Teams: UC Davis vs. Pacific
Records: Aggies, 12-6 (4-1); Tigers, 3-12 (1-4)
Where: The Pavilion
When: Saturday at 7 p.m.
Who to watch: UC Davis’ roster is overflowing with versatile players.
Forward Lauren Juric is one of the weapons who can do it all.
The Grass Valley, Calif. native leads the team in three-point percentage (.450) while ranking second in blocks (13) and third in rebounds per game (3.2).
Did you know? During their current five-game win streak, the Aggies have scored at least 77 points four times. They had not reached that point total in their previous 30 games dating back to last January when they dropped 86 on Cal State Northridge.
Preview: There’s good news and bad news.
The good news is UC Davis has been unstoppable over the last five games.
The bad news is the Aggies followed up a five-game winning streak earlier this season with three consecutive losses.
Despite this, the Aggies believe they are well equipped to sustain their recent success.
“We’re not taking anything for granted,” said coach Sandy Simpson. “The kids are very businesslike so they’re not the type of team to get arrogant.”
In order to prevent a letdown after playing so hard as of late, the Aggies will continue to rely on their depth.
“We’re starting to get comfortable with our rotation,” Simpson said. “All of these kids are capable of scoring in high numbers. If one or two players have an off-night there are people who can step up to help the team win.”
The Aggies will look to combine a seemingly endless bench with an unfaltering intensity to beat a Pacific team that appears to be an easy target.
In addition to being tied for last in the Big West Conference standings, the Tigers rank lower half of the Big West in scoring margin (-7.8), rebounding margin (-9.4), free throw percentage (.602), field goal percentage (.363) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.5).
On the other hand, the Aggies are tied atop the conference standings and rank first in scoring defense per game (57.8), scoring margin (11.6) and turnover margin (6.6).
Despite the apparent mismatch, the Aggies know that they can’t get complacent.
“[Pacific] is a young team that’s still learning how to win close games,” Simpson said. “They were right there with Cal Poly and they beat a nice St. Mary’s team. We’re not going to take this game for granted.”
– Mark Ling
