CSUN Hosts Big West Leaders UCI and UCSD to Close Home Schedule

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball hosts its final two home games of the season this week as the Matadors welcome Big West-co leaders UC Irvine and UC San Diego to Premier America Credit Union Arena. CSUN takes on UC Irvine on Thursday night at 7 p.m. before taking on UC San Diego on Saturday at 5 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.

Thursday's game will be Most Valuable Professor Night with members of the Matadors honoring their favorite professors during halftime. Saturday's home finale also serves as Senior Night as CSUN will celebrate its 2023-24 senior class in a special pre-game ceremony.

LAST TIME OUT
CSUN bounced back from a one-point loss to UC Davis last Thursday to post a 65-60 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night at Titan Gym. De'Sean Allen-Eikens led the way with 20 points while Dionte Bostick had 18 points including a game-clinching layup in the final seconds. Mahmoud Fofana nearly had a double-double, registering 12 points and nine rebounds. CSUN rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half by outscoring Fullerton 25-12 over the final 13-plus minutes of the game. While CSUN shot just 38 percent in the game, the Matadors led in points off turnovers 17-12.

BIG PICTURE
CSUN improved to 18-11 overall and 9-8 in Big West play with last Saturday's win. The 18 wins this season are the program's most in 16 seasons while the nine conference wins are the most since 2020. CSUN also won its ninth road game of the year, which is the program's most in a season since 2007-08. With the win, head coach Andy Newman became the winningest first-year coach in CSUN Men's Basketball history.

With three games left to play, CSUN is currently holding onto the No. 4 seed in The Big West tournament race. The Matadors are a half-game ahead of Hawai'i (8-8) for the fourth seed, which will guarantee a first-round bye at the 2024 Big West Championship. Just below Hawai'i is UC Riverside (8-9) and UC Santa Barbara (7-9). CSUN is 2.5 games back of the No. 2 seed in the tournament, which would give the Matadors a double bye into the semifinals of the tournament.

SENIOR SALUTE
Saturday's game represents the final home appearance for seniors De'Sean Allen-Eikens, Dearon Tucker and Jared Barnett. A graduate student, Allen-Eikens has emerged as one of the top scorers in The Big West this season as he is averaging a career-best 18.5 points this season on 49.3 percent shooting. In a five-year collegiate career, which includes two seasons at North Dakota, one season at New Orleans and two seasons at CSUN, Allen-Eikens has registered 1,432 career points and 518 rebounds in 112 games. Tucker also joined CSUN a year ago after playing previously with Oregon State and Indiana State. In his fifth season in college, Tucker has scored 407 points with 321 rebounds in 120 total games. Another graduate student, Barnett is in his first season with the Matadors after spending the previous four at San Diego State. Barnett is playing a career-high 15.7 minutes this season while he has recorded 81 points and 82 assists in 63 career games.

THEIR BREAD AND BUTTER
Andy Newman has instituted a focus on rebounding and defense in his first season as head coach. As a result, CSUN has vaulted near the top in several rebounding and defensive categories in The Big West. The Matadors lead the conference in rebounds per game (40.4), defensive rebounds per game (28.4) and rebounding margin (+6.5) while nationally, CSUN is 13th in all of Division I in overall rebounds per game. CSUN has out-rebounded its opponents in 20 of 29 games on the year while going 15-5 in those 20 games. On the defensive side, CSUN is first in the conference and 20th nationally in opponent field goal percentage (40.1) while CSUN is second in The Big West in defensive 3-point field goal percentage (31.7). The Matadors are also third in the conference in steals per game (7.8). Overall, the Matadors have held opponents under 40 percent shooting in 15 games.

BIG WEST LEADERBOARDS
De'Sean Allen-Eikens enters the week third in The Big West in scoring at 18.5 points while he ranks 10th in field goal percentage (49.3) and 14th in rebounds per game (5.2). Dionte Bostick is ranked 10th in points per game at 15.4 points and tied for sixth with Keonte Jones in steals per game at 1.7. Jones is CSUN's leader in rebounding this season as he is third in the conference in the category (7.0) while he is ranked third in blocks per game (1.4) and sixth in field goal percentage (52.9). Mahmoud Fofana has also cracked the conference top-10 leaderboard in rebounding, ranking 10th at 5.7 per game. As a team, the Matadors are third in assists per game (13.9) and fourth in points per game (75.6).

SCOUTING UC IRVINE
UCI comes in with a 20-8 overall record while the Anteaters share the Big West lead with UC San Diego at 13-3 in league play. In last week's games, UCI beat UC Santa Barbara 81-69 before falling to UC San Diego 92-89 in overtime. While the team is 11-0 at home this season, the Anteaters are 6-8 on the road. Justin Hohn tops the team in scoring at 12.9 points while Andre Henry is averaging 10.7 points and Derin Saran is posting 10.4 points. Pierre Crockrell II tops The Big West in assists per game at 6.0. As a team, the Anteaters are first in the conference in opponent points per game (67.5).

Series History: UC Irvine leads CSUN 43-25 in the all-time series with wins in four-straight games. Overall, UCI has won 14 of the last 15 meetings including the last eight games played in Northridge. Earlier this season, UCI beat CSUN 77-72.

SCOUTING UC SAN DIEGO
The Tritons are 19-9 overall and 13-3 in conference, sharing The Big West top spot with UC Irvine. Last week, UCSD defeated UC Riverside (77-65) and UC Irvine (92-89). UC San Diego has gone 6-7 in road games this season. Bryce Pope is fifth in the conference in scoring at 18.1 points while Tyler McGhie is averaging 13.9 points and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is scoring 13.4 points per game. Tait-Jones is also grabbing a team-high 5.8 rebounds. The Tritons are second in The Big West in points per game at 77.3.

Series History: UCSD leads CSUN 5-2 in the all-time series with the Tritons winning all five meetings since joining The Big West. On Feb. 1, the Tritons beat the Matadors 83-62 in La Jolla.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Hosts Big West Leaders UCI and UCSD to Close Home Schedule

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Players Mentioned

De'Sean Allen-Eikens

Jared Barnett

Dionte Bostick

Mahmoud Fofana

Keonte Jones

Dearon Tucker