CSUN Opens Play at Big West Championship vs. UCSB

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball begins play at the 2024 Big West Basketball Championship with a first-round game against UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday evening at 8:30 p.m. inside the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

BIG PICTURE
CSUN is seeded seventh in this season's Big West Championship with UC Santa Barbara holding the sixth seed. The winner of the game will advance to the quaterfinals of the tournament against third-seeded Hawai'i on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Matadors are making their 18th trip to the Big West tournament this week. CSUN is looking to snap a seven-game skid in tournament games with the Matadors' last win coming in 2014 in a semifinal game against Long Beach State.

A SEASON TO REMEMBER
CSUN enters the conference tournament with an 18-14 overall record, already securing the program's first winning season in 15 years. The Matadors' 18 wins are also the team's most in 16 seasons while head coach Andy Newman has become the winningest first-year coach in CSUN Men's Basketball team history. Among the team's many highlights to the season, CSUN defeated UCLA for the first time since 2000 while the Matadors tied a school Division I record with seven consecutive victories during the middle portion of the season.

TWO MATADORS EARN ALL-BIG WEST HONORS
CSUN's two leading scorers De'Sean Allen-Eikens and Dionte Bostick received All-Big West honors on March 11. A graduate forward, Allen-Eikens collected All-Big West First Team honors after scoring a career-high 18.5 points, good for fourth-best in The Big West. Allen-Eikens also had new career-bests in rebounds per game (5.3), assists per game (2.3), steals per game (1.0) and field goal percentage (49.0). Bostick received an Honorable Mention following a career season as well where he averaged a personal-best 15.3 points to finish the regular season 10th in The Big West. Bostick would also register 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game to go with making a team-high 48 shots from 3-point range.

RECORD-BREAKING YEAR ON THE BOARDS
CSUN has not only climbed to the top of The Big West in multiple rebounding categories throughout the year, but the program has also done the same in the school's record book. Entering the Big West Championship, the Matadors have already broken the school Division I record for total rebounds (1,282). CSUN also set a new school record in total defensive rebounds (902) and posted its second-best rebounding average in its D-1 history (40.1). The Matadors top the conference and rank 17th nationally in overall rebounds per game while they are first in defensive rebounds per game (28.2) and rebounding margin (+5.4).

BIG WEST LEADERBOARDS
On the point list, De'Sean Allen-Eikens is fourth (18.5) while Dionte Bostick ranks 10th (15.3) in The Big West. Keonte Jones is fourth in the league in rebounds at 6.7 while he is tied for first in blocks per game (1.5) and third in steals per game (1.5) to go with averaging 10.9 points. Gianni Hunt would be ranked fourth in The Big West in assists per game (3.9) had he played in enough games to qualify. As a team, CSUN tops The Big West in opponent field goal percentage (40.5) while the Matadors are third in assists per game (13.7) and steals per game (7.6).

SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
The Gauchos finished the regular season with a 16-14 overall record and a 9-11 Big West record. UCSB has won two of the last three Big West Championships and was picked to win the conference prior to the season. UCSB leads The Big West in field goal percentage (49.4) and 3-point percentage (36.4). Ajay Mitchell ranks third in the conference in scoring at 19.4 points while Yohan Traore is averaging 14.4 points and Josh Pierre-Louis is scoring 11.6 points. Cole Anderson tops the conference in 3-point percentage (41.9) to go with scoring 10.4 points.

Series History: UCSB leads CSUN 47-23 in the all-time series. The teams split the season series this year with each side winning on the road. The Gauchos beat CSUN 97-69 at Premier America Credit Union Arena on Jan. 18, but the Matadors returned the favor with an 82-74 victory at the Thunderdome on Feb. 10. In their Big West tournament history, CSUN and UCSB have won twice each with the Gauchos last winning in 2019, 71-68.

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CSUN Opens Play at Big West Championship vs. UCSB

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Players Mentioned

De'Sean Allen-Eikens

Dionte Bostick

Gianni Hunt

Keonte Jones