CSUN Hits the Road to Face Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (5-16, 1-7 Big West) returns to the road this week beginning with a Thursday match-up with Cal Poly at 7 p.m. The Matadors visit CSU Bakersfield on Saturday at 7 p.m. to close this week's action. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

Onyi Eyisi led CSUN to a 68-55 victory over Cal Poly in the teams' first meeting this season on Jan. 8 at The Matadome. The Matadors are seeking their first season sweep of Cal Poly since 2019 after the teams split the previous two season series. Cal Poly has won four of the last six meetings at Mott Athletics Center. Historically, the Matadors have not played any other opponent more than the Mustangs in team history as Saturday's game represents the 110th all-time meeting. The Mustangs hold a narrow 56-52 edge in the series.

Saturday will be the first meeting of the season between CSUN and CSU Bakersfield after the teams' scheduled Jan. 6 game was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. The 'Runners are 24-23 against the Matadors in the all-time series including winning 16 of 24 meetings in Bakersfield. The teams met up twice in Bakersfield last season with each squad earning a victory. The Matadors won in game two of the series, 90-87, behind TJ Starks' 25 points.

The Matadors dropped a pair of close decisions last week at The Matadome to UC San Diego (83-77) and UC Irvine (75-70). While never leading in each game, the Matadors battled back from 13 and 14 point deficits, respectively, in the two games and nearly pulled ahead late before ultimately falling short each time. Elijah Hardy had a game-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds versus UCSD before scoring a team-best 17 points against UCI. Atin Wright tallied 30 points over the two games while Brendan Harrick posted 24 combined points.

CSUN is tied with Cal Poly for ninth place in the Big West standings with four weekends of play left in the regular season. Just ahead of CSUN, UC Santa Barbara is seventh (1-4) while CSU Bakersfield (1-6) is in eighth place. Atop the standings, Cal State Fullerton (7-1) and Long Beach State (7-1) are tied for first place followed by Hawai'i (6-2) in third, UC Riverside (5-3) and UC Irvine (5-3) in fourth and UC Davis (3-3) in sixth place. The top six seeds will automatically advance to the quarterfinals of the 2022 Big West Championships beginning on March 10 while the bottom four seeds must play a first-round game on March 8.

Heading into this week's games, Wright is ranked 11th in the Big West in points per game (13.2) while Hardy is 15th (11.8). Wright is also fourth in the league in minutes per game (32.0) and free throw percentage (84.4). Hardy checks in at second in the conference in steals per game (1.7) and 10th in assists per game (2.8). Fidelis Okereke is up to fourth in blocks per game at 1.0. While just out of the Big West's top-20 in rebounding, Christian Gray tops CSUN with his 5.0 rebounds per game.

A Closer Look at Cal Poly
The Mustangs (5-15, 1-7 Big West) have dropped three games in a row after falling last week to Cal State Fullerton (61-50) and Long Beach State (78-65). Cal Poly has played six of its 20 games away from Mott Athletics Center this season, going 2-4 in those contests. Head coach John Smith is in his third season at the helm of the Mustangs.

Alimamy Koroma ranks 12th in the Big West in scoring at 13.1 points per game to go with his 5.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game. Camren Pierce is third in the league in assists per game (3.8) while he is tied for second on the team in scoring with Trevon Taylor at 8.4 points per game. Taylor has the team's top rebounding average (5.6). As a team, Cal Poly is fifth in the Big West in blocks per game (2.6).

A Closer Look at CSU Bakersfield
The 'Runners fell to 6-11 overall and 1-6 in Big West play after losses to Long Beach State (74-65) and Cal State Fullerton (75-61), which ran the team's losing streak to five. CSUB has posted a 5-3 record at the Icardo Center this season. As a result of COVID-19 protocols, CSUB has canceled four conference games on the year. Rod Barnes is in his 11th season as the head coach of the program.

Justin Edler-Davis ranks ninth in the Big West in rebounds per game (6.5) to go with a team-high 10.0 points per game. Other top scorers on the team include Kaleb Higgins (9.6 points per game) and Justin McCall (9.5 points per game). Higgins is also 10th in the Big West in steals per game (1.2) while he averages 2.2 assists. As a team, CSUB ranks fourth in steals per game (6.8) and fifth in scoring defense (65.7).

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CSUN Hits the Road to Face Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield

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Players Mentioned

Onyi Eyisi

Christian Gray

Elijah Hardy

Brendan Harrick

Fidelis Okereke

TJ Starks

Atin Wright