Davis, Calif. — Fresh off a 90-67 victory over Cal Maritime in the home opener Wednesday night in front of the Aggie faithful, the UC Davis Aggies Men's Basketball Team (2-0) will travel to Southern California and face off against the LMU Lions (1-1) in Gersten Pavilion on Saturday evening.
The game tips at 7 p.m. PT on the WCC Network as the Aggies look to continue building momentum in Coach Les' 12th season at the helm.
WHAT: UC Davis vs. LMU
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022
TIME: 7:00 p.m. PT
WHERE: Los Angeles, Calif.
ARENA: Gersten Pavilion
FOLLOW ALONG: WCC Network | Live Stats | Varsity Network
The Aggies have started out the 2022-23 season with wins over Cal on the road at Haas Pavilion and most recently, picked up a win over Cal Maritime at home in the University Credit Union Center.
SERIES HISTORY
UC Davis Men's Basketball has matched up with LMU three times in the past with the Aggies holding the series advantage 2-1 over the Lions. Most recently, the Aggies defeated LMU 67-65 back on Dec. 16, 2019 when the Ags were able to rally behind a rowdy home crowd to outscore LMU 43-27 in the second half.
ABOUT LMU
LMU is led by Stan Johnson who is in his third year as the Head Coach of the Lions. The Lions are led by leading scorer Keli Leaupepe who is averaging 15.5 points per game through two contests. The Lions also boast two other members averaging double digit scoring averages with Alex Merkviladze, and Cam Shelton who has started 106 of his 113 career games played. The rest of the LMU starting lineup consists of guard, Justin Ahrens, and guard, Jalin Anderson. The Lions routed Life Pacific 99-49 in their season opener, and then dropped a nail biter Thursday night against Big West member, UC Riverside by a score of 81-79.
SEASON NOTES
- The Aggies are 2-0 to start the year for the second consecutive season and have defeated a Pac-12 team in back-to-back seasons after downing Oregon State last year in Corvallis 71-64.
- Pace has been the name of the game for the Aggies; Ty Johnson, has started off the 2022-23 season as a big contributor to that and has led the Ags to a top-100 ORtg among all NCAA teams.
- Even in games with teams trying to play slow against the Aggies, they still possess a pace rating of 71.0. This is something that the coaching staff and players will try to emphasize throughout the season and it really popped out during the season opener against Berkeley with the Aggies scoring 24 fast break points to Cal's two. The Aggies also recorded 16 fast break points against Cal Maritime.
- The Aggies have been crashing the glass all season and hold a top-50 ORB % while also ranking among the top-75 in TRB%. A big contributor to this effort has been the the guards being able to help out the bigs on the glass as Ty Johnson leads all Ags with 12 total on the season after recording eight big rebounds at Cal.
- Christian Anigwe's start to his senior season has been brilliant after recording a career-high 21 against Cal, showing off the range with three three-pointers, and then backing that up with a smooth 13 against Cal Maritime. The 6'9 forward has also recorded two blocks in each game and has been a huge presence down low for Les and co.
- The Europe trip during the summer has seemed to help this group come together faster than expected as even with the additions of seven new faces, the Ags seem to be playing off each other's strengths well to begin the season.
NEXT OUTING
After UC Davis visits LMU, they will return to University Credit Union Center Friday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN+ to play against Arkansas State. Tickets for that game can be found here.
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