Teams: UC Davis at Seattle
Records: Aggies 8-16; Redhawks 9-15
Where: KeyArena – Seattle
When: Tuesday at 7:10 p.m.
Who to watch: You may not expect a guy with a broken nose to lead a team in scoring.
But Joe Harden doesn’t seem to lower his standards in the event of injury.
On Feb. 5th, Harden was taken out of a game against UC Santa Barbara and to a hospital to get his nose reset.
Just a week later, the 6-foot-9 senior from Acampo, Calif. was back on the court, leading the Aggies with 17 points and four rebounds against Pacific.
Harden has been the scoring leader for UC Davis in a total of nine games this season, averaging 14.6 points per game.
Without Harden, the Aggies lose a large piece of the puzzle.
“[Harden] does everything for us,” said teammate Todd Lowenthal. “He’s a warrior and everything he does on the court helps us win.”
Did you know? On Jan. 21, 1952, the Seattle basketball team, formerly known as the Chieftains, beat the Harlem Globetrotters 84-81.
Preview: According to coach Gary Stewart, the Aggies will use tonight’s game at Seattle to get into gear for the “very important games” against UC Irvine and UC Riverside.
Currently, UC Davis is in ninth place in the Big West Conference. The league’s top eight teams qualify for the Big West Tournament and a shot at the NCAA National Championship Tournament.
“We’ve got a nice situation set up for us now,” Stewart said. “We’ve got the two games next week that we can use to make some adjustments.”
Last time UC Davis faced Seattle on Nov. 27th, the Aggies cruised to an 80-58 victory.
In that game, individual Aggies hit milestones.
Junior Eddie Miller registered a career-high 20 points on three triples and a 6-of-9 performance from the field.
Freshman Mike Kurtz had five blocks on the game, tying the single game record for UC Davis.
Additionally, Harden scored his 1000th career point as an Aggie against the Redhawks. Harden is a double-digit performance away from becoming a top-10 scoring leader in UC Davis history.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on AM 1690 with Scott Marsh and Bill Herenda on the call.
– Grace Sprague
