Saturday, December 19
Berkeley, Calif.
2:00 pm
California State University at Northridge
at
California
Photo by: Braden Villanueva
Matadors Visit Cal on Saturday Afternoon
12/17/2020 12:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
FULL GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (3-2) returns to the road for a Saturday afternoon match-up with California at 2 p.m. The game will broadcast on Pac-12 Networks while Ghizal Hasan will call the action in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio starting at 1:50 p.m. Roxy Bernstein and Mike Montgomery will be on the call for the Pac-12 Network broadcast.
The Matadors are coming off an 82-71 defeat to Stanford last Tuesday at The Matadome. After a tight first half, the Matadors evened the game with the Cardinal at 48-48 with 14 minutes to play but Stanford would go on a 13-3 run and protected the lead the rest of the way. Stanford shot 60 percent for the game while CSUN struggled from the field at a 36.4 percent clip. The Cardinal also earned their way to the free throw line with regularity, making 24-of-31 (77.4 percent).
Senior Lance Coleman II led the way for CSUN against Stanford, scoring 20 points including hitting a career-best six 3-pointers. Junior TJ Starks had another strong outing, scoring 19 points while adding five steals, five rebounds and four assists. Making his season debut and first appearance since suffering an injury on Nov. 15, 2019, Miles Brookins played 16 minutes and totaled eight points with four rebounds off the bench.
Despite Tuesday's loss, the Matadors' 3-2 record is the program's best five-game start since the 2013-14 season. A win on Saturday would give the Matadors their best six-game start to a season 2012-13. In total, eight Matador teams in the program's Division I era have won four or more times through the first six games of the season.
This past Monday, Starks earned his first career Big West Conference Player of the Week award. Starks scored a career-high 24 points in the Matadors' 89-84 victory over Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse on Dec. 12. He made 8-of-15 from the floor including 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line while he 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.
On the Big West leaderboard, Starks leads the Big West in field goals made (33) and 3-point field goals made (14) while he is third in points per game (19.2) and steals per game (2.2). Junior Darius Brown II finds himself first in the league in assists per game (5.6) and assists to turnover ratio (9.3). Also, Coleman II is second in the Big West in field goals made (30), fifth in points per game (17.2) and seventh in free throw percentage (92.3). The Matadors' leading rebounder Alex Merviladze is second in the conference in rebounds per game (8.0).
Officially, the Matadors are 1-6 against Cal in the all-time series, which dates back to Dec. 1981. CSUN's lone victory in the record books took place on Jan. 22 1995 when at the time the Bears were declared the winner. However, the Matadors would eventually be granted the win by forfeiture. In Berkeley, the Matadors are 0-6 with their most recent trip taking place on Nov. 28, 2017, when Cal won 83-63. Terrell Gomez had a team-high 20 points and Tavrion Dawson added 17 for the Matadors in a losing effort three seasons ago. CSUN's last win over a Pac-12 team came on Dec. 21, 2012, against Utah.
A Closer Look at California
Cal comes in with a 3-4 overall record and 0-2 mark in Pac-12 Conference play. After three-straight losses, Cal earned a 72-70 win over San Francisco at Haas Pavilion thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from graduate Makale Foreman. Cal has also collected wins over NAIA Northwest (Wash.) and Nicholls State this season. The Bears were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 by members of the media before the season. Head coach Mark Fox is in his second season at the helm.
A Preseason All-Pac-12 First Team selection, Matt Bradley leads the team in scoring with 19.1 points per game to go with 5.1 rebounds per game. Senior Grant Anticevich is tops in rebounding at 5.9 per game while he averages 10.3 points. As a team, the Bears average 65.9 points per game.
#UniteTheValley
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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (3-2) returns to the road for a Saturday afternoon match-up with California at 2 p.m. The game will broadcast on Pac-12 Networks while Ghizal Hasan will call the action in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio starting at 1:50 p.m. Roxy Bernstein and Mike Montgomery will be on the call for the Pac-12 Network broadcast.
The Matadors are coming off an 82-71 defeat to Stanford last Tuesday at The Matadome. After a tight first half, the Matadors evened the game with the Cardinal at 48-48 with 14 minutes to play but Stanford would go on a 13-3 run and protected the lead the rest of the way. Stanford shot 60 percent for the game while CSUN struggled from the field at a 36.4 percent clip. The Cardinal also earned their way to the free throw line with regularity, making 24-of-31 (77.4 percent).
Senior Lance Coleman II led the way for CSUN against Stanford, scoring 20 points including hitting a career-best six 3-pointers. Junior TJ Starks had another strong outing, scoring 19 points while adding five steals, five rebounds and four assists. Making his season debut and first appearance since suffering an injury on Nov. 15, 2019, Miles Brookins played 16 minutes and totaled eight points with four rebounds off the bench.
Despite Tuesday's loss, the Matadors' 3-2 record is the program's best five-game start since the 2013-14 season. A win on Saturday would give the Matadors their best six-game start to a season 2012-13. In total, eight Matador teams in the program's Division I era have won four or more times through the first six games of the season.
This past Monday, Starks earned his first career Big West Conference Player of the Week award. Starks scored a career-high 24 points in the Matadors' 89-84 victory over Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse on Dec. 12. He made 8-of-15 from the floor including 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line while he 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.
On the Big West leaderboard, Starks leads the Big West in field goals made (33) and 3-point field goals made (14) while he is third in points per game (19.2) and steals per game (2.2). Junior Darius Brown II finds himself first in the league in assists per game (5.6) and assists to turnover ratio (9.3). Also, Coleman II is second in the Big West in field goals made (30), fifth in points per game (17.2) and seventh in free throw percentage (92.3). The Matadors' leading rebounder Alex Merviladze is second in the conference in rebounds per game (8.0).
Officially, the Matadors are 1-6 against Cal in the all-time series, which dates back to Dec. 1981. CSUN's lone victory in the record books took place on Jan. 22 1995 when at the time the Bears were declared the winner. However, the Matadors would eventually be granted the win by forfeiture. In Berkeley, the Matadors are 0-6 with their most recent trip taking place on Nov. 28, 2017, when Cal won 83-63. Terrell Gomez had a team-high 20 points and Tavrion Dawson added 17 for the Matadors in a losing effort three seasons ago. CSUN's last win over a Pac-12 team came on Dec. 21, 2012, against Utah.
A Closer Look at California
Cal comes in with a 3-4 overall record and 0-2 mark in Pac-12 Conference play. After three-straight losses, Cal earned a 72-70 win over San Francisco at Haas Pavilion thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from graduate Makale Foreman. Cal has also collected wins over NAIA Northwest (Wash.) and Nicholls State this season. The Bears were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 by members of the media before the season. Head coach Mark Fox is in his second season at the helm.
A Preseason All-Pac-12 First Team selection, Matt Bradley leads the team in scoring with 19.1 points per game to go with 5.1 rebounds per game. Senior Grant Anticevich is tops in rebounding at 5.9 per game while he averages 10.3 points. As a team, the Bears average 65.9 points per game.
#UniteTheValley
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Players Mentioned
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