Dec. 15, 2010

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UC DAVIS MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES
UC Davis (4-6, 0-0)
at
North Dakota State (6-3, 1-0)

Thursday, December 16, 2010
5:00 p.m. (PST) - Fargo, N.D.
Bison Sports Arena (5,830)
KFSG (1690 AM)

OPENING TIPS
- UC Davis dropped their last contest at UCLA, 74-67. The Aggies have lost two of their last three games, with both losses coming against Pac-10 teams.
- The Aggies outscored the Bruins 40-34 in the second half to make the game interesting, cutting the deficit to six late in the second half.
- Freshman Josh Ritchart poured in a career high 23 points off the bench, connecting on 9 of 12 field goal attempts with a 5 of 6 mark from long range. Ritchart registered career highs in four separate categories vs. - UCLA, including points, field goals made, three point field goals made and rebounds.
- Todd Lowenthal missed his second straight game due to injury, with Ryan Sypkens receiving his second consecutive start vs. the Bruins.
- UC Davis is on their longest road trip of the season and will travel the longest distance from home to play North Dakota State.
- North Dakota State enters Thursday's game with a 6-3 overall record and a 3-0 mark at home.
- The Bison have won their last three games. Earlier this season, they took a 68-60 win over UC Santa Barbara in the Basketball Travelers Invitational.
- Michael Tveidt is averaging 14.4 games to lead North Dakota State, while shooting 56 percent from the floor and better than 60 percent from behind the arc.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Thursday's game will mark just the second meeting between UC Davis and North Dakota State. In the only meeting last season, the Aggies lost a close one at home, falling 63-62 vs. the Bison. Mark Payne had 15 points and four assists for UC Davis, while Eric Carlson and Michael Tveidt combined for 33 points.

HEAD COACHES
Gary Stewart is in his 18th year as a head coach and his 8th season with the Aggies. He currently owns a 224-253 overall record and a 82-134 mark on the sidelines with UC Davis. Stewart was with the Aggies during all four years of the transition to Division I and is set to lead the program into their fourth year as a D1 member.

Saul Phillips holds a 61-41 record in three plus seasons with North Dakota State, in his first head coaching job. Phillips directed North Dakota State to its first Summit League championship and NCAA Division I tournament appearance in 2009. He was one of 10 finalists for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year award. The 38-year-old Phillips was an assistant coach at North Dakota State for three seasons before being elevated to the head job when Tim Miles was hired by Colorado State.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE SCOUTING REPORT
The Bison hold a 6-3 overall record with a perfect 3-0 mark in home games. NDSU dropped an overtime loss at Oregon to start the season, before rebounding with a 68-60 win over UC Santa Barbara. The Bison have won their last three contests, with their most recent win an 81-55 defeat over North Dakota. NDSU also won their first Summit League game at South Dakota State, 82-75. Their latest game vs. North Dakota was played in front of a record crowd of 10,709 at the Fargodome. North Dakota State will return to the Bison Sports Arena (5,830) to play UC Davis. For the season, the Bison are averaging 79.2 points per game as a team.

MEDIA COVERAGE
Thursday's contest will air on KFSG (1690 AM). The North Dakota State broadcast crew will provide the call on KFSG, with Scott Miller on play-by-play and Jeremy Jorgenson providing color. The broadcast will be simulcast on ucdavisaggies.com through Game Central by Stretch Internet. The game will also be streamed live and available to watch at gobison.com. Live stat are available via gobison.com.

LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies' bid for an upset at UCLA fell just short, in a 74-67 defeat vs. the Bruins. Freshman Josh Ritchart had a career high 23 points off the bench for UC Davis, but the Aggies couldn't overcome a 15-point second half deficit. The The Bruins jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and never trailed in the game. The Aggies had a brief tie in the first half and had the lead down to single digits on multiple occasions in the second half, but got no closer than six. Ritchart's game high 23 points came on 9 of 11 shooting, with a 5 of 6 effort from behind the arc. UC Davis had three players in double figures, with Joe Harden and Mark Payne also contributing 16 and 14 points, respectively.

RITCHART RISING
Josh Ritchart had one of the more impressive performances of the season for UC Davis, when he scored 23 points off the bench at UCLA on Dec. 13. After going a perfect 3 for 3 in the first half, 16 of Ritchart's 23 points came in the second half, including four threes. He had a stretch late in the game where he hit three consecutive threes, to pull the Aggies within six, the smallest deficit of the second half. Richart is the only player on the team other than seniors Joe Harden and Mark Payne to have recorded a 20-point game in his career.

ON TOP OF ASSISTS
UC Davis had a season high 20 assists in their win vs. Notre Dame de Namur, while also recording a season low 10 turnovers. In the Week 5 Big West Conference Report, the Aggies climbed to the top of the leaderboard in team assists, with 15.1 per game. The next closest league foe is Long Beach State, with 14.1 game. Senior Mark Payne is a big reason why UC Davis is finding ways to effectively share the ball. Payne moved into sole possession of second place for career assists at UC Davis after the win vs. the Argonauts, with a total of 383 assists.

LES IS MORE
Freshman Tyler Les sparked an onslaught of threes vs. Notre Dame de Namur, coming off the bench to hit a team best four triples, while UC Davis hit 15 from long range for the game. The 15 three point field goals set a new program record for threes made in regulation, surpassing the previous mark of 14. Eddie Miller and Ryan Sypkens also had three threes apiece, while the Aggies shot 15-30 as a team.

HARDEN'S SCORING HEIGHTS
Senior Joe Harden has lived up to his preseason All-Conference selection, leading the Aggies in scoring and rebounding this season. Harden scored his 1000th career point vs. Seattle, followed by a career high 27 points in the next game vs. California. Even more impressive is that he has reached the 1000 point milestone in just three seasons with UC Davis, after transferring from Notre Dame. Harden is one of just five Aggies in history to reach 1000 career points in three seasons. He is currently on pace to be the all-time leading scorer among three year players. John Frost (1965-68) leads the group with 1,346 career points.

SHOTS FROM THE HEART
Head coach Gary Stewart and assistant coach Kevin Nosek are participating in collegeinsider.com's "Shots From the Heart." The objective of Shots From the Heart is to help create more awareness for the growing problem of Heart Disease and to raise money to benefit the American Heart Association during the 2010-11 season. The event will also play tribute to the late Skip Prosser who passed away on July 26, 2007 of a heart attack. To do this, college basketball coaches have been competing against one another in a free throw shooting tournament. The tournaments started in November with separate brackets for head and assistant coaches and the winners advancing to the next round.

Both coaches for the Aggies advanced in the first round and will play their second round matchup sometime from Dec. 16 - Dec. 31. Coach Stewart downed John Beilein from Michigan in the first round, 27-25, while coach Nosek took a win over Kurtis Townsend of Kansas, 29-24. The second round matchup pairs coach Stewart vs. Mike Londergan of Vermont, while coach Nosek will face off with Alvin Brooks III of Sam Houston State.

CHECK THAT... (PART II)
Another stat correction this season ended up providing another noteworthy accomplishment. In the Nov. 27 game vs. Seattle, freshman Mike Kurtz was originally credited with four blocks. It was later revealed that Kurtz should have had five blocks. The five blocks for Kurtz ties a single game UC Davis record. Kurts now shares the record with Jason Cox (vs. St. Rose (N.Y.), 3/19/98) and Randy DeBortoli (vs. Cal State Hayward, 2/6/88).

LOWENTHAL IN THE NCAA RANKS
With the first NCAA statistical rankings posted on Monday, Nov. 29th, Todd Lowenthal was the only player for the Aggies that received an individual ranking in the top 100. At the time, Lowenthal led the team in assists and steals and was among the nation's best with 2.3 steals per game (57th) and a 2.36 assist to turnover ratio (85th). The next highest ranking for UC Davis was Mark Payne, who was shooting 82.2 percent from the free-throw line (182nd). As a team, the Aggies were ranked 93rd in free-throw percentage, shooting 71.1 percent.

Q&A WITH STEWART AND PAYNE
In the Nov. 29, 2010 issue of ESPN the Magazine, there is an article on page 64 about "hybrid players." Senior guard Mark Payne (6-8, 215 lbs.) was originally interviewed to be included in the article, with head coach Gary Stewart also commenting on Payne's status as a hybrid player. The Payne section was eventually left out of the final article, but the Q&A session with Payne and Stewart is available online to read. Visit ucdavisaggies.com and check out the "around the web" section to access a link to the conversations.

UC RIVERSIDE HOME GAME TO BE TELEVISED
UC Davis has picked up a televised game this season at home vs. UC Riverside on January 27th, with a tip time set for 7 p.m. The recently added game will air on Comcast California. The Aggies play in four televised games this season, but the Jan. 27th tilt will be the only home contest televised for UC Davis.

CAUSEWAY CUP CONTINUES
UC Davis jumped ahead in the Causeway Cup standings after a dramatic 17-16 win in the football Causeway Classic on Saturday, Nov. 20. The Causeway Cup awards points to either UC Davis or Sacramento State. Each of the schools' 18 common teams usually compete against each other at least once during the year. The winner is given the pre-determined amount of points of either five or 10. If the two schools meet just once in a season, then all the points will go to the winning team. But if the teams play each other two times or more, the points are divided by how many meetings occur. A men's basketball win just three days after football gave the Aggies a commanding 37.5 - 15.0 lead in the 2010-11 Causeway Cup standings. The winner of the cup must score more than 50 points out of a possible 100. Last year, UC Davis took a 55.83 - 44.17 victory over Sacramento State.

CHECK THAT...
After checking the stats from previous games, an interesting correction has been made to the first game of the season vs. Florida Atlantic. In that game, Mark Payne was originally credited with 13 free throws on 13 attempts. After the error was revealed, Payne was 14 of 14 at the line vs. FAU. Not only did the correction give Payne a 20-10 game, but the 14 free throws made ties a career high for the senior guard.

AGGIES INK JT ADENRELE
The UC Davis men's basketball team announced Wednesday, Nov. 17 that JT Adenrele from Oakmont High School in Roseville, has signed a National Letter of Intent and will join the Aggies next fall. Adenrele, a 6-foot-6 220-pound forward, helped lead Oakmont to an impressive 25-8 overall record during the 2009-10 season. They also finished second place in their division with a 9-3 record and advanced to the section semifinals under head coach Rick Campbell. Adenrele averaged 11.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game at Oakmont as a junior. For his play in the 2009-10 season, he was awarded SFL League Honorable Mention. Adenrele also played AAU during the off season from spring through summer, under coach Ernest Taubodo with the E-Times Hoops Academy.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Joe Harden and Mark Payne have both put together double-doubles this season, with Harden posting two consecutive in the most recent games. Throughout the season, all double-doubles by the Aggies will be monitored on a game-by-game basis.

Joe Harden Mark Payne
UC Santa Cruz 11-17 - 16 pts./11 rebs. Florida Atlantic 11-12 - 20 pts./11 rebs.
Wisc.-Milwaukee 11-14 - 21 pts./11 rebs.

1000 POINT WATCH
Seniors Joe Harden and Mark Payne entered the season just shy of the 1000-point plateau, with each player starting the year with over 900 points. Payne reached the career milestone on Nov. 14 vs. Wisc.-Milwaukee, scoring 17 points in the game and becoming the 17th member of the UC Davis 1000-point club. Harden Scored his 1000th on Nov. 27 vs. Seattle, scoring 16 points in the game. The progress of the overall career standings for both players will be monitored on a game-by-game basis.

13. Jason Robedeaux, 1983-85, '86-88 - 1,112 career points
14. Alan Steed, 1967-70 - 1,107 career points
15. Mark Payne, 2007-present - 1,089 career points
16. Joe Harden, 2008-present - 1,062 career points
17. Thomas Juillerat, 2003-07 - 1,059 career points
18. Dante Ross, 1996-99 - 1,052 career points

NO PAYNE NO GAIN
Despite missing eight games due to injury last season, senior guard Mark Payne was the Big West active career leader in three separate categories entering the 2010-11 season, including points (964), assists (352) and steals (149).

In the UC Davis record books, Payne is also in the top ten in career assists and steals and climbing the leader board. His progress will be monitored on a game-by-game basis.

CAREER ASSISTS CAREER STEALS
1. Angelo Rivers, 1982-86 467 1. Dante Ross, 1996-99 186
2. Mark Payne, 2007-Present 389 2. Angelo Rivers, 1983-86 180
3. Dante Ross, 1996-99 380 3. Chris Familetti, 1988-89, '90-92 172
4. Mark Payne, 2007-Present 154

WINNING BREEDS WINNING
There has been a common theme for the UC Davis men's basketball team over the past three years: consistent improvement.

2007-08 season: nine wins, two conference wins. 2008-09 season: 13 wins, seven conference wins. 2009-10 season: 14 wins, eight conference wins.

Coach Stewart is hoping that the Aggies will look to improve on that mark again this season.

"The theme is return and advance," said Stewart. "We want to get to the upper echelon of the conference, return to the conference tournament and advance farther than we did last year. The charge again is to continue to move the program forward, trying to build on some of the successes that we had last year. We feel like if we can remain healthy, we have a golden opportunity to do that."

COACH Gary Stewart ON TWITTER
This season we will keep up with head coach Gary Stewart on Twitter, "retweeting" his latest tweets, starting with the most recent ones.

"I am fired up! Go Ags!"
15 Oct

"First day of "official" basketball practice! We are two hours away from taking the floor........."
15 Oct

"Coach Gross is an incredible teacher/coach. Without question, she will continue the long line of outstanding wbb coaches to lead the Ags!"
8 Oct

"and.......Congratulations to Jennifer Gross, who was named the Head Women's Basketball Coach for the 2011-12 season and beyond!"
8 Oct

"I am looking forward to seeing him coach one last season at the helm of the Ags!"
8 Oct

"On behalf of the entire men's basketball program at UC Davis, we wish him a retirement filled with joy and great health."
8 Oct

"UC Davis Women's Basketball Coach, Sandy Simpson, announces his retirement. Simple put, he is an outstanding coach and a wonderful person."
8 Oct

"First day of school, 2010-11. Go Ags!"
23 Sep

NOTABLE NON-CONFERENCE GAMES
Cal and perennial national power UCLA highlight a schedule that features three non-conference teams that reached the 20-win plateau. Pac-10 regular-season champion Cal, which beat Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion Duke in the second, finished 24-11. The Bears will host the Aggies on Dec. 1 at Haas Pavilion as the teams meet for the first time since the 1986-87 season. The Aggies and Bruins will play on Dec. 13 at legendary Pauley Pavilion, facing each other for the second time in the past four seasons. Cal joins Wisc.-Milwaukee (20-14) and Portland (21-11) as 20-game winners on the Aggies' non-conference schedule.

TELEVISED GAMES
UC Davis has a guarantee of three televised games this season, with the possibility of more to come. Currently, the Aggies will make appearances in games vs. UCLA, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. In the Dec. 13 matchup with the Bruins, the game will be televised on Prime Ticket. ESPNU will cover the Long Beach State game on Jan. 12, while the Feb. 2 tilt with UC Santa Barbara will also be on Prime Ticket.

HARDEN'S PRESEASON PLAUDIT
Senior guard Joe Harden was named to the Big West Preseason All-Conference Team, voted on by a panel of media members. Harden has been selected to the Big West All-Conference Second Team the past two seasons. Last season, he was also named to the 2010 Big West All Tournament Team and he was named the 2009-10 Best Hustle Player in the Big West. Entering the 2010-11 season, Harden was third in active career leaders in points (908) and rebounds (445).