CSUN Hosts Idaho State, Visits St. John's on FS1

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball looks to get back on the winning track beginning this Saturday. The Matadors return home to host Idaho State at 4 p.m. on The Blacktop @ The Matadome before traveling across country to meet St. John's on Monday at 3:30 p.m. PT on FS1. Saturday's home contest will be streamed live on the CSUN Sports Network via Big West.TV with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call. Both Hasan and Zinsmeister will also call the action from St. John's on an audio broadcast also on the CSUN Sports Network.

The Matadors and Bengals are game one of a CSUN basketball doubleheader. The game will be followed by CSUN Women's Basketball taking on Eastern Washington at 6:30 p.m.

The Matadors continue non-conference play after a busy Thanksgiving weekend at the 2016 Wooden Legacy. Playing three games in four days, CSUN dropped contests to Texas A&M, 95-73, New Mexico, 105-89, and to Portland, 96-78.

Despite the setbacks, a number of Matadors produced strong performances in the tournament. Both Darin Johnson and Aaron Parks led the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game. Johnson posted a team-high in scoring in two games including recording a career-high 22 points along with 5-of-5 shooting from 3-point range against New Mexico. Parks scored 35 points combined in the final two games of the Wooden Legacy as he tied a career high with six assists to go along with 15 points versus Portland.

Also, Kendall Smith, Rakim Lubin and Micheal Warren all averaged over 10 points per game in the three contests. Smith led the team in assists in two games and averaged a team-best 5.7 for the weekend. Lubin grabbed 5.3 rebounds in the tournament and nearly registered his first career double-double after a 16-point, nine-rebound performance against New Mexico. In the tournament opener, Warren came off the bench and led CSUN in scoring with a season-best 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting versus the Aggies on Thanksgiving Day.

Leading the team in scoring with 14.7 points per game, Parks earned his way in the Matadors' all-time Top 10 list in career free throws made as he climbed into seventh place with 344. With 14 more made free throws, Parks can reach sixth place, currently occupied by Jeff Parris (1997-2001). He is also on pace to surpass 1,000 career points this season. At 873 points for his career, Parks needs to average at least 5.8 points the rest of the way to reach the milestone.

Smith is second on the team in scoring with 14.6 points while Tavrion Dawson (13.6) and Johnson (12.3) are also averaging in double figures this season. Lubin continues to lead CSUN in rebounding with 6.1 per game to go along with 8.4 points on 53.8 percent shooting. In the assist department, Smith is averaging 5.4 while he is also posting 4.3 rebounds. Off the bench, Dawson had led the second unit in scoring as he is shooting 54.2 percent from the field. Johnson went 9-of-13 from 3-point range at the Wooden Legacy to improve his shooting from downtown to 58.3 percent (14-for-24) this season.

CSUN and Idaho State have competed in 16 games all-time with the Matadors holding a 9-7 edge. Facing off last season, the teams met each other for the first time since CSUN played in the Big Sky Conference. In the teams' meeting last season, the Bengals defeated the Matadors in Pocatello, ID, 84-79. Smith led CSUN in scoring in the loss while Warren finished with 18. The Matadors have never faced St. John's in team history but have played teams from the Big East Conference on four occasions (1-3). CSUN last played a Big East team in 2010 as the Matadors handed DePaul an 88-66 loss at the Wooden Legacy.

A Closer Look at Idaho State
Idaho State heads into the matchup with the Matadors with a 1-6 overall record after earning a 77-60 win on Tuesday against Lamar. The Bengals have played six of their seven games this season away from home including four games at the Cancun Challenge against the likes of Texas Tech, NJIT, Eastern Kentucky and Utah State. Last season, Idaho State went 16-15 and 11-7 in the Big Sky for a fourth-place finish in the conference.

Senior guard Ethan Telfair leads the Bengals in scoring with 18.3 points per game along with 6.0 assists in four games. Freshman Brandon Boyd is second in scoring with 13.0 points while junior Geno Luzcando is scoring 12.6 points to go along with 6.6 rebounds. Sophomore center Novak Topalovic is posting a team-best 7.3 rebounds and he is scoring 9.4 points per game.

A Closer Look at St. John's
The Red Storm are 2-5 on the season and have dropped five-straight games. St. John's owns a 2-1 record at Carnesecca Arena after falling to Delaware State on Tuesday, 79-72. Before hosting CSUN, St. John's will travel to Tulane on Friday. In 2015-16, the Red Storm finished 8-24 overall and 1-17 during Big East play in head coach Chris Mullin's first season with the team.

Freshmen duo Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds lead the team in scoring this season. Lovett is averaging 19.8 points and 3.7 assists while Ponds is posting 15.3 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds. Also averaging in double figures, junior Bashir Ahmed is scoring 11.6 a game and grabbing 5.7 rebounds. As a team, the Red Storm are posting 7.0 blocks per game with sophomore Kassoum Yakwe averaging 3.7 per game.

CSUN Hosts Idaho State, Visits St. John's on FS1

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Dylan Johns

Darin Johnson

Rakim Lubin

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Micheal Warren