DAVIS, Calif. — The UC Davis men's basketball team will hit the road as they get ready to take the national stage once again, visiting the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos Thursday night with action scheduled to take place on ESPNU. Steve Quis will handle play-by-play coverage with Ben Braun on call as analyst.

Then, the Aggies will have a quick turnaround, as they head down to San Luis Obispo to face off against Cal Poly Saturday afternoon with coverage on ESPN+.

Feb. 1 at UC Santa Barbara | 8 p.m. Tip-off (Santa Barbara, Calif.) | ESPNU
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Feb. 3 at Cal Poly | 3 p.m. Tip-off (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) | ESPN+
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LAST TIME
The Aggies dropped their lone contest last week, as the UC San Diego Tritons snapped UC Davis' four-game win streak. Falling 92-59, the Aggies were outpaced by the hot-shooting Tritons who buried 15 three-pointers. To the Tritons credit, their strong shooting performance against the Aggies was impressive upon all standards, as UC Davis had entered the game as the most stingy defense against opposing three-point shooters.

Earlier this season against UC Santa Barbara, the Aggies beat the Gauchos, 76-62 at the University Credit Union Center, as Elijah Pepper scored a game-high 27 points. Pepper's 27 points came on an efficient 10-of-15 shooting, including five three-pointers. The Aggies also got contributions from Niko Rocak who finished the night with eight points, six rebounds, three steals and three blocks. The orchestrator that night was Ty Johnson, as he dished out a game-high 10 assists with zero turnovers, to go along with nine points.

Against Cal Poly, the Aggies put forth another commanding win, downing the Mustangs 71-46 behind Pepper's 25 points. The defense stood out in the first matchup, holding Cal Poly to just 32.7 percent shooting from the field and 15.4 percent from three-point range. UC Davis' defense allowed only 19 points in the second half to the Mustangs and surrendered only one field goal to Cal Poly in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

AGGIES IN THE RANKINGS

• #29 in NCAA in Turnovers Forced Per Game.
• Pepper ranked #14 in NCAA in Points Per Game, #13 in Three-Pointers Per Game.
• Ty Johnson and Pepper entered the season as the top returning backcourt scoring duo in the country and both are top-10 in the Big West in scoring this season.
• In Conference Only statistics, the Aggies rank:
  • #1 in steals
  • #1 in opponent three-point defense
  • #2 in opponent field goal percentage
• Elijah Pepper also is averaging a conference leading 22.3 points per game through nine Big West contests.
• Ty Johnson is top-10 in the conference in all assist categories, while ranking second in assists per game
• Niko Rocak ranks first in the conference in blocks per game during conference play and is the lone player averaging two or more in the Big West.

ELIJAH PEPPER RECORD WATCH

• Pepper is now the all-time leading scorer in Aggie history with 2,023 points and counting.
• He sits at fourth all time in the Big West's history of leading scorers and trails the Big West career scoring record by 302 points, a record held by Lucious Harris (LBSU, 122 games - 1989-93).
• He needs just 43 points to become the third-highest scorer in Big West history.
• Pepper is also now UC Davis' holder for the all-time career steals record sitting atop the list with 199 in his career. He achieved the feat when the Aggies faced UC Riverside on Jan. 4.

DYNAMIC DUO
Ty Johnson and Elijah Pepper entered this season as the top returning scoring backcourt in all of the NCAA and this season are ranked second in all of the country in points per game as a guard duo (37.5 PPG between the pair), only trailing Hofstra's Tyler Thomas, and Darlinstone Dubar (40.3 PPG between the pair).

DEFENSIVE IMPACT
Niko Rocak has been one of the most impactful defenders in Big West play, as seen by him breaking a single game school-record with six blocks in the Aggies win against UC Irvine on Jan. 20. The six blocks leads the conference for most in a game this season. Rocak is the lone player in conference play to be averaging 2 or more blocks per game.

Ty Johnson is also establishing himself as one of the best point of attack defenders in the conference, leading the league with 2.1 steals per game in Big West games.

The Aggies as a team, rank first in the conference in opponent three-point percentage, and use their ability to generate turnovers to get out in transition.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
UC Santa Barbara led by Big West Player of the Year candidate Ajay Mitchell has one of the most efficient offenses in all of the country. Ranking second in the country in field goal percentage the Gauchos use this, along with their eighth ranked effective field goal percentage to outpace opponents. Many of these offensive looks for the Gauchos come near the rim, as UC Santa Barbara ranks 331st in three-point attempts, with the aforementioned Mitchell and Auburn transfer Yohan Traore consistently putting pressure on opposing front courts. The Gauchos also have a strong rebounding presence, ranking second in the conference in rebounding margin, which helps eliminate second chances for opposing teams.

UC Davis is 13-37 all-time versus UC Santa Barbara, with their latest win being the first matchup earlier in the season on Dec. 28 which saw the Aggies take down the Gauchos 76-62. While this win gives UC Davis the most recent edge over the Gauchos, UC Santa Barbara has won seven of the last 10 games against the Aggies.

Cal Poly is led by Kobe Sanders, who ranks third in the conference in points per game. Sanders has a knack for getting to the free throw line, while his running mate Jarred Hyder sets the tempo for the Mustang offense, recording multiple assists in nine out of his 16 games played this season.

UC Davis is 33-36 all-time against the Mustangs but have won the last four contests with the latest one coming earlier in the season to close out 2023 with the Aggies downing the Mustangs 71-46. UC Davis is also 9-1 in their last 10 versus Cal Poly.

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