CSUN Hits the Road this Week to Face Pacific, Northern Colorado

Wednesday, November 29

Stockton, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

Pacific

Photo by: Karen Ambrose Hickey / isiphotos.com

CSUN Hits the Road this Week to Face Pacific, Northern Colorado

11/28/2023 3:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball returns to the road this week as the Matadors visit Pacific on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Northern Colorado on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan has the call on audio broadcasts at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Matadors suffered an 80-70 defeat to Le Moyne on Tuesday at Premier America Credit Union Arena in the first game of the Golden State Hoops Jam. De'Sean Allen-Eikens and Dionte Bostick scored 20 points apiece while Keonte Jones and Jasman Sangha added 10 points each. CSUN held a 15-12 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half before Le Moyne went on a 19-2 run to open a double-digit lead. The Matadors would battle back, trimming an eight-point halftime deficit to three, however, they never got any closer.

CSUN would bounce back with an emphatic 84-48 win over Mississippi Valley State last Friday at home. Jones led the Matadors with 17 points to go with nine rebounds while Allen-Eikens had 14 points. Sangha chipped in with 13 and Dearon Tucker posted 12 points as CSUN led from nearly start to finish. The 36-point win was the Matadors' largest against a Division I opponent since defeating Long Beach State 100-61 on Jan. 26, 2008. CSUN shot over 44 percent for the game and earned its way to the free throw line with regularity, making 29-of-37 attempts.

STARTING STRONG
CSUN is sporting a winning record through six games at 4-2. The team's six-game start is the program's best since the Matadors went 6-0 to start 2012-13 under head coach Bobby Braswell. The Matadors will venture off to the road once more this week in search of their third road non-conference win for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign. CSUN, which has won two-straight true road games, has not won three in a row on the road in a single year since Feb. 2008 when the Matadors beat UC Davis, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton in succession during the league season.

RETURNERS LEADING THE WAY
The Matadors have seen the returning duo of De'Sean Allen-Eikens and Dionte Bostick lead the way offensively this far this season. Allen-Eikens is off to a fast start, averaging a team-high 18.7 points on 54.8 percent shooting to go with 6.3 rebounds per game. Bostick has also been on a tear, registering 14.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Senior center Dearon Tucker, another returning starter, is third on the team in rebounding at 6.0 per game while he is scoring 7.8 points per game.

NEWCOMERS CONTRIBUTING IMMEDIATELY
Junior transfer Keonte Jones (Midland College) has emerged as a top scorer and rebounder in the early going, averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game. Up front, graduate forward Jasman Sangha (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) has come off the bench to average 9.3 points on 61.5 percent shooting. A grad transfer from San Diego State, Jared Barnett has started each game at point guard and averaged 5.5 assists per game while Mahmoud Fofana, a Cal State San Bernardino transfer, has registered 4.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Jordan Brinson (Fresno State) has posted 6.3 points and 3.8 rebounds. Off the bench, freshman Bryan Ndjonga (Bella Vista Prep School) is averaging 4.7 points on 60.0 percent shooting.

MATADORS ON THE BIG WEST CHARTS
CSUN enters play this week first in The Big West in overall rebounds per game (43.8) while its second in defensive rebounds per game (29.3), offensive rebounds per game (14.5) and steals per game (8.3). The Matadors are also fourth in points per game (80.2) and assists per game (14.2). Nationally, CSUN's rebounding margin of +14.0 is sixth-best in the country and the Matadors' rebounds per game mark is ranked 15th as well.

Individually, Jared Barnett tops The Big West in assists per game at 5.5 while De'Sean Allen-Eikens is third in the conference in scoring (18.7 PPG). Keonte Jones finds himself second in the conference in field goal percentage (57.9) followed by Allen-Eikens in fourth place (54.8). In steals, Barnett and Dionte Bostick are tied for seventh place at 1.7 per game.

SCOUTING PACIFIC
The Tigers come in with a 4-3 record after going 2-0 at the Golden State Hoops Jam with wins over Le Moyne (73-71) and Mississippi Valley State (68-65 in OT). The team also has wins this year over California and Lamar. Pacific's last four games have been decided by three points or fewer. Last season, Pacific went 15-18 overall and 7-9 in the West Coast Conference for a fifth-place finish. The Tigers are picked to finish eighth in the league this year. Judson Martindale leads the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game while Donovan Williams is averaging a team-high 5.1 rebounds to go with 10.3 points. Head coach Leonard Perry is in his third season with the Tigers.

Series History: Pacific leads CSUN 26-6 in the all-time series. A former Big West rival, Pacific played CSUN 30 times from 2002 to 2013 with the Tigers coming out on top 24 times. CSUN is 1-13 all-time in Stockton in the series with the only win coming in 2011. Overall, Pacific has won the last six meetings.

SCOUTING NORTHERN COLORADO
The Bears are 3-3 on the season and will visit San Diego on Wednesday prior to taking on CSUN. UNC recently went 1-2 at the Cancun Challenge, beating Chicago State 78-77 and falling to New Mexico State (76-71) and Radford (79-68). Northern Colorado is 2-1 at home this season with its only loss coming to Colorado State. In 2022-23, UNC finished 12-20 overall and 6-12 in the Big Sky for an eighth-place finish. The team was picked to finish tied for eighth in the conference this season. The tandem of Dejour Reaves and Saint Thomas lead the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game. Thomas is also topping the team in rebounding at 10.3 per game. Head coach Steve Smiley is in his fourth season leading the team.

Series History: CSUN is 2-1 against Northern Colorado in men's basketball. The Bears knocked off the Matadors last season at Premier America Credit Union Arena by a 70-63 score. CSUN is making its first trip to Greeley, Colo. since Dec. 6, 1974 when the Matadors won 97-83.

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