Northern Colorado (9-16) at UC Davis (11-14) (ET)

GAME NOTES: A couple of teams trying to bounce back from defeats earlier this week get together at the Pavilion on Saturday afternoon, as the UC Davis Aggies host the Northern Colorado Bears as part of the BracketBusters series.

Northern Colorado, which is part of the Big Sky Conference these days, last took the floor on Wednesday night when it bowed to North Dakota in a narrow 64-62 final at home. The setback snapped a two-game win streak for the Bears and dropped them to 7-10 in conference play.

As for the Aggies, members of the Big West Conference, they too were in action three nights ago and suffered a 71-65 loss against Long Beach State on the road. Like the Bears, UC Davis also had a two-game win streak come to an end, although the Aggies are slightly better in conference play at 7-7.

In terms of the all-time series between these two teams, the Aggies have won three of the previous four meetings.

The Bears held a late lead against North Dakota on Wednesday night, but a 3- pointer in the final 10 seconds turned the tide and eventually handed the win over to the visitors at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion. Derrick Barden registered a double-double for UNC with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Connor Osborne and Tevin Svihovec added 19 and 12 points, respectively, but the big problem for the Bears is that they failed to hit a single 3-point shot on 14 attempts.

Tate Unruh, who shot just 2-of-11 and finished with four points and eight rebounds in the loss to UND, remains the top overall scorer for the program with his 12.6 ppg, although creeping up fast is Barden with his 12.5 ppg to go along with a team-high 9.0 rpg. Svihovec is not only the top passer with 79 assists thus far for the Bears, he is also their third double-digit scorer with 12.1 ppg.

J.T. Adenrele recorded a double-double for the Aggies in their last outing against LBSU, posting 13 points and pulled down a team-best 11 rebounds before fouling out, but it wasn't enough as UC Davis took the fall on the road against the 49ers. Corey Hawkins stepped up with 21 points and six boards, shooting 4-of-8 beyond the arc, while Ryan Howley accounted for 10 points but the squad could not capitalize.

Hawkins, the leading scorer for the Aggies in three straight and four of the last five outings, continues to pace the program overall with his 19.9 ppg, one of the top marks in the Big West Conference at the moment as well. Shooting almost 40 percent beyond the arc, Hawkins is also second on the team in rebounding (5.7 rpg) and total assists (76), not to mention pacing the group with 35 steals which means he is willing to do whatever it takes to get the Aggies into the win column.

With a solid go-to guy in Hawkins and a number of reliable players supplying support, it only seems natural to think that the Aggies should come out on top in this meeting.