The Ags escape, and I do mean ESCAPE, and win 80-76 after completely melting down in the 4th quarter. Poly put on a furious rally and forced the Aggies into numerous TO's in the 4th quarter with full court pressure, 21 in all for the game, and the Aggies, for the first time this season, completely lost their poise.

Any team that sees the film of this 4th quarter will utilize full court pressure against the Aggies. The Ags repeatedly telegraphed passes, dribbled into double teams, threw high, lazy passes that were easy to pick off and twice had over and back violations. I don't think I have ever seen an Aggie team so discombobulated and flustered as those 8 minutes. Certainly not this team that's for sure.

This is a veteran team that prides themselves on their calm poise and they will be embarrassed to watch the film of this one. Jen Gross will need to gather her team and do some serious work on handling full court pressure.

The Aggies got very lucky today leaving San Luis Obispo with a win.

And the Aggies turn the ball over again with 21 seconds left.

Poly cuts the lead to 3 with 28 seconds left.

The lead is down to 5 with 2:08 left as the Ags continue to turn the ball over.

After being up 20 points the Aggies are on the verge of giving this game away with tons of TO's and only lead 73-68 with 3:20 left...wow!

Hawk retweeted the following with a picture from Gunnor Faulk QB from Christian Brothers HS in Sacramento:


Gunnor Faulk
‏ @GF_6Gun
Jan 17

Another great in home visit from some @UCDfootball offensive staff. Can't wait for my official in February! #goaggies

https://twitter.com/coachhawkinsucd?lang=en&lang=en

I'm not sure of the year, perhaps 3 years ago, when the game at Hawai'i did not end well. I do not remember all the details but game got chippy near the end and some Hawai'i fans started throwing stuff onto the floor. Then a Hawai'i player got a technical in the final seconds. That fueled the fire and the boos rained down while an Aggie shot the FT's. The Aggies won the game.

At the final buzzer, Coach Les shuffled his team to the locker room and just waved at the Hawai'i coach and then he left the court also. There was no handshake line. Afterwards, Les said he just wanted to protect his players and didn't want anything to escalate further. It was probably the worst fan behavior I have seen since I began watching Aggie basketball although I'm sure it was instigated by only a small percentage of the fans.

John Frost is the only player I don't have a distinct memory of. I remember all of the others very well and they were special players indeed. I think there is a good possibility that we might see Brynton Lemar in the Aggie Hall of Fame someday as well.

The Ags, playing like the veteran team they are, kept their poise and sprinted out to a 9 point lead in the 4th quarter and then hung on to win 68-61 despite shooting only 4-23 from downtown for 17%. Karley Eaton spurred the Aggie comeback with two 3's and a layup to bring the Ags back and take the lead by 5 in the 4th.

The Ags came out sleepwalking in the 3rd quarter and now trail 48-47 going into the 4th. They are shooting only 11% from 3.

Aggies played much better in the 2nd quarter and lead 32-24 at the half.

15-12 Gauchos at the end of the first quarter. The Aggie offense has been sputtering and this low score favors the Gauchos at this point.

Nice set of photos from the Aggies win over LBSU:

https://adam-bridge.smugmug.com/Sports/Basketball/Mens-Basketball/UC-Davis/2017-2018-Season/2018-01-17-CSU-Long-Beach-at-UC-Davis/

Hard for anyone to sit in the blazing sun. I dread the September home football games when everyone in Aggie Stadium is chasing the shade. Even October can be brutal and, with climate change, it's not going to get any better anytime soon.

I hear you, Mike. They had the fan feast last night and the food was free for the students. I decided to support the effort and payed $12 and got a single falafel which was pretty good and one of the more healthy selections they had available.

I have to say though, as I was walking by the various food stations, I couldn't help but notice just how many of the students were quite a bit overweight. I say this from a purely observational point of view and not in a disparaging way. It appeared to me that many of these kids were carrying a lot of extra pounds and I can't help but think that many of them are so engaged with their electronic devices nowadays that they are already living a sedentary lifestyle. It seems to reason, that if our young people are increasingly less physically active, that they just may not be interested in sports in general and find them boring compared to the digital world at their fingertips.

Of course, health experts are saying that 70% of Americans are now overweight or obese so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I could stand to lose 5 pounds myself (but at my age...I have an excuse!) Anyway, it would seem that this doesn't bode well for the health of these kids over the years to come and could be a huge health cost to our society in the future.

O'k I'll take a shot at this:

PG Dante Ross - great ball handling skills and a slasher driving to the bucket. I remember that the legendary coach, Dean Smith, said Ross was a good D1 caliber player after watching him in the D2 championship game.

G Corey Hawkins - an acrobatic wizard driving to the bucket and a deadly shooter from anywhere on the floor.

G Brynton Lemar - a tremendous defender, good shooter and a solid leader game in an out.

F Mark Payne - another great defender with length and great all-around offensive skills

PF Chima Moneke - a powerful, relentless rebounder and defender with great offensive skills that are still expanding. The best big man we have ever had.

Coach D2 era: Bob Williams - Winning the 1998 D2 Championsip as a non-scholarship program was a monumental achievement and a huge watershed moment for UC Davis basketball. It was a big loss for us when he then immediately left for the head coaching position at UCSB.

Coach D1 era: Jim Les - He is masterful at getting the most out of the players he's able to recruit into our program given our academic standards. Leading us to the NCAA Tournament last year was the second big watershed moment in Aggie basketball history.

Best Aggie player ever - Corey Hawkins I think Corey was the most talented player we have ever had to wear an Aggie uniform. He was a consummate basketball player who excelled in all areas of the game and would have done well playing in the PAC12. We were lucky to have had the pleasure of watching him play.

That's an interesting team, Toke69. It brings back memories too.

I was watching a little bit of the Villanova @ Georgetwon game yesterday and they talked about a new section of student seating where cell phones are not allowed. I guess the students turn their phones in voluntarily at the door and are encouraged to sit next to each other and talk to each other. The section was nearly full. It was funny though when they panned around to some other sections and students were glued to their phones oblivious to the game. Of course, that may have had something to doe with Nova being ahead by 40 too.

Well that was really fun watching the Aggies' offense essentially win this game. Thank goodness that Siler, AJ & TJ were feeling it tonight because the defensive plan by Long Beach was a good one. They're very quick and athletic and their 2-3 zone pretty much took Chima out of the game offensively. They made the Aggies shoot from the outside and, tonight, the shots were dropping and we also got some very nice transition buckets. I thought we handled their 2-2-1 zone press very well also.

I wasn't sure if we would survive the last 2 minutes after Chima, Garrison and AJ all fouled out and we had 5 guards in the game. Some nice ball handling against their trapping press, some clutch FT's and a layup by Siler after breaking the press sealed the deal.

I was surprised that the official attendance was only 2169. It looked like more than that to me. I guess the trick is offer free food for the students and they will come...

Lots of contributions by all the Ags that got into the game. This was a proud win for the Aggies!

Great group of players, Oldbanduhalum.