UC Davis basketball HC says they’re “fighting for consistency” early this season
Jan 15, 2025, 9:11 AM
Seventeen games into their 2024-25 season, UC Davis basketball (9-8) are “fighting for consistency” early into their season.
Aggies head coach Jim Les joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross on Wednesday to discuss their early results, upcoming road trip, as well as their strengths and weaknesses up to this point.
When asked his evaluation of the season’s start, Les said the team is “just fighting for consistency.”
“Just fighting for consistency game-to-game, within a game, and developing a level of consistency on both ends of the floor puts you in a position to win,” Les said. “The good thing is we’ve been in games and given ourselves chances to win but just have had some breakdowns in some areas. We’ve got some younger guys and some new guys playing in situations that are a little bit different that they have to grow into.”
“The goal is to walk in the gym and get better every day, and if we continue to do that, good things are going to happen for this group,” he continued.
From Les’ perspective, the strength of this edition of UC Davis basketball center around their high basketball IQ players allowing them to be creative on the defensive end, specifically in their ability to create turnovers.
Forcing 14 turnovers in the first half over their 63-53 win over Cal State Fullerton was a prime example of that.
Next on their schedule is a two-game road trip against Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, where Les feels good about their chances.
“It’s a big challenge for us to go on this week,” he said. “But certainly those are two games that we feel like if we can clean some things up, we can get two W’s and put ourselves right in the hunt.”
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More on UC Davis Basketball
The short story: TY Johnson scored a team-high 31 points, entering UC Davis’ top 10 all-time career scoring list, but the Aggies struggled defensively as Long Beach State capitalized in the second half, outscoring UC Davis 52-42, and handing UC Davis their first home loss in Big West play.
COURT SIDE
- The Aggies were led by three double-figure scorers, highlighted by Johnson’s outstanding performance of 31 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals
- Leo DeBruhl and Connor Sevilla each added 12 points
- Johnson did a lot of his damage tonight from the free-throw line, hitting 18 of 20 attempts, setting a new program record and breaking the previous mark of 17 set by Fowzi Abdelsamad
- Despite the loss, UC Davis made a concerted effort on the offensive glass with 17 offensive boards, leading to 11 second-chance points
- UC Davis also held the rebounding advantage, out-rebounding Long Beach State, 33-25
- Niko Rocak hauled in a game-high nine rebounds and recorded his third consecutive multi-block effort
- Johnson’s 31-point performance placed him in UC Davis’ top 10 all-time career scoring list, where he currently sits at 10th all-time with 1,376 points
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