After a lengthy delay that saw their first three Big West Conference games on the schedule canceled due to COVID-19, the Aggies will finally begin the conference slate on Saturday evening against UC San Diego. In accordance with the university's decision to begin the winter quarter with remote instruction, fans are not permitted at Saturday's contest. For information, follow this link. 

WHO: UC San Diego Tritons
WHEN: 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6
WHERE: University Credit Union Center, Davis, Calif.
HOW TO WATCH: ESPN+ 
HOW TO LISTEN: The Varsity App or Sports 1140 KHTK
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats and @ ucdavismbb on Twitter. 


PREVIEW
After multiple cancellations due to COVID-19 complications in other programs, the Aggies will finally begin the Big West Conference season on Saturday against UC San Diego.  

UC Davis was initially scheduled to begin Big West play on Dec. 28 at home against UC Riverside but complications within the Highlanders' program forced that date to be cancelled. A subsequent matchup at Hawai'i on Dec. 30 forced another cancellation when the Rainbow Warriors also had to contend with positive tests. Out of an abundance of caution, Jan. 6's home game against UC Irvine was canceled due to close contacts within the Aggies' program. 

Though the last two weeks have seen numerous false starts and cancellations on short notice, that environment is nothing new to most on this Aggie squad. 

10 Aggies remain from the 2020-21 team that dealt with these scenarios on a prolonged scale. An 11th, transfer Kane Milling, dealt with similar circumstances during his career at Nevada. 

Nevertheless, the Aggies are tasked with recapturing the momentum they'd built heading into the layoff that included a four-game win streak and a victory over defending PAC-12 champion Oregon State. 

Over its last four game win streak, UC Davis shot 53 percent and held opponents to 39 percent. It shot 49 percent from three, nearly 130 points higher than the team season average. 

The Aggies also reversed a trend of slow first halves, outscoring opponents 147-90 in the first half over its last five games. UC Davis had been outscored 183-161 in first halves over their the first five games of the season. 

Though UC Davis will see plenty of the Tritons over the proceeding years in the Big West, Saturday will be just the third matchup between the teams wince 2004. 


SERIES HISTORY VS. UCSD
UC Davis leads 19-6
Last UCSD win: 1/22/21, H - W, 89-69
Last UC Davis win: 1/23/21, A - W, 78-71
Series Streak: UC Davis +1

JANUARY HOME ATTENDANCE CHANGES
UC Davis Athletics announced the following changes to it's upcoming men's basketball schedule on Tuesday, Dec. 21. 

Dec. 28's home game against UC Riverside, Dec. 30's game at Hawai'i and Jan. 6's home game against UC Irvine were all canceled.

In alignment with UC Davis' decision to begin the winter quarter virtually, there will be no fan attendance at home games from Jan. 2 to Jan. 9. As a result, there will not be fans allowed at Jan. 6's home game against UC Irvine and Jan. 8's home game against UC San Diego. 

Beginning Jan. 27, all fans aged three and over will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test result to enter University Credit Union Center. This policy only affects men's basketball at this time. 

KEYS TO SUCCESS
Even with Dec. 22's loss to Portland, over the last five games the Aggies orchestrated a complete reversal in a number of areas from the first five games of the season. 

The Aggies improved to 49.8 percent from the field compared to 41 percent over their first five games. While sound defensively throughout the season, the Aggies did improve to hold opponents to 39.8 percent shooting over their last five games compared to 41 percent to start 2021-22. 

After being outscored in first halves 161-183 to start the season, the Aggies are outscoring opponents 181-123 in the first half over the last five games. 

One of the most dramatic improvements has come from the three-point line. UC Davis is shooting 46 percent over the last five games contrasted with 27.2 percent to start the season's first five games. 
Turnovers are down from almost 16 per game to start the season to just over 12 per game during this 4-1 stretch. UC Davis 2-2 when turning the ball over more than its opponent and have turned the ball over fewer times in 60 percent of games this season. 

Another problem area for the Aggies at the start of the season was rebounding and UC Davis has gone from a -7.6 margin through five games to +4.6 over the last five games.  UC Davis is 4-0 when leading or tying in the rebounding battle. 

AWARDS SEASON
Manjon had himself a week to remember against Oregon State and Pacific. 

The electric sophomore led UC Davis to wins over both with a career-high 27 against Oregon State and put in 20 against Pacific. 

That netted him the Lou Henson National Player of the Week award from College Insider on Monday and Big West Player of the Week honors later in the day. 

Manjon and Elijah Pepper are the only teammates to win Big West Player of the Week this season. 

TEAM EFFORT 
UC Davis is knocking on the door of replicating a rare feat they accomplished last season. 

The 2020-21 season marked the first time since 2008-09 that the Aggies had four players average double figures scoring. The 2021-22 Aggies currently have four themselves between Ezra Manjon (14.5), Elijah Pepper (14.4), Christian Anigwe (10.6) and Caleb Fuller (10.6). 

The 2008-09 Aggies were led by Vince Oliver, the brother of current Director of Basketball Operations Ryan Oliver, with 15.6 points per game. 

CAREER WATCH LISTS
Manjon is also within striking distance of a career milestone in his third NCAA season. 

At 813 points, Manjon needs 187 more to reach 1,000 career points. Manjon's career-high point total for a single season came in 2019-20 when he scored 388 points behind Aggie great Joe Mooney's 419. 

Pepper is the next closest Aggie at 686 career points. His career-high of 278 also came in 2019-20, though Pepper is already over halfway to that total this season at 144 points.

23 Aggies have reached the 1,000 point milestone with the last being Siler Scheider scoring 1,440 from 2015-19. Should Manjon reach that mark this season, he would be one of just five Aggies to score 1,000 points or more in their first three seasons. 

DYNAMIC DUO
Pepper and Manjon are the two highest ranking teammates on the Big West scoring list with Manjon coming in at 6th with 14.5 points per game and Pepper 7th at 14.4. 

No other team in the Big West Conference has two players higher than both in the top nine in scoring. 

THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED
You'd have to go back to 2017 for the last time UC Davis defeated a PAC-12 team prior to Tuesday night at Oregon State. 

The Aggies took down Washington State 81-67 in Pullman on Dec. 2, 2017. TJ Shorts II scored 20 points as the Aggies jumped out to a 42-25 first half lead on the Cougars. 

IMPROVEMENT ON THE GLASS
Dec. 1's win marked the first time this season UC Davis has won the rebounding battle, outworking Pacific on the glass 34-24. More importantly, the Aggies pulled down eight offensive rebounds that led to seven second chance points compared to four offensive boards and two second chance points for Pacific. 

UC Davis went on to outrebound UC Merced 37-21 on Dec. 4. Despite giving up a significant size advantage to Oregon State, the Aggies were only outrebounded 32-33 against the Beavers with guards accounting for 24 of those rebounds. 
With Dec. 19's plus-six advantage against Pacific, the Aggies are averaging a plus-eight rebounding advantage over their last four games. 

PEPPER HEATS UP
Elijah Pepper became one of just two Big West players to score 30 points or more on Dec. 1. Following that night's games, he was fourth in the conference in scoring at 16.2 per game. His six made threes against Pacific are tied for the most in a single game in the Big West this season.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
Pepper continues to rank highly in the conference in steals at 1.5 per game for third with Manjon close behind in fifth at 1.4 per game. As a team, UC Davis is fifth in the Big West at seven steals per game. 

Forward Christian Anigwe is fifth in the Big West in blocks with one per game. 

Pepper is also third in the conference in three pointers per game with 2.1.