GAME NOTES: A pair of teams from the Golden State get together in the first round of the 2015 NIT, as the UC Davis Aggies pay a visit to the Stanford Cardinal.

Both teams were placed in the Colorado State side of the bracket, with UC Davis the No. 7 seed and Stanford No. 2. The winner will advance to face either Rhode Island or Iona in the second round.

UC Davis, playing in its first-ever postseason game as a member of Division I, had a tremendous season in going 25-6 and winning the Big West Conference regular-season title, also a first for the team. The 25 wins is the second- most in a single season recorded by the Aggies, and that included a school- record 14-0 home mark. UC Davis dropped a 65-58 decision to Hawaii in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament, putting an end to the Aggies' four-game win streak. It was only their second loss in the last 13 games.

Stanford is appearing in its seventh NIT, and owns a record of 13-5. The Cardinal won a pair of NIT championships in 1991 and 2012, and the team went 19-13 this season, but just 9-9 in Pac-12 Conference play. Stanford, which hasn't logged back-to-back wins since the end of January, had its stay in the Pac-12 Tournament come to an end in an 80-56 loss to Utah in the quarterfinals. The Cardinal have four of their last five games heading into this event.

With a mark of 17-1, Stanford has had complete control of the series against UC Davis. In the most recent meeting, the Cardinal routed the Aggies at Maples Pavilion on Dec. 14, 2013, 83-56, for its fifth straight win in the series. UC Davis came away with its lone win in a 64-58 final at home on Dec. 4, 2005.

The strength of this UC Davis squad is from out on the perimeter, as the Aggies lead in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.450). All four players who have at least 75 attempts from distance are hitting them a minimum of 41 percent of the time, with Corey Hawkins actually turning the trick at close to 50 percent. Hawkins (20.4 ppg) is ranked ninth nationally in scoring, and he gets help from Josh Ritchart (12.0 ppg), who is the only other double- digit scorer on the roster. As a team, the Aggies are putting up 70.9 ppg while allowing 64.2 ppg, and they are just about even in rebounding margin (-0.3), while committing more than 12 turnovers contest.

With offensive production even greater than the Aggies, Stanford (72.3 ppg) boasts three double-digit scorers in Chasson Randle (18.9 ppg, 3.1 apg), Anthony Brown (14.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Stefan Nastic (13.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg). The team's defensive effort hasn't been quite up to snuff, with foes netting 67.6 ppg, and the Cardinal shoot about as well as their opponents do across the board (.434 to .431, .383 3-pt. to .377 3-pt). Stanford is a solid free- shooting team (.726) as well, and it is +4.0 in rebounding differential.

The Aggies are going to attempt to light up the scoreboard from downtown, while the Cardinal will try to match them step for step. In the end, give the edge to the home team, as it simply has way more postseason experience, and the benefit of having been battle-tested against much better competition this season.