MBB: New Freshman Faces

Northridge, CA –

As the CSUN Men's Basketball team approaches its first exhibition game on Thursday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m., fans may be noticing a few new faces wearing basketball gear around campus. Yes, the Matadors have several new transfers from schools like UConn, the University of South Carolina and the University of Washington, but they also have three freshmen from much closer to home.

Kelton Conway, Mehran Nazarian and Jason Richardson are all LA high school basketball standouts that are hoping to make a name for themselves at CSUN as the newest Matadors. With more than half of their first college semester under their belts, they're ready and excited for the season to begin.

"High school, it was serious, but this is a whole other level," said freshman Kelton Conway.

Conway, a speedy guard, is from nearby Woodland Hills, CA, where he helped lead the El Camino Real High School Wildcats to their first City Section Division I championship during his senior season. He was also named second-team All Valley by MaxPreps.com.

"I'm learning a lot, inside and out," said Conway of his college student-athlete experience so far. "I'm learning plays, how to carry myself and how to gain respect from teammates."

Conway's father, Curtis Conway, played 12 seasons in the NFL, and his stepmother, Leila Ali Conway, is a retired professional boxer, so he has athletics in his blood.

"My family is definitely an athletic family…They always say, 'You've got your father's genes,'" said Conway.

But in addition to the speed he inherited from his father, Conway also gained the understanding of what type of person athletes need to be on and off the court. "He always told me, 'Your character is going to take you a long way.' He told me, 'You're a good kid, you go hard in practice, you're a good teammate, you're good with people, that's going to take you a long way.'"

Nazarian, a shooting guard, played high school basketball at North Torrance High School and was selected All-League, but doesn't take being a Matador for granted. In his words, "It's a true blessing to be here. I worked really hard to be here."

He appreciates the opportunity to learn from Head Coach Reggie Theus and understands his role as a freshman.

"My role is to motivate my teammates every day, work harder to get better every day and help the team out."

Nazarian appreciates that he has the opportunity to learn from an NBA great like Theus and learn more "high level basketball."

Richardson, who Theus calls a 'heady point guard,' grew up in Hawthorne, CA and played basketball at Serra High School in Gardena with fellow new Matador Blair Orr. Richardson helped the team win the CIF IVAA Championships and was named a McDonald's All-American Nominee, among other honors. His father played Big 10 basketball at Northwestern University and his sister played at Pepperdine, so he's had good basketball role models his whole life.

But Richardson is now shifting his focus to keep up with the more intense CSUN style of play.

"Defensive principles, touching on the pick and roll, getting over screens, things that I didn't have to do in high school," Richardson names as aspects of the game he's working on in his first few months as a Matador.

He also knows that he can learn from the team's seniors.

"They go hard in every drill," he says of the team leaders he's taking cues from. "You never see them not making noise, not talking to someone, not making the right play."

Overall, Theus sees big upsides for his newest crop of Matadors.

"In a lot of ways, they can be very positive entities on this team," he said.

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Players Mentioned

Kelton Conway

Mehran Nazarian

Blair Orr

Jason Richardson

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