DAVIS, Calif. – UC San Diego freshman point guard
Roddie Anderson III scored a game-high 24 points, but the Tritons fell to host UC Davis by a 76-66 score on Monday afternoon inside University Credit Union Center.
The Tritons dropped to 9-19 overall and 4-12 in The Big West. The Aggies (16-12, 9-7 Big West) swept the season series from UC San Diego with Monday's win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Aggies got out to a fast start, using a 10-0 run to take a quick 12-3 lead into the game's first media timeout. UC San Diego responded with a pair of three-pointers from
Francis Nwaokorie and a bucket in the paint from
Roddie Anderson III to draw within 15-11 at 9:30. Meanwhile, the Triton defense locked in, limiting the Aggies to just 1-of-12 shooting during that stretch.
UC San Diego completely erased a nine-point deficit and forged ahead 27-26 thanks to a three from
Jace Roquemore with 2:32 left in the half.
A jumper in the paint from the Aggies' Leo DeBruhl with just over six seconds to play gave the home team a 33-31 lead at the half. The Tritons shot 44% while limiting the Aggies to just 38%. Anderson led all scorers with 12 in the first half, with Nwaokorie adding nine and Pope scoring seven.
The conference's leading scorer, UC Davis' Elijah Pepper, was limited to four points on 2-of-10 shooting.
After halftime, it was UC Davis' defense that played big. The Tritons did not convert a field goal in the second half until a strong driving layup from
Justin DeGraaf with 12:27 to play, cutting the Aggies' lead to 9. That bucket ignited a 6-0 UC San Diego run to cut the deficit down to five.
The Tritons got as close as three on a Nwaokorie free throw midway through the half, but Pepper and the Aggies pulled away for the home victory.
Four Aggies finished in double figures, led by 22 from Pepper. The Tritons limited him to 7-of-21 shooting. DeBruhl scored 14 and pulled down 10 rebounds.
UC San Diego committed 16 turnovers and shot just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc after halftime.
QUOTABLE
"At the end of the day, we turned the ball over too much and gave up more offensive rebounds than we would've liked," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "We did a good job of forcing [Elijah Pepper] to be relatively inefficient, but when you're as good a player as he is, he's going to make plays and find a way to impact the game."
TRITON TIDBITS
- Francis Nwaokorie fouled out with 13 points and six rebounds. Emmanuel Tshimanga fouled out with 12 rebounds – one off his career high.
- UC San Diego trailed at halftime for the first time since a last-second shot gave UC Riverside a two-point lead over the Tritons back on Jan. 28. UC San Diego has led at halftime in 11 of its 16 Big West games.
- UC Davis leads the series between these two schools, 4-1, since the Tritons began their Division I transition prior to the 2020-21 season.
- The Tritons are now 1-9 when trailing at halftime this season.
- UC San Diego used a starting lineup of Roddie Anderson III, Jace Roquemore, Bryce Pope, Jake Kosakowski, and Francis Nwaokorie for the tenth consecutive game.
UP NEXT
The penultimate week of Big West play for UC San Diego begins with a match-up at first place UC Irvine Thursday night. On Saturday, the Tritons are back home to face second place UC Santa Barbara. Both games tip at 7 p.m. PT and will have live broadcasts on ESPN+. Saturday's home game can also be heard on KSDT Radio.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
