Updated 6:30 p.m. March 18: The Aggies’ next game in the WNIT will be against the Kansas State Wildcats, Friday (March 23), in the Round of 16. The game will be played at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas. You can watch it on K-StateHD.TV (online).
Playing on their home court today, the Wildcats defeated the Utah Utes, 74-57. The Wildcats finished seventh in the Big 12 regular season with a 7-11 record, and opened the conference championship with a win over Kansas, 72-63, before falling to Baylor, 83-54, winner of the regular-season title and eventual winner of the conference tournament.
Kansas State has an overall season record of 19-15, while the Aggies are 27-6 and won the Big West regular-season title with a record of 14-2.
Updated 1:55 p.m. March 18: The Aggies defeated the Wyoming Cowboys today, 74-64, to advance to the Round of 16 in the WNIT for the second year in a row. UC Davis will play the winner of the Kansas State-Utah game that is scheduled to be played later this afternoon.
The Aggies started this year’s WNIT with a home game — the first postseason game hosted by the Aggies since UC Davis moved up to Division I in 2008 — defeating Idaho, 82-62. Then they went to Wyoming — and now ... time and date of the next game has not been announced pending the outcome of the Kansas State-Utah game.
UC Davis also won its first two games in last year’s WNIT — the Aggies’ first postseason wins as a Division I team. The Aggies bowed out of the tournament in the Round of 16, falling to Washington State.
Updated 10:20 a.m. March 17: Tipoff for the Aggies vs. Cowboys game has been moved up one hour to noon PDT Sunday (March 18). See box below for details.
Updated 7:50 p.m. March 15: The Aggie women rolled to an 82-62 victory at home tonight over Idaho, advancing to the WNIT’s Round 2. It will have the Aggies going to Laramie, Wyoming, to take on the Cowboys of the University of Wyoming, tipoff 1 p.m. PDT Sunday (March 18). Tonight’s game in The Pavilion marked the first time in its Division I history that the Aggie women’s basketball program hosted a postseason game.
Wyoming defeated New Mexico State, 67-59, in their Round 1 game earlier today in Laramie. The Cowboys finished third in the Mountain West Conference with a 13-5 record this season and have a 22-10 record overall. The Aggies won the Big West Conference regular-season title with a 14-2 record and are 26-6 overall.
Updated 8:20 p.m. March 14: The Aggie men led the first three quarters (the NIT is experimenting with four 10-minute quarters this year) tonight before Utah took the lead early in the fourth and went on to victory, 69-59, in a first-round game in Salt Lake City, knocking UC Davis out of postseason play.
The men’s team finishes the season with a 22-11 record, the regular-season championship in the Big West Conference and a postseason tournament appearance for the third time in four years.
•••
NIT: AGGIES VS. UTAH
Round 1: Utah 69, UC Davis 59
The Aggie men’s and women’s basketball teams are done with Big West competition and moving on to national tournaments, including an opening home game for the women at 6 p.m. Thursday (March 15): Aggies vs. Idaho Vandals of the Big Sky Conference in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
Admission to the Thursday night game is free for students, and Intercollegiate Athletics is offering free tickets to staff and faculty. See details below.
The men will open play Wednesday (March 14) in the NIT: Aggies vs. the Utah Utes of the Pac-12 on the Utes’ court in Salt Lake City. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
The men’s and women’s teams are in the NIT and WNIT by virtue of being regular-season champs in the Big West Conference. Last week they moved on to the Big West tournaments where championships would have meant going to the NCAAs.
CHAMPIONSHIP GEAR
Big West championship gear
for the women's and men's teams,
through Aggie Pride Outlet.
The Aggies (12-4, 22-10) opened the Big West tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim with a win over UC Riverside, 70-66, before falling in the semifinals to Cal State Fullerton, 55-52.
The Aggie men were hoping to be in the NCAA’s Big Dance for the second year in a row — they made history last year with the team’s first NCAA berth in school history. The Aggies made the most of that appearance — defeating North Carolina Central, 67-63, in a play-in game before falling to powerhouse Kansas.
The Aggies have been to the NIT once before, in 2015, their first postseason appearance since entering Division I in 2008.
The NIT’s 32-team bracket is divided into quadrants, with 1-through-8 seeding assigned in each quadrant. The Utes enter the tournament as a No. 2 seed, the Aggies as a No. 7.
The Utes (19-11) finished in a three-way tie for third in the Pac-12’s regular season (11-7) and lost their first game in their conference tournament.
Read more about the Aggie men in the NIT.
AGGIES IN THE WNIT
Round 1: UC Davis 82, Idaho 62
Round 2: UC Davis 74, Wyoming 64
Aggie women
UC Davis opened the Big West tournament with a double bye, advancing to the semifinals against UC Riverside at the Honda Center. Trailing the Titans by five points with 2:34 remaining, top-seeded UC Davis played tough defense and made key baskets down the stretch — scoring nine of the final 10 points of the game for a 49-46 victory.
On Championship Saturday at the Honda Center, UC Davis fell to Cal State University Northridge, 63-55.
The Aggie women’s team is making its fifth appearance in the WNIT, having had the most success a year ago — defeating Utah and Colorado State for UC Davis’ first postseason wins since moving up to Division I in 2008 — before falling in the Round of 16.
This year, the women’s team is hosting its first postseason game as a Division I program. Our opponent: the Idaho Vandals (13-5, 19-3), who finished second in the Big Sky Conference behind Northern Colorado and fell to the same team in the conference tournament’s championship game.
Media Resources
Dateline Staff, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu