CSUN Opens Big West Play on the Road at Cal Poly, LBSU

FULL GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (9-3) embarks on Big West play this week with a pair of road tests. The Matadors open the league season on Thursday night at Cal Poly with tip-off set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. CSUN will wrap up the week with a Saturday afternoon matchup with Long Beach State at 1 p.m. on Spectrum SportsNet. Free audio broadcasts will be available at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Matadors stunned UCLA inside Pauley Pavilion, 76-72, last Tuesday behind five scoring in double figures. CSUN led by as many as 19 points in the second half before holding off the Bruins down the stretch. Dionte Bostick scored 18 points while De'Sean Allen-Eikens added 17 points and Mahmoud Fofana registered a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Keonte Jones and Gianni Hunt had 12 apiece as well.

CSUN finished the week with its fourth consecutive win in a 82-70 triumph over defending Big Sky Conference champion Montana State last Friday. After a back-and-fourth first half with nine lead changes, the Matadors outscored the Bobcats 44-33 in the second half. Allen-Eikens led the way with 23 points while Bostick had 18 points and Jordan Brinson scored 16 points.

BEST START SINCE...
CSUN's 9-3 record is the program's best 12-game start to a season since 2012-13. In the team's Division I history dating back to 1991, CSUN has posted three 9-3 starts with the other two occurring in 2007-08 (began 13-3) and in 1999-00 (began 10-3). The Matadors enter Big West play with a winning record for just the second time over the last 10 seasons. In November, CSUN made more school history by winning three consecutive road non-conference games for the first time in its Division I history.

CSUN'S WIN AT UCLA
CSUN's banner win over perennial national power UCLA was just the program's second-ever win over the Bruins and the first since 2000. The UCLA victory also snapped the nation's longest active home winning streak as the Bruins had won 29 consecutive games at Pauley Pavilion. In addition, CSUN would notch its first win over a Pac-12 team since 2012 when the Matadors beat Utah.

ALLEN-EIKENS COLLECTS BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For his efforts in two CSUN wins, forward De'Sean Allen-Eikens notched his first career Big West Player of the Week award on Dec. 25. Allen-Eikens averaged 20.0 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 73.7 percent from the floor (14-of-19 shooting). He also made all three of his 3-point attempts. Allen-Eikens scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half in the win over UCLA on Dec. 19 and he wrapped up the week scoring 23 points to help beat Montana State on Dec. 22.

CONTROLLING THE GLASS
CSUN enters the week the Big West leader in nearly every rebounding category. The Matadors top the league in rebounds per game (44.0), offensive rebounds per game (13.3), defensive rebounds per game (30.8) and rebounding margin (+12.6). Nationally, CSUN is among the Division I leaders as well in rebounding, ranking seventh in overall rebounding, defensive rebounding and rebounding margin.

BIG WEST LEADERBOARDS
The Matadors are the conference leader in opponent field goal percentage (38.8) while CSUN is second in steals per game (8.7) and third in points per game (80.2). De'Sean Allen-Eikens ranks second in The Big West in scoring at 19.9 points per game while Dionte Bostick is 10th at 15.8 points and Keonte Jones is 15th at 13.5 points. On the rebounding list, Jones ranks in third place (6.8), Allen-Eikens is seventh (6.2) and Dearon Tucker is 12th (5.4). Jones is also third in field goal percentage (58.2) and fourth in steals per game (1.8) while Bostick is third in 3-point field goal percentage (38.7) and fifth in steals per game (1.7). Jordan Brinson is up to second in the conference in assists to turnover ratio (2.9).

SCOUTING CAL POLY
The Mustangs wrapped up non-conference play with a 4-8 record, posting a 3-1 mark at Mott Athletics Center. After going 8-25 last season, Cal Poly was picked to finish 11th by the league's head coaches in The Big West this year. As a team, the Mustangs are second in The Big West in free throw percentage (72.4) and first in blocks per game (4.1). Kobe Sanders is fourth in the conference in scoring at 18.4 points while he is second in free throw percentage (89.2). Jarred Hyder is also scoring in double figures at 10.7 points per game. Head coach John Smith is in his fifth season.

Series History: Cal Poly holds a 57-54 edge over CSUN in the all-time series. Last season, CSUN dropped a 67-57 decision in San Luis Obispo but returned the favor with a 64-53 win in Northridge. Overall, CSUN has won five of the last seven meetings.

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE
The Beach have gone 8-4 on the season with a perfect 3-0 record at Walter Pyramid. Long Beach State has won the last five games. After going 17-16 last season, LBSU was picked to finish second in The Big West in 2023-24. As a team, the Beach top The Big West in steals per game (9.4) while they are second in scoring (80.9) and third in rebounding (38.1). Marcus Tsohonis ranks sixth in the conference in points per game (17.7) while Jadon Jones is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game. Lassina Traore tops the league in rebounding at 9.5 followed by Aboubacar Traore in fourth place at 6.6 per game. Head coach Dan Monson is in his 17th season at the helm.

Series History: Long Beach State leads CSUN 47-27 in the all-time series with wins in five consecutive meetings. Last year, CSUN fell 71-64 in Long Beach while the Beach won at Premier America Credit Union Arena 84-74. CSUN's last win in the series came on Feb. 26, 2020.

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CSUN Opens Big West Play on the Road at Cal Poly, LBSU

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Players Mentioned

De'Sean Allen-Eikens

Dionte Bostick

Jordan Brinson

Mahmoud Fofana

Gianni Hunt

Keonte Jones

Dearon Tucker