CSUN Faces UC Irvine on Thursday Before Visiting Bakersfield

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball continues Big West play with two more league games this week. The Matadors host first-place UC Irvine on Thursday at Premier America Credit Union Arena with tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CSUN will wrap up the week with a road test at Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister have the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

FOR STARTERS
Winners of four in a row, CSUN (11-4) plays UC Irvine in a Big West showdown this week. The Anteaters occupy first place in the Big West with UC San Diego as each team stands at 3-0 while CSUN is right behind at 3-1 in conference play. Following this week's action, CSUN will play at Hawai'i in its only game next week on Thursday, Jan. 16. The Matadors have enjoyed success away from home this season, posting a 7-3 record including five true road wins on the campaign.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
CSUN resumed Big West play last week and collected a pair of wins. The Matadors tied a school record with 17 made threes in a 95-65 victory at Cal State Fullerton last Thursday. Two days later, CSUN snapped a seven-game skid to UC Davis with a 73-61 victory at home.

Marcus Adams Jr. led the way with 20 points and a career-high six made threes to help beat Fullerton. Scotty Washington added 18 points while Grady Lewis poured in 15 points and Tyler Beard had a season-high 11 points. CSUN scored 60 points in the first half, making 15 threes in the period. The 30-point win over Fullerton was the Matadors' largest margin of victory against a Big West opponent since beating Long Beach State 100-61 on Jan. 26, 2008.

It would be another historic night when the Matadors defeated UC Davis. Adams would set a career high in points with 28 while Keonte Jones became the first Matador since Tremaine Townsend in 2008 to record 20 rebounds in a game. Jones added 13 points and six assists to his stat line while Mahmoud Fofana chipped in with 15 points. CSUN held the Aggies to 30.2 percent shooting for the night. The win over UC Davis was the Matadors' first over the Aggies since 2021.

ADAMS NAMED BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore forward Marcus Adams Jr. became the first Matador this season to earn the Big West Player of the Week award on Jan. 6. Adams averaged 24.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in the Matadors' wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis, both of which double-digit wins. He shot a robust 58.6 percent from the floor (17-of-29) and 57.9 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (11-of-19). His 28 points came on 11-of-17 shots against UC Davis and was a new career best. Adams also set a career highs for threes at Cal State Fullerton, hitting 6-of-10.

KEONTE FILLING UP THE STAT SHEET
CSUN's senior forward Keonte Jones has been one of the top performers all season in several categories. Jones tops the Matadors in rebounds per game (9.1), assists per game (4.1), steals per game (2.0) and blocks per game (1.7) while he is second on the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game on 50.7 percent shooting. He is also an even 50.0 percent from 3-point range, making 10-of-20 shots. Jones is ranked first in the Big West in rebounds and tied for first in blocks while he is ranked third in assists, fourth in steals and 12th in points. Nationally, Jones ranks seventh in all of Division I basketball with eight double-doubles.

MAKING AN IMPACT
Marcus Adams Jr. tops the Matadors this season in scoring, all while coming off the bench in 12 of 15 games. Adams is scoring 15.5 points on 52.9 percent shooting from the field along with a team-high 30 made threes on 41.7 percent shooting while he is second in rebounding at 5.0. In Big West play, Adams has improved his scoring average to 18.0 through four games. Junior Scotty Washington is also among the team's top scorers, averaging 13.3 points to go with 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. Washington has made the second-most threes with 25. Last week, Washington averaged 14.0 points in the two CSUN wins while he has reached double figures in scoring eight times.

As of late, Mahmoud Fofana has emerged as one of the top scorers on the team. Fofana has reached double figures in scoring in three of the last four games as he has improved his scoring average nearly two full points over that span to 7.3 this season. Overall, Fofana is registering 4.3 rebounds per game, good enough for third-best on the team, but he has improved his average to 6.5 in Big West games. From the field, Fofana is shooting 62.3 percent.

CSUN'S CALLING CARD
The Matadors have leaned on their defense and rebounding to a hot start to the season. CSUN is ranked first in the Big West in opponent field goal percentage (37.4), rebounds per game (41.4) and rebounding margin (+8.5), The team also checks in at second in steals per game (8.5) and third in blocks per game (3.4). Nationally, the Matadors are up to ninth in the nation in opponent field goal percentage along with 11th in defensive rebounds per game (29.1), 15th in overall rebounds per game and 17th in rebounding margin. While the team's defense has been impressive this season, CSUN has also excelled offensively as the team ranks first in assists per game (17.0) and second in points per game (81.7).

SCOUTING UC IRVINE
The Anteaters come to Northridge with a 13-2 overall record and 3-0 Big West mark. UCI picked up wins over Cal Poly (98-89) and UC Riverside (81-57) last week. Away from home, the Anteaters are an impressive 9-2 along with six true road wins. After winning the Big West regular season title last season, UCI has was picked to win the league again this year by the league's head coaches. In the Big West, the Anteaters are are second in points per game allowed (64.4) while they are ranked fourth in the nation in free throw percentage (81.6). As a team, UCI scores 75.2 points per game. Bent Leuchten tops the team in scoring at 15.1 and in rebounding at 8.4. Other double digit scorers include Devin Tillis (13.7) and Justin Hohn (12.0).

Series History: UC Irvine holds a 44-25 edge over CSUN in the all-time series with wins in five straight. Last season, UCI picked up a 77-72 win in Irvine and a 89-64 decision in Northridge. The Anteaters have won 16 of the past 17 meetings with CSUN's only win over that span occurring on March 4, 2020 in Irvine.

SCOUTING CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
The Roadrunners are 8-8 overall and 2-2 in Big West play. The team picked up wins last week over UC Davis (75-64) and Long Beach State (80-65). While the team is 1-6 on the road this year, CSUB has excelled at home by going 6-1. Prior to taking on CSUN, Bakersfield will travel to UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. The 'Runners were picked to finish ninth in the Big West this season by the league's head coaches. CSUB tops the Big West and ranks 20th in the nation in 3-point percentage (38.9) while the team scores 74.4 points per game. Jemel Jones, the team's top scorer, is seventh in the conference in scoring at 16.4 points per game. Right behind Jones is Corey Stephenson who is averaging 12.8 points to go with a team' high 6.5 rebounds.

Series History: Bakersfield leads CSUN 28-26 in the all-time series. The teams split the season series last year with each side winning on the road. CSUN would collect a 76-71 win in Bakersfield last season after dropping a home 64-56 decision. Since Bakersfield joined the Big West, the Runners' have won five of nine meetings.

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CSUN Faces UC Irvine on Thursday Before Visiting Bakersfield

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Adams Jr.

Tyler Beard

Mahmoud Fofana

Keonte Jones

Grady Lewis

Scotty Washington