Photo by: Braden Villanueva
CSUN Hosts Stanford for First Time in Team History on Tuesday
12/14/2020 4:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
FULL GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (3-1) returns to The Matadome for the first time in 20 days when it takes on Stanford on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The game will stream live on ESPN3 while an audio broadcast will air at GoMatadors.com/Radio with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call beginning at 1:50 p.m.
The Matadors are coming off their second-straight win this past Saturday as CSUN earned a hard-fought 89-84 win at Pepperdine. Junior TJ Starks scored a career-high 24 points including the go-ahead free throw in the final minute. CSUN led by as many as 10 points before the Waves tied the game at 84-84 with 51 seconds to play. Starks would earn his way to the line four times in the final seconds, making three of those attempts. CSUN held Pepperdine scoreless the rest of the way as sophomore Festus Ndumanya made two from the free throw line to seal the win.
Senior Lance Coleman II scored 18 points including 12 in the second half for CSUN while junior Darius Brown II recorded 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ndumanya added 12 points and freshman Alex Merkviladze registered 13 points and seven rebounds. Pepperdine (3-3) had come into the game with wins over UC Irvine and California and had only suffered losses to nationally-ranked teams in UCLA and San Diego State.
With a 3-1 start to the season, the Matadors have recorded their best four-game start in seven seasons. Five other Matador teams in the program's Division I era have started the year with at least three wins through four games, with only two teams, the 2007-08 (4-0) and 2012-13 squads (6-0), posting a perfect record in those four contests. The list of teams that have also gone 3-1 include the 2000-01, 2005-06 and 2006-07 squads.
Fresh off his career night on Saturday, Starks earned his first career Big West Conference Player of the Week award. Starks recorded his third-straight 20-point game this season. He made 8-of-15 from the floor including 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. Starks added five assists, two rebounds and one steal in 32 minutes of action. The 24-point game surpassed three separate 23-point games Starks had recorded while at Texas A&M from 2017-19.
The Matadors have hosted only one Pac-12 Conference program in team history with that game taking place on Jan. 22, 1995, against California. CSUN came up short initially against Cal, losing 76-65, however the Bears would eventually forfeit the game, giving the Matadors the win in the record books. The Matadors' last win over a Pac-12 team came on Dec. 21, 2012, against Utah.
Stanford has won five all-time meetings with CSUN in a series that dates back to Dec. 1976. All five of those games took place at Stanford. The Matadors dropped a 96-69 decision against the Cardinal in the last meeting between the two teams with Kendall Smith scored a team-high 17 points in a losing effort.
A Closer Look at Stanford
Stanford (2-2) has played all four of its games in North Carolina to start the 2020-21 season. This past Sunday, Stanford's scheduled Pac-12 opener at USC was postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test in the Trojan program. The Cardinal defeated Alabama and North Carolina A&T while they suffered defeats to nationally-ranked North Carolina and Indiana. Stanford was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 this season. Head coach Jerod Haase is in his fifth season with Stanford.
Senior forward Oscar da Silva and freshman forward Ziaire Williams were selected Preseason All-Pac-12 First Team honorees. The team leader in scoring, da Silva is averaging 17.3 points to go with 5.0 rebounds per game. Williams is averaging a team-high 6.5 rebounds while he is averaging 9.8 points. Senior guard Daejon Davis is also averaging in double figures in points (14.5).
#UniteTheValley
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (3-1) returns to The Matadome for the first time in 20 days when it takes on Stanford on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The game will stream live on ESPN3 while an audio broadcast will air at GoMatadors.com/Radio with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call beginning at 1:50 p.m.
The Matadors are coming off their second-straight win this past Saturday as CSUN earned a hard-fought 89-84 win at Pepperdine. Junior TJ Starks scored a career-high 24 points including the go-ahead free throw in the final minute. CSUN led by as many as 10 points before the Waves tied the game at 84-84 with 51 seconds to play. Starks would earn his way to the line four times in the final seconds, making three of those attempts. CSUN held Pepperdine scoreless the rest of the way as sophomore Festus Ndumanya made two from the free throw line to seal the win.
Senior Lance Coleman II scored 18 points including 12 in the second half for CSUN while junior Darius Brown II recorded 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ndumanya added 12 points and freshman Alex Merkviladze registered 13 points and seven rebounds. Pepperdine (3-3) had come into the game with wins over UC Irvine and California and had only suffered losses to nationally-ranked teams in UCLA and San Diego State.
With a 3-1 start to the season, the Matadors have recorded their best four-game start in seven seasons. Five other Matador teams in the program's Division I era have started the year with at least three wins through four games, with only two teams, the 2007-08 (4-0) and 2012-13 squads (6-0), posting a perfect record in those four contests. The list of teams that have also gone 3-1 include the 2000-01, 2005-06 and 2006-07 squads.
Fresh off his career night on Saturday, Starks earned his first career Big West Conference Player of the Week award. Starks recorded his third-straight 20-point game this season. He made 8-of-15 from the floor including 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. Starks added five assists, two rebounds and one steal in 32 minutes of action. The 24-point game surpassed three separate 23-point games Starks had recorded while at Texas A&M from 2017-19.
The Matadors have hosted only one Pac-12 Conference program in team history with that game taking place on Jan. 22, 1995, against California. CSUN came up short initially against Cal, losing 76-65, however the Bears would eventually forfeit the game, giving the Matadors the win in the record books. The Matadors' last win over a Pac-12 team came on Dec. 21, 2012, against Utah.
Stanford has won five all-time meetings with CSUN in a series that dates back to Dec. 1976. All five of those games took place at Stanford. The Matadors dropped a 96-69 decision against the Cardinal in the last meeting between the two teams with Kendall Smith scored a team-high 17 points in a losing effort.
A Closer Look at Stanford
Stanford (2-2) has played all four of its games in North Carolina to start the 2020-21 season. This past Sunday, Stanford's scheduled Pac-12 opener at USC was postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test in the Trojan program. The Cardinal defeated Alabama and North Carolina A&T while they suffered defeats to nationally-ranked North Carolina and Indiana. Stanford was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 this season. Head coach Jerod Haase is in his fifth season with Stanford.
Senior forward Oscar da Silva and freshman forward Ziaire Williams were selected Preseason All-Pac-12 First Team honorees. The team leader in scoring, da Silva is averaging 17.3 points to go with 5.0 rebounds per game. Williams is averaging a team-high 6.5 rebounds while he is averaging 9.8 points. Senior guard Daejon Davis is also averaging in double figures in points (14.5).
#UniteTheValley
Players Mentioned
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