Matadors Conclude Road Trip at Hawai'i

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball concludes its three-game road trip on Saturday as the Matadors make the trek to Hawai'i in a Big West Conference contest. Tip off is slated for 9 p.m. (PT) and the game will be aired live on Big West.TV. An audio only broadcast will be available on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with Ghizal Hasan on the call.

The Big West race continues to tighten up with a little over three weeks left to play in the regular season. CSUN is holding on to the eighth and final postseason spot at the moment as it comes in to the weekend with a 2-8 record. UC Riverside (1-8) sits in ninth place but is just a one-half game behind the Matadors. UC Santa Barbara is atop the standings with an 8-2 record followed by UC Davis (7-3), UC Irvine (7-3), Cal State Fullerton (6-4), Long Beach State (6-4), Hawai'i (4-5) and Cal Poly (3-7). The top eight teams will advance to the Big West Tournament set to start on March 8.

CSUN dropped its fifth-straight game on Wednesday at UC Irvine by the final of 77-56. The Matadors trailed 28-20 at the half and were able to trim an 18-point second-half deficit to 10 with six minutes to play but the Anteaters pulled away down the stretch. UC Irvine took advantage of its size, out-rebounding the Matadors 41-29 and outscoring CSUN 46-14 in points in the paint.

Tavrion Dawson finished with a team-high 18 points to go with six rebounds and three steals while Lyrik Shreiner collected his second double-double of his career, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Terrell Gomez also chipped in with 11 points.

Already in the Top 15 in school history in career points (1,108), Dawson entered CSUN's all-time Top 10 blocks list with his 44th rejection on Wednesday. Dawson is tied with Devonte Elliott (2014-15) for 10th all time and is just four away from ninth place, currently occupied by Tom Samson (1993-97). The CSUN forward is also nearing the school's Top 10 rebounding list as he has 523 for his career and needs 59 more boards to reach 10th place.

In the Big West, Dawson is sixth in the league in points (16.2), rebounds per game (6.7) and minutes per game (32.5). Gomez leads the Big West in minutes per game (33.7) while he is second in 3-point percentage (45.7) and seventh in assists per game (3.6). Warren sits in fourth place in free throw percentage (83.3) and ninth in rebounds per game (6.1). Also averaging 12.5 points and 2.0 assists, Warren is the only Big West player to average at least 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.

In the all-time head-to-head series, Hawai'i has won 15 of 19 meetings with the Matadors including seven-straight games. CSUN is seeking its first win in the series since March 2014 as it defeated Hawai'i 87-84 in overtime at the Big West Tournament. The Matadors are 1-9 all time at Hawai'i and have dropped seven in a row. CSUN's only win in Hawai'i took place on Dec. 1998 in an 89-79 victory. Earlier this season, CSUN shot a season-low 27.5 percent in a 65-46 loss to the Rainbow Warriors at The Matadome. Dawson finished with 12 points and seven rebounds against Hawai'i in defeat.

A Closer Look at Hawai'i
The Rainbow Warriors are 13-9 this season and 4-5 in Big West play. Hawai'i has dropped four-straight games after leading the Big West standings, and have lost two straight at Stan Sheriff Center. On Wednesday, Hawai'i fell to UC Riverside 64-60 at home.

Senior Mike Thomas leads the team in points (13.6) and rebounds per game (6.1). Against CSUN earlier this season, Thomas finished with 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting to go with 11 rebounds. Junior Sheriff Drammeh is also averaging in double figures with 11.0 points per game. Freshman Drew Buggs leads the Rainbow Warriors with 3.8 assists per game while he is scoring 7.4 points. As a team, Hawai'i is second in the Big West in assists per game (14.8) and third in points allowed per game (69.9).

Matadors Conclude Road Trip at Hawai'i

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Players Mentioned

Tavrion Dawson

Terrell Gomez

Lyrik Shreiner