CSUN Returns Home to Take on Cal Poly

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (17-7, 9-4 Big West) returns to Premier America Credit Union Arena on Saturday night to face Cal Poly at 5 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.

FOR STARTERS
CSUN enters Saturday holding onto third place in the Big West standings with a 9-4 conference record. However, both UC Riverside and UC Davis are tied for fourth place and only a half game behind the Matadors. Atop the standings are both UC San Diego and UC Irvine with identical 11-2 records. The rest of the top eight in the Big West includes UC Santa Barbara in sixth at 8-6, Hawai'i in seventh at 6-8 and Cal Poly in eighth at 4-9. After this week's game with Cal Poly, CSUN will play the next two games on the road at UC Irvine and UC Davis.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Matadors picked up two wins last week to run their win streak to four games. CSUN knocked off Cal State Fullerton at home last Thursday by an 82-63 score before edging Long Beach State on the road 81-80 on Saturday. Marcus Adams Jr. scored a team-high 21 points against the Titans while Keonte Jones poured in 18 points and 12 rebounds and Tyler Beard scored a season-high 12 points in the win. CSUN led from start to finish against Cal State Fullerton in completing the season sweep as the Matadors broke open the game with an 11-0 run to start the second half. Against LBSU, the Matadors received a game-high 25 points from Adams with Jones finishing with the stat line of 19 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. CSUN also completed the season sweep of Long Beach State but had to hold off a late 7-2 run to end the game.

TOP MATADOR PERFORMERS
Sophomore newcomer Marcus Adams Jr. leads CSUN in scoring this season at 15.8 points per game, which ranks eighth best in the Big West. Adams is also fifth in the conference in field goal percentage at 53.1 to go with a team-best 46 made threes. Another newcomer, junior Scotty Washington is behind Adams at 14.3 points per game, good enough for 10th best in the Big West. Washington is fourth as well in the league in free throw percentage (86.2) while he has 41 made threes on 35.3 percent shooting from distance. Senior Keonte Jones remains the Big West leader in rebounds per game (9.5) and the CSUN leader in assists per game (4.3), steals per game (2.0) and blocks per game (1.5). Jones is also scoring at 13.1 points for the Matadors. Other key contributors include senior PJ Fuller II at 9.0 points and 3.2 assists per game while senior Mahmoud Fofana is averaging 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds.

CSUN IN THE BIG WEST AND NATIONALLY
The Matadors enter Saturday as the Big West leader in points per game (80.6), assists per game (16.9), rebounds per game (40.6) and rebounding margin (+8.9). CSUN has been among the national leaders all season in rebounding, moving ip to ninth this week in rebound margin and 12th in overall rebounds per game. The team's defensive field goal percentage (39.8) has also been strong, ranking second best in the Big West and 20th overall in the country. CSUN also has moved into 22nd place nationally in assists per game.

FASTEST TO 17 WINS SINCE...
CSUN's 17 wins this season is the team's most through 24 games since the 2007-08 season when the Matadors eventually won the Big West regular season title. That season, CSUN reached 17 wins by the 23rd game of the season. The Matadors are inching closer to 20 wins in a season, a feat last accomplished by that same 2007-08 team. To date, only three CSUN teams have won at least 20 games in a season in the school's Division I era.

SCOUTING CAL POLY
The Mustangs are holding onto the eighth and final postseason spot in the Big West standings with a 4-9 league mark to go with a 10-15 overall record. Winners of three of the last four games, Cal Poly defeated Hawai'i at home 79-63 on Thursday night. The Mustangs are currently tied for first in the Big West with 10.6 three-point field goals made per game while the team averages 78.9 points overall. Owen Koonce is sixth in the Big West in scoring at 17.4 points per game to go with a team-high 5.2 rebounds per game. Other double digit scorers include Jared Hyder (13.5) and Isaac Jessup (10.6).

Series History: CSUN and Cal Poly are an even 57-57 in the all-time series with the Matadors winners of four in a row. The teams matched up on Dec. 7 in San Luis Obispo with the Matadors coming out on top 102-91. PJ Fuller II led the way for CSUN in the early season victory with 22 points at Cal Poly.

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CSUN Returns Home to Take on Cal Poly

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Adams Jr.

Tyler Beard

Mahmoud Fofana

PJ Fuller II

Keonte Jones

Scotty Washington