vs CSU-Bakersfield (1-4)
The Roadrunners are a similar team to us - far too talent to have the poor record we do, and I suspect it'll be a close one.
Ultimately it is, but we prevail 62-55 as
Geoffrey Blodgett takes top honors with 17 points and 2 steals. Great game overall by
Muhammed Owen - 9 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 steals.
The Butterfly Man scores 11 with 2 blocks and 2 steals,
Dennis Luther with 10 points and 2 steals. Props to
Truman Crain for rejecting 5 himself.
vs Mount Saint Mary's (1-5)
Terrible defense has doomed the Mountaineers to this record, so we should be able to pile on and move one step closer to .500. Should being the operative word.
And of course, this is the game their defense is suddenly magically fantastic and we're down 14 at the half. It ends up a rout of almost 20 points as our depth gets exposed when the refs decide to call every bleeping foul on us. Let's move on.
vs Bryant (1-6)
Seems like we have a loss every year that absolutely tanks our RPI and the Mountaineers was it, going from Green (60) all the way to 148 (Orange) by the time we face the Bulldogs. I hold no hope of beating anyone.
Tied at 38-all at the half. I still laugh that the AD is convinced we're a tournament team. The
Butterfly Man wakes up in the second half to finish with 16 points and a steal as we eke out a 78-72 victory. 10 points, a block, and 4 steals for
Dennis Luther, 13 and 9 for
Muhammed Owen, 10 points for
Truman Crain.
vs Radford (0-9)
The Highlanders have gone winless because they have trouble scoring, but you know we're exactly the opponent to reward terrible teams with free wins even when we're much better on paper.
Sure enough, they shoot over 60% in the first half and we're down by 9 on a buzzer-beater. You can't make this shit up.
But then we get hot late in the second half and win 78-65 on a flattering to deceive scoreline.
Butterfly Man wins his second straight PotG with 31 points and 2 steals,
Dennis Luther scores 12 with 5 assists and 4 steals,
Geoffrey Blodgett scores 11 with 8 rebounds and a block, and
Muhammed Owen just misses a double-double with 9 points, 10 boards.
vs Northern Colorado (2-7)
We have a shot of getting to .500 if we can beat the Bears, who are a Big Sky bottom-feeder. I feel like they're a little better than their record, but the caveat of us not being great applies.
We're down 14-40 at the half. LOL. What an absolute farce.
[b]vs High Point (2-8)
Doesn't matter what we do here. For the first time in a long time, we're guaranteed to finish under .500 in non-conference play.
The Panthers pounce on us and we're down by 8 at the break, as our shooting continues to desert us. We try to rally back, but our shooting turns to ice late in the second half, resulting in a 3 point loss. Pathetic.
Code:
2021 Big West Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UC Davis Aggies 0 0 .000 7 2 .778 38 50
Cal State Fullerton Titans 0 0 .000 6 5 .545 25 37
Cal Poly Mustangs 0 0 .000 4 5 .444 153 42
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 0 0 .000 4 5 .444 186 26
Cal State Northridge Matadors 0 0 .000 4 7 .364 294 27
UC Irvine Anteaters 0 0 .000 3 6 .333 70 32
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 0 0 .000 2 9 .182 277 42
UC Riverside Highlanders 0 0 .000 2 7 .222 280 53
Long Beach State 49ers 0 0 .000 1 9 .100 205 23
Pacific Tigers 0 0 .000 1 10 .091 314 20
I have no idea how UC-Davis is 7-2. They don't look that good. CSU-Fullerton is definitely looking like the class of the Big West in what appears to be a down year for the conference.
vs Hawaii (4-5)
We'll just see what happens.
Neither team can shoot and we're down by 4 at the half. I don't know why we suddenly can't make anything. It's damn frustrating, but no clue how to fix it.
Bogdan Gonchar has his best game yet - 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals off the bench to secure the comeback 66-64 win we honestly didn't really deserve. 10 points and a steal for
Geoffrey Blodgett, 15 for the
Butterfly Man.