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Davis

Davis, California

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Men’s Basketball Preview

Teams: UC Davis vs. Seattle

Records: Aggies, 1-4; Redhawks, 3-5

Where: The Pavilion

When: Saturday at 1 p.m.

Who to watch: Senior Todd Lowenthal has been a defensive catalyst for the Aggies.

The Poway, Calif. native is second on the Aggies in rebounds per game at 5.6. The guard is also by far the team leader in steals with 13. The next highest is at five.

Did you know? Earlier in the season, senior Mark Payne scored his 1,000th career point. Fellow senior Joe Harden will look to do the same on Saturday.

Harden is just 22 points away from reaching the millennia mark in career points.

Preview: Coach Gary Stewart wants consistent improvement.

In each of the last three seasons, UC Davis has improved its win total.

In 2007-2008, the Aggies won just nine games. In 2008-2009, it increased to 13. Last year, UC Davis came out on top in 14 matches.

Stewart is looking to this squad to continue the trend.

“The theme is return and advance,” Stewart said. “The charge again is to continue to move the program forward, trying to build on some of the successes that we had last year. We feel like if we can remain healthy, we have a golden opportunity to do that.”

If the Aggies want to make a late season charge, they’ll need to find a way to put more points on the board.

UC Davis has averaged just 60 points a game while giving up 67 points a game.

Nearly half of the points the Aggies score come from two players – Payne and Harden. The duo each average 14 points a game, with the next highest scorer Ryan Sypkens at 7.8 points per game.

UC Davis will also have to improve its turnover ratio. The Aggies have given the ball away 86 times on the year while taking the ball away just 70 times.

UC Davis took on Sacramento State last night. Results were not available by the time The California Aggie went to press.

– Jason Alpert

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