{"id":2413,"date":"2025-01-23T12:04:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T22:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2025-01-23T12:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T22:04:38","slug":"warriors-facing-tough-challenge-at-uc-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/23\/warriors-facing-tough-challenge-at-uc-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors facing tough challenge at UC Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hawai’i guard Kody Williams — shown here in a game earlier this season — scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists in an 81-70 home victory over Cal State Bakersfield. (Chris Kadooka file photo) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

UC Davis has long been the Big West Conference’s most northern outpost, almost 300 miles up the road from Bakersfield on Interstate 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aggies also have usually resided on the northern side of the men’s basketball league standings, and this season is no different. UC Davis is 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the Big West, good for sole possession of third place. Hawai’i is just a bit south, at 12-6, 4-3, heading into Thursday crucial road game against the Aggies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. (HST) and the game will be available for viewing via livestream on ESPN+, while also being broadcast on radio via ESPN Honolulu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warriors point guard Kody Williams said UC Davis’ University Credit Union Center is a tough place to win, year-in and year-out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s just so dark in there, it’s like everything is so focused on the court,” said Williams, a junior in his third year at UH. “I don’t know, we’ve always started slow there, but obviously we’re looking to change that this year. Hopefully we can set the tone and get the job done.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One focal point on the court recently has been senior TY Johnson, a 6-foot-3 guard who was a Second team All-Big West Conference selection last year and leads the league in scoring this season at 21.2 points per game, good for sixth in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams will be drawing that assignment, but says he won’t be without help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s another key matchup,” said Williams, who guarded 2024 Big West Freshman of the Year Barrington Hargress two weeks ago at UC Riverside. “He can break off the possession at any time, it’s really his team, he has the green light and he has the keys to their offense. I’ll do the best I can, I know he’s gonna get shots up. He’s a point-of-attack cover, but it’s (also) a team cover, because we need five people to guard him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aggies are coming off a road sweep at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (65-54) and UC Santa Barbara (64-60). The Warriors are coming off an 81-70 home victory over Cal State Bakersfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More details to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big West Conference Standings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UC Irvine 7-0
UC San Diego 5-2
UC Davis 5-3
UC Santa Barbara 4-3
Cal State Northridge 4-3
HAWAI\u2019I 4-3<\/strong>
UC Riverside 4-3
Cal State Bakersfield 3-4
Long Beach State 3-4
Cal State Fullerton 1-7
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 0-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UC Davis has long been the Big West Conference’s most northern outpost, almost 300 miles up the road from Bakersfield on Interstate 5. The Aggies also have usually resided on the northern side of the men’s basketball league standings, and this season is no different. UC Davis is 11-8 overall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2423,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions\/2423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}