CSUN Opens 67th Season of Men's Basketball in New York

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball opens its 67th season on the road this Monday, Nov. 4 in New York. The Matadors visit St. Bonaventure in the season opener with tip-off slated for 4 p.m. PT on ESPN+. Opening week will conclude with a Wednesday night test at Le Moyne at 4 p.m. PT on NEC Front Row. Audio broadcasts will be available at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

ON THE CALL
CSUN welcomes back the broadcasting duo of Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister to call Matador basketball for the 12th straight season in 2024-25. All 13 CSUN home games will broadcast on ESPN+ with Hasan and Zinsmeister calling the action while every game this season will have a free audio broadcast available to stream at GoMatados.com/Radio.

A YEAR TO REMEMBER
The Matadors look to build upon their success achieved in head coach Andy Newman's first year at the helm. CSUN is coming off its most wins in 16 seasons and its first winning season in 15 years, finishing 19-15 overall in 2023-24. Newman became the winningest first-year head coach in CSUN Men's Basketball team history with the 19 victories. Among the team's many highlights during the year, the Matadors notched their first postseason win in 10 seasons with a Big West first round win over preseason favorite and defending conference champion UC Santa Barbara last March. CSUN also topped UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in non-conference play and tied a school Division I record with seven consecutive victories during the middle portion of the season. In Big West play, CSUN finished at 9-11 to place seventh overall in the conference.

NEW LOOK MATADORS
CSUN's 2024-25 roster has a different look with 15 newcomers joining the program and just three letterwinners from the 2023-24 squad. Senior forward Keonte Jones returns this season after a breakout first year with CSUN where he led the team in rebounding and finished third in scoring. The team's only other two returners are seniors Mahmoud Fofana and Jordan Brinson, two key Matadors who started a combined 20 games last year before suffering season-ending injuries in Big West play.

Of the team's 15 newcomers, the Matadors have recruited seven Division I transfers along with one Division II and one junior college transfer. Four true freshmen and two first-year Division I basketball players make up the sizeable 18-man roster.

JONES COLLECTS BIG WEST HONORS
After helping CSUN to a Big West first round win last March, senior forward Keonte Jones picked up Preseason All-Big West honors on Oct. 15. Jones was CSUN's top rebounder all season in 2023-24, pulling down 6.9 per game to rank fourth in the Big West. He also was the conference's top shot blocker at 1.5 per game. Jones was third in scoring on the team last year, registering 11.4 per game while he recorded a team-high five double-doubles and averaged 1.6 steals. At the 2024 Big West Championship, Jones was especially impressive as he posted 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game to go with shooting 74.6 percent over two games.

CSUN PICKED SIXTH IN PRESEASON POLL
The Matadors were tabbed sixth in the annual Big West Preseason Coaches poll as CSUN totaled 57 points. The sixth-place finished represented the highest the Matadors have placed in the poll since 2019. Last season's Big West regular season champion UC Irvine was first in the poll with eight-first place votes and 92 points. In 2023-24, CSUN proved the prognosticators wrong by finishing seventh in the Big West after the team was slotted 10th in the preseason poll.

MY NAME IS...
CSUN sports a vastly different look than last season's team with a mixture of size, three-point shooting and versatility at multiple positions. One of the many new faces will be sophomore forward Marcus Adams, Jr. who transferred from BYU. Adams played in just one game as a freshman but was previously a four-star recruit out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City. CSUN's front line also includes a familiar face in Festus Ndumanya, a Southern University transfer that begun his career at CSUN where he spent two seasons from 2019-21. At guard, volume scorer PJ Fuller II joins CSUN from the University of Washington and TCU along with veteran point guard Tyler Beard, a Pacific transfer, that enters his senior campaign. Both bringing 3-point shooting, forward Scotty Washington spent the past two seasons at California Baptist while Judson Martindale enters his final season after stops at Pacific and Holy Cross.

At forward, Division II transfer Grady Lewis was a double-digit scorer at Cal State East Bay in each of his first two seasons. Jalen Barbee is yet another transfer to CSUN as he brings sharpshooting from the outside after two prolific seasons spent at Cochise College in Arizona. True freshman and forward Noah Williams adds more size to the Matador roster after earning experience with nationally-ranked Sierra Canyon School and freshman guard Sabien Cain supplies more scoring from the perimeter following a standout prep career at Millennium High School.

ONE FOR THE BOOKS
CSUN would set a couple school records during the 2023-24 season, both of which in the rebounding department. The Matadors would collect 960 total defensive rebounds, breaking a school record while CSUN's 1,362 overall rebounds was a new Division I benchmark. Overall, CSUN led the Big West in rebounding, grabbing 40.1 per game, which also ranked 15th in the nation. In other categories, CSUN registered the second-most field goals in team history with 940 and the fourth-most points scored with 2,551. The Matadors would also finish with their fourth-most wins at the Division I level with 19 total victories.

SCOUTING ST. BONAVENTURE
The Bonnies went 20-13 last year and 9-9 in the Atlantic 10 as the team advanced to the conference semifinal round. St. Bonaventure though has 10 newcomers on the roster with seven joining from previous Division I schools. The team was picked to finish 10th in the A-10 by the conference coaches and members of the media. Noel Brown brings the most experience from last season's roster, averaging 6.1 points on 71.0 percent shooting in 33 games off the bench. Key newcomers include Melvin Council, Jr. who was an All-NEC First Team selection, averaging 15.1 points with Wagner along with Chance Moore who averaged 10.7 points with Missouri State.

Series History: CSUN will play St. Bonaventure for the first-ever time in men's basketball on Monday.

SCOUTING LE MOYNE
The Dolphins posted a 15-17 overall record with a 9-7 mark in the Northeast Conference in their first season at the Division I level. Le Moyne finished tied for fourth in the NEC, falling in the conference semifinals. In this season's preseason coaches poll, Le Moyne was tabbed to place fourth again in the NEC. A total of six letterwinners return to the program in 2024-25 to pair of with six transfers and four freshmen. The team's third and fourth leading scorers have returned this season in Darrick Jones, Jr. and Ocypher Owens after posting 8.5 and 8.1 points per game, respectively. Jones was also named to the Preseason All-NEC Team this season.

Series History: Le Moyne defeated CSUN last November in the team's first-ever meeting. The Dolphins' 80-70 win at Premier America Credit Union Arena was their first victory over a Division I opponent in team history.

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CSUN Opens 67th Season of Men's Basketball in New York

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Adams Jr.

Jalen Barbee

Tyler Beard

Jordan Brinson

Sabien Cain

Mahmoud Fofana

PJ Fuller II

Keonte Jones

Grady Lewis

Judson Martindale

Festus Ndumanya

Scotty Washington

Noah Williams