Matadors Travel to Cal Poly this Week

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (5-6, 1-3 Big West) looks to get back on the winning track when it visits Cal Poly this week in back-to-back games. The Matadors and Mustangs will play Friday and Saturday with tip-off set for 4 p.m. each day. Both games will stream live on BigWest.TV while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in audio broadcasts at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

CSUN came up short twice last week against UC Santa Barbara at The Matadome. The Gauchos routed the Matadors in the opener, 105-58, despite a career-high 29 points from TJ Starks. A day later, the Matadors trimmed a 15-point deficit to six with three minutes to play but it would not be enough as the Gauchos held on down the stretch for an 80-66 triumph. Starks again led the Matadors in scoring in game two of the series with 24 points while Darius Brown II added 12 points and five assists.

The series with the Gauchos would see the return of several Matadors to the lineup. Starks returned to the court after missing the Matadors' first two conference games while Lance Coleman II made his first appearance since Dec. 19 after recovering from injury. Ron Artest III also returned to the team, playing in his second game of the season and his first since Nov. 25.

Brown II surpassed two Matador greats on the school's all-time assist list last weekend. Passing Ian Boylan (2001-05) and Josh Greene (2010-14), Brown II is now fourth in CSUN history with 364 career assists. The Pasadena native is 30 assists away from overtaking Landon Drew (2012-16) for third place on the list.

On the Big West leaderboard, Starks leads the league in scoring at 20.0 points per game while he is ranked second in free throws made (40), third in field goals made (60), fifth in steals per game (1.8) and seventh in 3-point field goals made (20). Brown II is the national leader in assists to turnover ratio (7.6) while he is the Big West leader in assists per game (5.5). Coleman II is seventh in the conference in points per game (13.9) while Alex Merkviladze is seventh in rebounds per game (6.2).

Cal Poly leads CSUN 55-50 in the all-time series. The Matadors have won four of the last six games with both of those losses taking place at Mott Athletics Center. The teams split the season series a year ago with each team holding serve at home as Cal Poly defeated the Matadors 74-56 in San Luis Obispo before CSUN earned an 81-73 win in Northridge. Brown II scored a career-high 26 points against the Mustangs last season in CSUN's victory at The Matadome. Cal Poly has won nine of the last 11 meetings at Mott Athletics Center with CSUN's two wins coming in overtime.

A Closer Look at Cal Poly
The Mustangs (2-10, 0-6 Big West) suffered a two-game sweep last week at UC Irvine, losing 68-49 and 67-44. Cal Poly has dropped its last eight games with its last win coming against San Jose State on Dec. 13. The Mustangs' other victory on the year was a season-opening triumph over Bethesda in November. Head coach John Smith is in his second season at the helm of the program.

Sophomore Alimamy Koroma leads the team in points per game (11.0) and rebounds per game (5.2). Fellow sophomore Colby Rogers is averaging 8.9 points in seven games played while senior Mark Crowe is scoring 6.8 points to go with a team-best 20 made 3-pointers. As a team, the Mustangs lead the Big West in blocks per game at 3.6.

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Matadors Travel to Cal Poly this Week

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Players Mentioned

Ron Artest III

Darius Brown II

Lance Coleman II

Alex Merkviladze

TJ Starks