CSUN Travels to No. 22 Auburn, Richmond

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball kicks off play at the Roman Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper with a pair of campus site games at No. 22 Auburn on Friday at 4 p.m. and Richmond on Sunday at 1 p.m. (PST). Friday's game will air live on the SEC Network while ESPN+ will have coverage of Sunday's contest. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in an audio broadcast on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health for both games.

The Matadors dropped their home opener to Pepperdine 94-82 on Tuesday at The Matadome. The Waves stretched a 10-point halftime lead to 25 points with seven minutes to go in the second half. Terrell Gomez helped spark a furious rally down the stretch that saw the Matadors trim the Pepperdine lead to 12 points with a minute to play but the Waves held on in the final moments. Gomez finished with a career-high 33 points on 10-of-20 shooting including going 7-of-11 from 3-point range.

After his career night on the floor, Gomez is averaging a team-best 22.0 points through three games this season. Gomez is shooting a red-hot 56.0 percent from 3-point range (14-of-25). His scoring outburst also moved him further up the Matadors' career scoring leaderboard. After passing Mark Cooley (1964-67) and Todd Bowser (1986-91) Gomez is now up to 17th place on the career list with 1,069 points. Up next, Gomez could surpass Pat Bolden (1984-88) for 16th place with 13 points more points.

In his first season with the Matadors, junior Lance Coleman II is second on the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game to go with 3.3 rebounds. Sophomore Darius Brown II is also averaging in double figures with 11.3 points per game while he is sporting a team-high 5.0 assists per game. Another sophomore, Elijah Harkless is filling up the stat sheet this season, averaging 8.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

The Matadors will play Auburn for the first time in program history on Friday night. CSUN seeks its first-ever win over an SEC team as it comes in with an 0-5 record against the conference. The Matadors' last game versus an SEC team took place in Nov. 2015 against Texas A&M (95-73 loss). CSUN has not defeated a nationally-ranked team since beating No. 23 Utah State, 63-62, in March 2004.

CSUN also takes on Richmond for the first time in men's basketball this Sunday. The Matadors are 0-2 all-time against Atlantic 10 teams with their last game taking place in Nov. 2016 against George Mason (78-73 overtime loss).

Following CSUN's first two games in the Roman Legends Classic this week, the Matadors will complete the tournament next week at the Green Bay Legends Sub Regional. The Green Bay Phoenix will host the three-team regional, which will also include Colgate. The Matadors take on Colgate on Sunday, Nov. 25 before facing host Green Bay on Monday, Nov. 26.

A Closer Look at Auburn
The Tigers are 3-0 this season after picking up a 70-69 win at South Alabama on Tuesday. The victory over South Alabama concluded play at the Veterans Classic, which also included a 76-66 Auburn win over Davidson. Auburn was picked to finish fourth in the SEC in the preseason media poll. Fifth-year head coach Bruce Pearl led the Tigers to their first-ever Final Four appearance last season.

Freshman Isaac Okoro leads the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game on 60.7 percent shooting (17-of-28). Senior Samir Doughty is also off to a strong start, averaging 13.7 points to go with 6.7 rebounds. Voted preseason All-SEC, senior Austin Wiley is averaging 6.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in three games.

A Closer Look at Richmond
The Spiders (1-0) overcame a 10-point deficit with less than two minutes to play to defeat Saint Francis (PA.) 100-98 last Friday in their season opener. A season after finishing 13-20, Richmond was picked to finish sixth in this year's Preseason Atlantic 10 poll. In his 15th season at the helm, head coach Chris Mooney is the all-time winningest coach in Richmond team history. Richmond will host Vanderbilt on Thursday before facing the Matadors.

Junior Nick Sherod scored 27 points while junior Jacob Gilyard added 24 points in the win over Saint Francis. The team's top two scorers from a year ago, junior Grant Golden and Gilyard both earned spots on the Preseason Atlantic 10 team. Golden posted 17.2 points and 7.1 rebounds while Gilyard averaged 16.2 points and 5.2 assists for the Spiders. Sherod also averaged in double figures, posting 12.7 points per game.

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CSUN Travels to No. 22 Auburn, Richmond

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Players Mentioned

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Terrell Gomez

Elijah Harkless