CSUN Visits CSU Bakersfield for First Time in Big West Play

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (8-9, 4-6 Big West) faces CSU Bakersfield for the first time in Big West Conference play this weekend at the Icardo Center. The series opens on Friday and concludes on Saturday with both games set to stream on ESPN3 at 7 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call in audio broadcasts at GoMatadors.com/Radio beginning at 6:50 p.m. each day.

For each series opener for the remainder of the season, Matador fans can tune in to watch a virtual pre-game event starting 30 minutes for the game. Fans have the opportunity to get a live look at warm-ups, a performance from the CSUN Dance Team, hear from a member of the CSUN coaching staff and catch up with a men's basketball alum. Fans can watch the virtual pre-game event at GoMatadors.com/MBBPreGame.

The Matadors head into the week ninth in the Big West standings at 4-6 but are only one game back of fifth place and two games back of fourth place. UC Santa Barbara is first in the league at 10-2 followed by UC Irvine (8-4), UC Riverside (5-3), CSU Bakersfield (8-6), Long Beach State (4-4), UC Davis (3-3) and Hawai'i (6-8). Cal Poly sits in 10th place (1-11). This season, each Big West team, with the exception of UC San Diego, will compete at the 2021 Air Force Reserve Big West Men's Basketball Championships presented by the Hawaiian Islands in Las Vegas. The bottom four teams in the league standings would play in first round action on Tuesday, March 9 and therefore would have to win four games in five days to win the Big West championship. The top six teams automatically advance to the quarterfinal round of the tournament on March 11.

CSUN is coming off a 1-1 week as it nearly staged two improbable comebacks on its home floor against Hawai'i. The Matadors trailed by as many as 14 points in the series opener last Friday before taking a two-point lead with a minute to play but the Rainbow Warriors picked up a late 3-point basket to prevail 75-74. A day later, the Matadors staged one of their biggest comebacks in team history as they rallied from 23 points down to beat Hawai'i in overtime, 88-80.

It would be another big week for the Matadors' backcourt in the series against Hawai'i. TJ Starks scored a career-high 31 points in the opener including scoring 15 of CSUN's final 21 points. Starks would tally 28 points in game two, scoring 22 of his points after halftime. After a strong effort in game one, Darius Brown II had a stellar outing in game two, recording a triple-double with 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals. Brown II also hit the game-tying shot against the Rainbow Warriors to send the game into overtime.

CSUN could also attribute its come-from-behind win to the play of freshmen Alex Merkviladze and Amound Anderson, who played 39 and 35 minutes, respectively. Merkviladze scored 16 points with seven rebounds while Anderson registered a career-high 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go with eight rebounds. Sixth in the Big West in rebounds per game (6.3), Merkviladze also pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds in game one.

After recording the Matadors' second triple-double in team history and first against a Division I team, Brown II earned Big West Player of the Week honors on Monday. It was the first career award for the Matador junior who averaged 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game for the week. Brown II recorded a career-high 16 rebounds in the game and would complete the triple-double on the Matadors' final basket in overtime, an assist to Starks for a layup. The 6-2 guard also moved into third place in CSUN history on the career assist list at 394, ahead of Landon Drew (2012-16). Brown II leads the nation in assists to turnover ratio (4.5) while he is tied for the league lead in assists per game (5.4).

With 34 points this weekend, Starks would reach 1,000 points in his collegiate career. Starks scored 651 points at Texas A&M over two seasons from 2017-19 and has scored 315 points in his first season with the Matadors. Starks leads the Big West Conference in points per game at 21.0, which ranks ninth-best in the nation.

Dating back to 1973, CSUN and CSUB have played 45 times with the Roadrunners holding a narrow 23-22 edge. While the teams have never met in Big West Conference play, the programs have a long history playing in the same league as Division II teams. CSUN and CSUB played 37 games from 1973-90 when both teams were members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. At the Division I level, CSUN is 4-4 against Bakersfield with the Matadors going 1-3 on the road. The teams last played on Jan. 28, 2012 with CSUN posting a 76-68 win in Bakersfield as the Matadors were led by Stephan Hicks' 26 points.

A Closer Look at CSU Bakersfield
The Roadrunners are 14-9 this season and 8-6 in league action. Last week, CSUB suffered a two-game sweep at the hands of league-leading UC Santa Barbara with the Gauchos prevailing twice at home, 71-66 and 63-44. Playing in their final two games of the regular season this weekend, the 'Runners can finish as high second place in the Big West Conference. Head coach Rod Barnes is in his 10th season at the helm of the program.

Taze Moore leads the Roadrunners in scoring at 11.4 points per game to go with an average of 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Justin Edler-Davis is second on the team in scoring at 9.4 points while he has made a team-high 35 shots from 3-point range. Ronne Readus is seventh in the Big West in rebounds per game (5.8) and Czar Perry is eighth in assists per game (3.8). As a team, CSUB is first in the Big West in offensive rebounds per game (13.7), second in total rebounds per game (37.7) and third in points per game allowed (63.4).

#UniteTheValley

CSUN Visits CSU Bakersfield for First Time in Big West Play

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Amound Anderson

Darius Brown II

Alex Merkviladze

TJ Starks