating about the zone since it has caused us problems this year. We have done much better against man defenses.

Hahaha...I love TJ's sense of humor:

With a soft smile and a concession speech – he still holds out hope that he will grow taller – he also reveals a family trait: a playful sense of humor.

“You should talk to my mom,” he offers, shaking his head. “Her name is Darlene Long. My father’s name is Timothy Shorts. She goes by Long-Shorts.”

Jalen Canty, UCSB's 6'8 big man, has been indefinitely suspended also and it is unknown if he will play on Thursday either.

Coach Les says that the win over Long Beach may be the greatest game in his experience.

Excerpt from today's Davis Enterprise:

Jim Les says he has played in, coached or simply watched a great number of basketball games in his life, but he’s not sure any of them can top UC Davis’ 105-104 double-overtime road win Saturday night at Long Beach State.

“It’s certainly in the conversation as the greatest game in my experience,” said the Aggie head coach, who played collegiately at Bradley and then seven years in the NBA (including four with the Sacramento Kings).

The dramatic win was sealed when point guard T.J. Shorts II hit a running 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left after Long Beach had taken a 104-102 lead with 6.4 seconds remaining.

Joe Mooney started the play with a pinpoint in-bound strike to Rogers Printup near midcourt. Printup responded with a perfect bounce pass to the streaking Shorts, who took it in stride and raced downcourt uncontested before launching the game-winning shot.

“We run that play in practice every day and it never works,” said Les with a knowing laugh. “But the attention to detail on that play was fantastic. Rogers’ pass hit T.J. perfectly.”

Shorts pulled up just behind the 3-point arc even though the path to the basket was relatively clear for a layup that would have tied the game and sent things into a third overtime.

“I probably would have gone for the layup at that point, but these guys are way smarter than I am,” Les said.

“They’re UC Davis students. I’m glad they didn’t listen to the coach. I saw T.J.’s shot go up and I thought it looked pretty good. It’s got a chance.”

Shorts said he never considered anything but the trey, given that three of his teammates were out of the game with five fouls.

“There was no way we were going to go into a third overtime,” Shorts allowed. “We were going to end it right there.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/a-coach-led-team-can-be-good-a-player-led-team-can-be-great-ucds-jim-les/

Great job, CA Forever!