Matadors Host UC Santa Barbara on Homecoming Night

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Men's Basketball (10-13, 6-4 BWC) faces UC Santa Barbara on Homecoming Night this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. inside The Matadome. The game will be aired live on Fox Sports Prime Ticket. An audio only broadcast will also be available on the CSUN Sports Network with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.

After winning their third-straight game against Long Beach State last Wednesday, 108-98, the Matadors were narrowly clipped by Hawai'i, 76-72 on Saturday evening. Senior guard Aaron Parks eclipsed 1,000 career points with 12 against LBSU and Tavrion Dawson posted a double-double (24 points and 12 rebounds) while both Kendall Smith and Darin Johnson scored 23 points apiece. Three nights later, Johnson set a career-high with 27 points in the loss to Hawai'i. Dawson recorded 14 points and nine rebounds and Smith put together a complete effort by finishing with 15 points, six assists and four steals versus the Rainbow Warriors.

Parks became the 19th Matador in team history to reach 1,000 career points last Wednesday and the first since former teammate Stephen Maxwell accomplished the feat three seasons ago. The Matador guard also moved into 18th place on the all-time CSUN scoring list (1,007 points) on Saturday and within 34 points from reaching Todd Bowser (1986-91) for 17th on the list (1,041 points).

Along with his scoring totals, Parks is fifth all-time in CSUN history in free throws made (388) and fourth in free throws attempted (520). Parks needs just eight more made free throws to climb into fourth place on the free throws made list. He also could become just the sixth Matador in the team's Division I era to reach 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals with 11 more assists this season.

CSUN continues to feature an explosive offensive attack this season, as it ranks first in the Big West in points per game (78.8), field goal percentage (46.5), 3-point percentage (36.3) and assists per game (14.5). The Matador lineup possesses three of the Top 10 scorers in the conference with Smith currently in second place (16.1 ppg) followed by Dawson in eighth (14.7 ppg) and Johnson in ninth (14.0 ppg).

Coming into the weekend averaging 78.8 points per game, the Matadors could become the first team since 2000-01 to average over 78 points per game for a season. The 2000-01 Matadors averaged 82.8 points per game for the year.

The Big West leader in assists, Smith is averaging 4.9 assists per game this season and 5.3 assists during Big West play. Dawson leads the Matadors in rebounding with 6.8 boards but the Matador forward has been especially impressive against Big West foes as he is pulling down 8.4 per game in 10 conference contests.

Despite the setback against Hawai'i, the Matadors can top last year's entire win total with a victory over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night. CSUN also could post its most overall wins and its most conference wins since the 2013-14 season by defeating UCSB.

Despite trailing the all-time series with the Gauchos, 36-19, the Matadors snapped a three-game skid with a 78-57 win at the Thunderdome in January. Rakim Lubin scored a team-high 17 points against the Gauchos last month while Dawson registered 11 points and 13 rebounds. CSUN has dropped the last five meetings to UCSB inside The Matadome with the last win coming in Feb. 2011 (68-60). The Matadors' last season sweep of the Gauchos took place during the 2010-11 season, however UC Santa Barbara defeated the Matadors in that season's Big West Conference Tournament.

A Closer Look at UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos enter Saturday's matchup with an overall record of 3-19 and a Big West mark of 1-9. Away from home, UC Santa Barbara has gone 0-10 including 0-5 in conference games. UCSB is looking to snap a seven-game skid after losing to UC Irvine, 64-47, on the road on Wednesday night.

A Big West Conference Honorable Mention last season and the team's leading scorer (14.8 ppg), junior Gabe Vincent suffered a season-ending injury on Feb. 2 against Cal State Fullerton. Stepping in, senior Eric Childress (7.9 ppg) and junior Alex Hart (6.8 ppg) have scored in double-digits in the past two games. Childress has averaged 3.7 assists per game this season while Hart has pulled down 5.4 boards per game. As a team, the Gauchos have averaged 37.3 rebounds per game, good for third-best in the Big West Conference.

Matadors Host UC Santa Barbara on Homecoming Night

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Darin Johnson

Rakim Lubin

Aaron Parks

Kendall Smith