CSUN Takes on UCSB, UC Riverside in Road Tests

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (7-12, 3-3 BWC) looks to snap a three-game skid on Wednesday evening. Beginning a two-game road trip, the Matadors face UC Santa Barbara at the Thunderdome at 7 p.m. To conclude the week, CSUN travels to take on UC Riverside at the SRC Arena at 5 p.m. Live streams will be available for both games courtesy of Big West.TV while audio only broadcasts will be available on the CSUN Sports Network with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister calling all the action.

The Matadors suffered consecutive losses last week to fall to 3-3 in Big West play. After competing at Hawai'i in a back-and-forth affair with 22 lead changes, CSUN fell at the buzzer on a 3-pointer from Leland Green. Three nights later, the Matadors made the trek back home to take on first place UC Irvine at The Matadome. Suffering from poor shooting, CSUN fell into an early hole and was unable to overcome a hot shooting UC Irvine team in a 105-73 defeat.

Junior guard Kendall Smith led the way for the Matadors with 20 points against Hawai'i and 13 points along with seven assists versus UC Irvine. Tavrion Dawson also had a strong week offensively, scoring 18 at Hawai'i and another 12 points against the Anteaters. In 21 minutes of action on Saturday, sophomore forward Rakim Lubin scored 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Senior guard Aaron Parks will look to become the 19th Matador in team history to reach 1,000 career points this week. Sitting at 977 points, Parks needs 23 points to reach the milestone. The Matador mainstay is also within reach of becoming the sixth player in the Division I era to post 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals over a career. In addition to scoring 23 points, Parks would need to dish out 25 more assists this season to join Brian Heinle (1997-2001), Markus Carr (1998-2002), Ian Boylan (2001-05), Jonathan Heard (2004-08) and Josh Greene (2010-14) as the only Matadors to accomplish the feat.

Heading into this week's competition, Smith is second in the Big West in scoring with 16.5 points per game while Dawson is sixth (14.1) and Darin Johnson is ninth (13.4). Smith comes into the week with a 14-game double-digit scoring streak. On the glass, Dawson is tops on the team with 5.8 rebounds while Lubin is second with 5.5 boards. Leading distributor in the conference, Smith is averaging 4.6 assists per game.

Continuing to lead the Big West in both free throws made (348) and attempted (547), the Matadors have climbed into the Top 15 in the nation in both categories. CSUN is currently ranked fifth in attempted free throws and 11th in made free throws as of January 24.

UC Santa Barbara owns a 36-18 all-time record in the head-to-head series with CSUN and a three-game winning streak. The Gauchos are 17-10 at home versus CSUN all-time but the Matadors have won three of the last four meetings at the Thunderdome. Last season, Parks averaged a team-best 12.0 points per game versus the Gauchos.

After defeating UC Riverside earlier this season, CSUN is 41-35 all-time in the series and winners of three of the last four games. The Matadors are 18-19 at UC Riverside all-time but the team picked up a 73-71 win at the SRC Arena thanks to 25 points from Micheal Warren. On January 4, the tandem of Smith and Johnson each scored 21 points as the Matadors erased a halftime deficit in a 82-76 win over the Highlanders.

A Closer Look at UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Barbara currently holds an overall record of 3-14 and a 1-4 Big West mark. The Gauchos are also 3-4 at home on the season and 1-1 in conference games. UCSB dropped two close road contests to Long Beach State (81-76) and UC Riverside (65-55) last week. Four out of the six conference games for the Gauchos have been decided by 10 points or less.

Junior Gabe Vincent (15.4 ppg) eclipsed 1,000 points in his career with an 18-point performance against UC Riverside and has scored in double figures in 16 of 17 games. Averaging 6.2 points and 5.7 rebounds on the season, junior Alex Hart has averaged 11.0 points and grabbed 8.2 rebounds during Big West Conference play for the Gauchos.

A Closer Look at UC Riverside
The Highlanders (5-11, 3-2 BWC) head into the week on a three-game winning streak after edging Cal State Fullerton (71-63) and UC Santa Barbara (65-55) last week. As a result of the hot streak, the Highlanders have moved into third place in the Big West standings, just ahead of CSUN. UC Riverside is trying avoid being swept by CSUN for the first time in a season since 2009-10. Before facing CSUN, the Highlanders will travel on the road to take on Hawai'i on Wednesday.

Offensively, the Highlanders are led by senior Secean Johnson (11.3 ppg) and junior Chance Murray (11.1 ppg). Johnson has collected 5.4 rebounds while Murray has scored in double figures in three of five conference contests, including a season-high 21 points versus CSUN on Jan. 4. During their winning streak, the Highlanders have limited opponents to 57.7 points per game.

CSUN Takes on UCSB, UC Riverside in Road Tests

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Darin Johnson

Rakim Lubin

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith

Micheal Warren