Csun Faces Long Beach St. in Big West Tournament Opener
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March 8, 2021 CONTACT: NICK BOCANEGRA E-MAIL: [email protected] GoMatadors.com @GoMatadors @CSUNMBB CSUN MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES SCHEDULE 2020-21 & RESULTS OVERALL: 9-12 BIG WEST: 5-9 CSUN FACES LONG BEACH ST. IN NOV. 25 VS. WESTMONT W, 97-79 BIG WEST TOURNAMENT OPENER NOV. 28 VS. AIR FORCE^ L, 61-66 NOV. 30 VS. SEATTLE U^ W, 76-65 DEC. 12 @ PEPPERDINE W, 89-84 DEC. 15 VS. STANFORD L, 71-82 Long Beach State (5-11) vs. CSUN (9-12) DEC. 19 @ CALIFORNIA L, 56-87 GAME #22 DATE: Tue., March 9, 2021 DEC. 28 VS. NEW MEXICO STATE W, 66-63 TIME: 3 p.m. LOCATION: Las Vegas, Nev. JAN. 1 VS. UC IRVINE* CANCELED VENUE: Michelob ULTRA Arena LIVE STATS: Link at GoMatadors.com JAN. 2 VS. UC IRVINE* CANCELED LIVE VIDEO/TV: ESPN3 LIVE AUDIO: GoMatadors.com/Radio JAN. 8 @ UC SAN DIEGO* CANCELED IN-GAME TWITTER: @CSUNMBB JAN. 9 @ UC SAN DIEGO* CANCELED CSUN SEEKS FIRST WIN AT BIG WEST TOURNAMENT SINCE 2014 The eighth-seeded CSUN Men’s Basketball team opens up first-round action against ninth-seeded Long Beach State at JAN. 15 @ LONG BEACH STATE* CANCELED the 2021 Air Force Reserve Big West Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by the Hawaiian Islands on Tuesday JAN. 16 @ LONG BEACH STATE* CANCELED afternoon at 3 p.m. The game will stream on ESPN3 while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio. JAN. 16 @ CAL STATE FULLERTON* W, 86-85 CSUN wrapped up the regular season last weekend at The Matadome, suffering a two-game sweep at the hands of UC JAN. 17 @ CAL STATE FULLERTON* L, 77-85 Riverside. Both games would go down to the wire with the Matadors holding slim leads in the closing minutes of each contest but the Highlanders prevailed twice, winning 72-68 and 66-65. In the two games, TJ Starks led the Matadors with JAN. 22 VS. UC SANTA BARBARA* L, 58-105 19 and 25 points, respectively. Freshman Alex Merkviladze posted back-to-back double-double efforts, highlighted by a 17-point, 13-rebound effort in game one of the series. JAN. 23 VS. UC SANTA BARBARA* L, 66-80 The two losses to the Highlanders ensured the Matadors would play on Tuesday at the Big West Tournament. As a result, JAN. 29 @ CAL POLY* L, 70-76 CSUN would have to win four games in five days to win the tournament championship. A win over Long Beach State in the JAN. 30 @ CAL POLY* W, 64-51 first round would secure a quarterfinal matchup with No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara on Thursday at 11 a.m. FEB. 5 VS. UC DAVIS* W, 80-77 CSUN’s junior backcourt duo earned All-Big West honors on Monday. Starks became the second Matador in team history FEB. 6 VS. UC DAVIS* L, 63-75 PROBABLE STARTERS No. Name Pos. Year PPG RPG APG Notes FEB. 19 VS. HAWAI’I* L, 74-75 2 TJ Starks G R-Jr. 21.6 3.1 3.1 Ranked 7th in nation in PPG FEB. 20 VS. HAWAI’I* W, 88-80 (OT) 10 Darius Brown II G Jr. 10.8 4.8 5.3 48.2 FG%, Team-high 40 steals 11 Amound Anderson G Fr. 5.6 2.3 1.4 48.4 FG%, 43.3 3 PT% FEB. 26 @ CSU BAKERSFIELD* L, 58-84 23 Alex Merkviladze F Fr. 10.2 6.8 1.0 5th in Big West in RPG 24 Fidelis Okereke F Fr. 3.7 3.7 0.5 Team-high 14 BLK FEB. 27 @ CSU BAKERSFIELD* W, 90-87 RESERVES MAR. 5 VS. UC RIVERSIDE* L, 68-72 00 Festus Ndumanya F So. 4.7 3.6 0.6 49.4 FG%, Played all 21 games MAR. 6 VS. UC RIVERSIDE* L, 65-66 1 Lance Coleman II F R-Sr. 13.9 3.8 1.0 Limited to 8 games due to injury 3 Kailen Rains G Fr. 0.0 0.3 0.0 Played 3 games this season MAR. 9 VS. LONG BEACH STATE+ 3 P.M. 4 Atin Wright G Fr. 4.1 0.7 0.3 Made 22-23 FT attempts 5 Miles Brookins F R-Jr. 4.4 2.1 0.9 6 STL, 4 BLK in 8 total games All dates, times, and opponents are subject to change without notice. 12 Marcel Stevens G Fr. 0.0 0.0 0.0 Played 1 game this season All times are Pacific 13 Matt Solomon G Fr. 0.0 0.0 0.0 Played 1 game this season HOME GAMES IN BOLD AT THE MATADOME * - Big West Conference Game 14 Vante Hendrix G R-Jr. 8.0 3.1 1.3 Last played on Feb. 26 ^ - Men’s Vegas Bubble (Las Vegas, NV) 22 George Nwogu F So. 0.7 1.7 0.0 Scored first career FG on Jan. 17 + - Big West Championship at Michelob ULTRA Arena (Las Vegas, NV) 32 Brendan Harrick G/F R-So. 4.2 1.5 0.6 Made 20 3-pointers in 21 games @CSUNMBB @CSUNMBB @GoMatadors @GoMatadors CSUN MEN’S BASKETBALL // MARCH 8, 2021 to earn the Big West Newcomer of the Year award while he was the ninth Matador to be placed on the First Team. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Darius Brown II earned his first career all-conference award as he was named to the Second Team. Starks led the Big West in scoring during the regular season at 21.6 points per game and field goals made (81) while Brown II was tops General Information in assists to turnover ratio (3.8) and third in assists per game (5.3) to go with averaging 10.8 points. Name ... California State University, Northridge Abbreviation ......................... CSUN Heading into the tournament, Starks is ranked seventh in the nation in points per game. His backcourt mate, Brown Mailing Address ....... 18111 Nordhoff Street II, is fourth in Division I in assists to turnover ratio. In the Big West, the tandem was also in the top-10 in steals per . Northridge, CA 91330-8301 game with Brown II in third place (1.9) and Starks in ninth (1.4). Up front for CSUN, Merkviladze is ranked fifth in the Founded .............................. 1958 conference in rebounds per game (6.8) to go with his 10.2 points per game. Enrollment ......................... 38,310 President ......................Erika D. Beck Only eight Matadors have played double-digit games this season with the quartet of Brown II, Merkviladze, Festus Athletic Director ............... Michael Izzi Ndumanya and Brendan Harrick playing in all 21 games. Out of the eight players that competed in 10 or more Executive Associate A.D./SWA ... Valerie Richardson games, six of those players are underclassmen (Merkviladze, Ndumanya, Harrick, Fidelis Okereke, Amound Anderson Faculty Athletic Representative ...Dr. Ed Jackiewicz and Atin Wright). The team’s second-leading scorer during non-conference play, senior Lance Coleman II, has been Nickname ........................ Matadors limited to eight games this season due to injuries and has not played since Jan. 23. Colors ................. Red, White and Black Conference ....................... Big West CSUN is making its 15th appearance in the Big West Tournament on Tuesday. Due to the unique format where the bottom four teams in the standings play an extra day, the Matadors are playing as a higher seed in a game for the Home Court (Capacity) . The Matadome (2,200) first time since 2011. The Matadors are seeking their first win at the tournament since defeating Long Beach State in a semifinal game in 2014. The Matadors are looking to snap a four-game skid in conference tournament games. Coaching Information CSUN has won one Big West Tournament championship in its history with that coming in 2009. Head Coach ...... Mark Gottfried (3rd Season) Alma Mater ................. Alabama, 1987 In the all-time series with Long Beach State, the Matadors trail 42-27. The teams were set to face off in a series Overall NCAA D-I Record ...... 439-290 (.602) from Jan. 15-16 but the games were canceled due to COVID-19 and were not made up. Last season, CSUN swept the Record at CSUN ................ 37-50 (.426) season series and has won three of four meetings under head coach Mark Gottfried. The teams have met at the Big Big West Record. 22-24 (.478) West Tournament only once in history with CSUN prevailing 82-77. In that tournament win, Stephan Hicks led the Office Phone ................ (818) 677-3208 Matadors with 27 points. Assistant Coach ...... Jim Harrick (3rd Season) Assistant Coach ..... Jeff Dunlap (3rd Season) RUNNING THE POINT Director of Operations .. John Van Houten (4th Season) Junior Darius Brown II is fourth in the nation in assists to turnover ratio (3.8) Athletic Trainer ................. Steve Grech • Named to the All-Big West Second Team • Third in the Big West in assists per game (5.3) and steals per game (1.9) Sports Information • Registering 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on the season MBB SID ................... Nick Bocanegra • Owns a 48.2 FG percentage, 39.1 3-point FG percentage and 72.5 free throw percentage SID Office Phone ............ (818) 677-7188 • Scored in double figures in 11 games this season SID e-mail .... [email protected] • Averaged 12.4 points, 5.6 assists and 5.0 rebounds in Big West play Website ................... GoMatadors.com • Recorded the second CSUN triple-double in team history, recording 18 poits, 16 rebounds and 10 assists vs. Twitter ........... @GoMatadors, @CSUNMBB Hawai’i (2/20/21); the 16 rebounds were also a career best • Recorded 25 points and 13 assists (career-high) in a win at Cal State Fullerton (1/16/21); the 13 assists were Team Information tied for the sixth-most in a game in Matador history 2019-20 Record .....................