Matadors Continue Big West Play at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (5-8, 1-0 Big West) returns to the road for a pair of conference matches this week. The Matadors visit Cal State Fullerton on Thursday at 7 p.m. before taking on Long Beach State on Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call on GoMatadors.com/Radio.

Cal State Fullerton leads CSUN 48-36 in the all-time series that dates back to Dec. 1960. After the Titans won seven consecutive meetings with the Matadors from 2017-20, CSUN have won two of the last three games. The teams split their two-game series last season, which took place at Titan Gym. CSUN took the opener 86-85 behind 25-point efforts from Darius Brown II and Brendan Harrick before Cal State Fullerton won a day later 85-77. The Titans have won four of the last five meetings at Titan Gym.

In a series that goes back to Feb. 1959, Long Beach State holds a 43-27 edge over CSUN. Overall in the series, the Matadors have won three of the last five games and five of last nine meetings. The teams did not play their regular season series last season due to COVID-19 precautions but the squads met up in the postseason. Long Beach State would eliminate the Matadors out of the 2021 Big West Tournament in an opening round 85-63 triumph. The teams have split the last four meetings at Walter Pyramid after Long Beach State had won the previous eight games at home.

The Matadors earned their first win in Big West Conference play last Saturday with a 68-55 victory over Cal Poly at The Matadome. After trailing at halftime, CSUN broke open a close game with an 18-0 run early on in the second half to take control of the game. The Matadors led by as many as 15 points down the stretch to collect the win.

Onyi Eyisi had a career night against Cal Poly, scoring a new personal-high 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go with eight rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. Elijah Hardy added 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists while the tandem of Kailen Rains and Atin Wright poured in 11 points apiece.

Heading into the week, two Matadors are on the Big West's top-20 scoring list with Wright in 10th place (10.6 points) and Hardy in 17th place (10.9 points). Wright still tops the Big West in free throw percentage (94.7) while Hardy is third in steals per game (1.5) and seventh in assists per game (2.9). In blocks per game, Harrick is third (1.2) followed by Fidelis Okereke in seventh place (0.9).

A Closer Look at Cal State Fullerton
The Titans last played on Dec. 30 and have had their last three games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. Cal State Fullerton (7-5, 1-0 Big West) won its Big West Conference opener against CSU Bakersfield, 73-67, to stretch its winning streak to three entering this week. The Titans have won four of five games this season at Titan Gym with its only loss coming to Wyoming. Head coach Dedrique Taylor is in his ninth season at the helm of the program.

E.J. Anosike enters the week second in the Big West in points per game (17.5) and field goal percentage (53.8) and fourth in rebounds per game (7.3). Three other Titans are scoring in double figures, which include Tray Maddox Jr. (10.2), Dante Maddox Jr. (10.0) and Vincent Lee (10.0). Damari Milstead leads the Big West in steals per game (1.8) to go with his 8.6 points per game. As a team, the Titans are tops in the conference in free throw percentage (75.9) while they rank in fourth place in scoring (72.1).

A Closer Look at Long Beach State
The Beach (4-9, 0-1 Big West) are coming off a busy week where they played three games over a four-day span, which culminated with a conference-opening loss to Hawai'i (72-67). Prior to its busy week, Long Beach State had six consecutive games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. The Beach have gone 2-3 at Walter Pyramid thus far this season. Head coach Dan Monson is his 15th season leading the Beach program.

Two Beach players are in the Big West's top-10 in scoring as Joel Murray is sixth (15.1 points) and Colin Slater is ninth (13.0 points). Murray is also sixth in the conference in steals per game (1.3) while Aboubacar Traore is sixth in rebounds per game (6.7). Joe Hampton is the third Beach player to average in double figures, scoring 10.5 points per game. As a team, Long Beach State is ranked third in the Big West in points per game (74.3).

#UniteTheValley

Matadors Continue Big West Play at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Darius Brown II

Onyi Eyisi

Elijah Hardy

Brendan Harrick

Fidelis Okereke

Kailen Rains

Atin Wright