Matadors Open Up Season with Pomona-Pitzer, #16 UCLA

Friday, November 11

Northridge, CA

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

Pomona-Pitzer

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

Matadors Open Up Season with Pomona-Pitzer, #16 UCLA

11/9/2016 10:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball opens up its 59th season on Friday evening on The Blacktop @ The Matadome. The Matadors host Pomona-Pitzer in their 2016-17 opener at 7 p.m. and conclude the weekend with a road game on Sunday at No. 16 UCLA at 6 p.m. The CSUN Sports Network via Big West.TV will stream the season opener with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call. Sunday's game will be aired live on the Pac-12 Network and both Hasan and Zinsmeister will also call all the action from UCLA on an audio broadcast on the CSUN Sports Network.

Friday's season opener is the second game of a CSUN Basketball Doubleheader and will follow CSUN Women's Basketball's home opener versus Portland State at 4 p.m.

CSUN is coming off a 94-75 victory over Cal State LA in a home exhibition game on October 29. Junior guard Kendall Smith led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting and he finished with four rebounds and three steals. In his unofficial CSUN debut, junior forward Darin Johnson scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and knocked down 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range. The Matadors led by as many as 23 points in the exhibition contest and never trailed.

Fourth year head coach Reggie Theus possesses a 16-man roster consisting of nine upperclassmen, seven letterwinners and nine newcomers. CSUN has also added six transfers including four from Division I schools. The team's lone senior, guard Aaron Parks, is the only Matador on the roster who has played more than one season with the team.

Parks enters his senior campaign looking to become the 19th Matador in team history to reach 1,000 career points as he currently is sits at 770. In just 15 games in 2015-16, Parks managed to set new career highs in a host of categories including points (13.3), starts (14), minutes (31.1), field goal percentage (.403), free throw percentage (.805), rebounds (4.2), assists (1.9) and steals (1.5). Picking up where he left off last season, Parks posted a double-double against Cal State LA, scoring 19 points along with 12 boards while he converted on 13 of 16 free throws.

A leading scorer a season ago, Smith averaged 15.3 points, 3.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds in his first campaign with the Matadors as he earned a Big West Honorable Mention. Another key returner from last season, junior forward Tavrion Dawson scored 9.9 points and grabbed 5.1 rebounds in 30 games. Dawson posted a productive stat line in the exhibition win over the Golden Eagles, scoring 10 points, registering six rebounds and dishing out five assists.

Also returning for their second seasons with the Matadors are junior guards Micheal Warren and Jerron Wilbut, and sophomore guards Jason Richardson and Mehran Nazarian. Warren led the team in scoring throughout non-conference play in 2015-16 as he finished with 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 30 games. Wilbut provided offense off the bench in his 19 games last season, scoring 9.5 points while knocking down 25 3-pointers. Richardson also played 30 games in his freshman campaign and he concluded the year with 6.5 points per game and 2.4 assists.

Receiving significant minutes against Cal State LA, Johnson and center Dylan Johns both contributed to the victory with solid efforts. A transfer from the University of Washington, Johnson shot 8-of-13 from the floor in his 37 minutes on the floor against Cal State LA. Johnson averaged 5.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 16.6 minutes on the floor in his first two collegiate seasons. A junior transfer from Texas A&M, Johns scored 11 points, collected nine boards and blocked two shots in the Matadors' exhibition victory. Johns played two seasons with the Aggies and registered 38 points along with 35 rebounds.

Two other Division I transfers that look to make an impact in their first seasons with the team, sophomore forward Rakim Lubin and junior forward Reggie Theus Jr. both join CSUN after beginning their collegiate careers at power five conferences. Lubin, played his freshman campaign with UConn where he scored 23 points and grabbed 28 rebounds in 24 games. Son of the Matadors' head coach, Theus Jr. played 70 total minutes on the floor with the University of South Carolina and scored 11 points.

Other newcomers to the roster include junior guard Julian Richardson, sophomore center Blair Orr and a trio of freshmen including center Mahamadou Kaba-Camara, forward Siyao Sun and guard Antonio Bruno.

In season openers, the Matadors are 27-31 all-time and 45-13 at home. The Matadors have won 14-straight home openers inside The Matadome. The team is also playing their first home game to kick off a season since 2013-14.

CSUN has played Pomona-Pitzer once in team history during the regular season with that contest coming in the 1959-60 season. The Matadors outlasted Pomona-Pitzer in the game by the final of 87-76. Against UCLA, the Matadors are 1-8 all-time with all games taking place inside Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins have won four-straight over the Matadors including a 77-45 victory last season.

A Closer Look at Pomona-Pitzer
The Sagehens posted a 12-12 overall record last season and a 7-9 mark in conference play for a fifth-place finish in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Sophomore guards Daniel Rosenbaum and Corbin Koch provided an immediate impact in their first seasons with the team in 2015-16. Rosenbaum averaged 16.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists while Koch finished with 15.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and a 41.1 shooting percent from 3-point range. Senior center Mitchell Finkel pulled down 7.1 rebounds last season and scored 4.3 points per game for the Sagehens.

A Closer Look at UCLA
Last season, the Bruins finished 15-17 overall and 6-12 in Pac-12 play. Starting the season 8-3, UCLA went 7-14 down the stretch and concluded last season 10th in the Pac-12. In the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament, USC defeated UCLA, 95-71. The Bruins were ranked 16th in this season's AP Preseason Poll and selected third in the Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll.

UCLA brings back its two leading scorers from a year ago in senior guards Isaac Hamilton and Bryce Alford. The tandem played in all 32 games last season as Hamilton led the team with 16.8 points to go along with 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists while Alford scored 16.1 points, grabbed 3.8 rebounds and dished out 5.2 assists. Hamilton earned 2016 All-Pac 12 Second Team honors and Alford received an Honorable Mention. Also scoring in double-figures last season, junior center Thomas Welsh averaged 11.2 points and 8.5 rebounds for the Bruins and sophomore guard Aaron Holiday finished with 10.3 points and 4.0 assists.