Teams: UC Davis vs. Long Beach State; vs. UC Riverside
Records: Aggies (11-16, 6-6); 49ers (13-14, 6-7); Highlanders (11-15, 4-9)
When: Tonight at 7 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m.
Where: The Pavilion
Who to watch: Entering the last two home games of his career, expect big games from Dominic Calegari.
The Aggies’ only senior has not missed a game this season and leads the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game.
Calegari often fills the role as the Aggies’ primary post presence, but poses a problem for opposing defenses with his deft outside shooting – he is shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc this season.
The Berkeley, Calif. native became just the 16th Aggie to score over 1,000 career points this season when he scored 28 points on 10-for-10 shooting against UC Irvine on Jan. 14.
Calegari will be honored before Sunday’s game against UC Riverside as part of Senior Day.
Did you know? Tonight’s game against Long Beach State will be Calegari’s 70th consecutive start.
Preview: The Aggies are entering the home stretch – literally and figuratively – before the Big West Conference Tournament.
The 49ers and the Highlanders represent the final two home games for the Aggies this season before they head on the road against Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton to finish the year. The four-game slate of conference play will be important in determining where the Aggies are seeded in the tournament. UC Davis enters tonight’s game at fourth place in the conference.
Coach Gary Stewart, however, isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“I’m very much a one-game-at-a-time guy,” Stewart said. “Right now I’m focused on Long Beach State.”
The last time the Aggies played the 49ers, they suffered a 22-point loss in Long Beach.
“The comforting thing is that we can’t play much worse [than we did in that game],” Stewart said.
The Aggies shot just 37 percent from the field while allowing the 49ers to shoot 50 percent. Long Beach State also outworked UC Davis on the glass, ending the game with a 38-30 rebounding advantage.
“We’ve got to guard the ball much better and have better ball containment,” Stewart said.
The Aggies will have their hands full guarding the 49ers, who will present a variety of different offensive looks.
Long Beach State is led by T.F. Robinson, who averages 15.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Robinson has 16 double-doubles so far this season.
Tonight at the Pavilion is White-Out Night. Five-hundred free t-shirts will be given away to those in attendance.
Sunday is Senior Day with the first 100 fans receiving an Aggie Pack t-shirt.
– Richard Procter
