CSUN Hosts Cal State Fullerton Before Visiting Long Beach State This Week

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball (15-7, 7-4) continues the second half of the Big West schedule this week with the Matadors set to host Cal State Fullerton on Thursday at 7 p.m. before visiting Long Beach State on Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ while Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister are on the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

FOR STARTERS
After picking up a pair of wins last week, CSUN has moved into sole possession of fourth place in the Big West standings with a 7-4 conference record. The Matadors are just a game back of third-place UC Riverside (8-3), one-and-a-half games back of second-place UC San Diego (8-2) and three games back of first-place UC Irvine (10-1). The Big West race though remains to be very tight with seeds 4-7 separated by just two games.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Matadors had one of their best weeks of Big West play last week with victories over UC Santa Barbara (78-71) and Cal State Bakersfield (88-62). On Thursday, CSUN outscored UCSB 9-0 to end the game while Scotty Washington had a game-high 21 points in the victory. Marcus Adams Jr. tied the game up on a dunk with 2:21 left to play before PJ Fuller II scored the go-ahead basket moments later. CSUN held UCSB without a point over the last 3:08 of the game and without a field goal over the last 4:52. The Matadors followed up the road win with a wire-to-wire victory over Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at home. CSUN shot 50.8 percent from the floor and had four score in double figures led by Keonte Jones' 16 points against CSUB. The Matadors held the 'Runners 33.9 percent shooting on the night and the top 3-point shooting team in the Big West to just 4-of-18 shooting from distance.

WASHINGTON COLLECTS BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Junior Scotty Washington earned his first career Big West Player of the Week award on Feb. 3 after he averaged 18.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in CSUN's wins over UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Bakersfield. He shot 53.8 percent from 3-point range for the week (7-of-13) and 87.5 percent from the free throw line (7-of-8). Washington led CSUN with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting overall and 4-of-6 shooting from three to help beat UC Santa Barbara. He would follow up that performance with a 15-point effort against Cal State Bakersfield where he made three shots more from distance.

TOP MATADOR PERFORMERS
Sophomore Marcus Adams Jr. has made a splash in his first season with CSUN, leading the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game. His scoring average ranks ninth in the Big West while he ranks sixth in the conference in field goal percentage (53.1). Behind Adams, junior Scotty Washington is up to second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game to go with a team-best 39 made threes. Washington, who is 10th in the Big West in scoring, tops the Matadors in points per game (17.3) in Big West play. Senior Keonte Jones has filled up the stat sheet all season long, as he ranks first in the Big West in rebounds per game (9.2) along with second in blocks per game (1.4), third in assists per game (4.0) and fourth in steals per game (1.9). Jones is also averaging 12.6 points on 49.7 percent shooting. Fellow senior PJ Fuller II is fourth on the team in scoring at 9.1 points to go with 3.4 assists per game while senior Mahmoud Fofana is second on the team in rebounding (4.9) and fifth in scoring (7.8).

CSUN IN THE BIG WEST AND NATIONALLY
The Matadors remain the Big West leader in scoring (80.5), rebounding (40.7) and assists (16.5) on the year. CSUN is also tops in the Big West and ranked ninth in the nation in rebounding margin (+9.2). Nationally, CSUN is up to 14th in all of Division I basketball in overall rebounds per game (40.7) and 19th in defensive field goal percentage (39.5). Speaking of defense, the Matadors' opponent field goal percentage is second best in the Big West while their steals per game (8.2) and blocks per game (3.3) marks are second and third best, respectively.

SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON
The Titans are 6-17 overall and 1-10 in Big West play. Fullerton has dropped three in a row after suffering a road loss at Hawai'i (82-57) last week. The team is currently three games back of the top eight in the Big West. As a team, the Titans are averaging 64.9 points and surrendering 74.5 points per game. Donovan Oday tops the Titans in scoring at 13.6 and rebounding at 5.3. Other top performers include Zion Richardson who is averaging 7.6 points and 3.3 rebounds to go with a team-high 24 made threes.

Series History: Fullerton leads CSUN 51-40 in the all-time series, but the Matadors have won the past four meetings. On Jan. 2, CSUN tied a school record for three-point made field goals with 17 versus Cal State Fullerton in a 95-65 victory in Titan Gym. The Matadors have won the past two matchups at Premier America Credit Union Arena.

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE
The Beach are 7-16 on the season with a 3-8 record in Big West play. Long Beach State enters the week just one game back of the top eight in the Big West standings. In last week's action, Long Beach State took UC Irvine to overtime in an 80-75 loss and fell at UC Santa Barbara 85-54. The Beach are averaging 67.2 points on the season while yielding 74.0 points per game. Devin Askew leads the Beach in scoring at 18.4 points per game to go with a Big West-best 4.6 assists per game. TJ Wainwright is also scoring in double figures, averaging 12.7 points while Kam Martin is scoring 9.0 points per game.

Series History: The Beach lead the Matadors 48-29 in the all-time series after CSUN took the first meeting of the season, 86-76, on Jan. 23. The Matadors had six players score in double figures in the win over the Beach and led 39-23 in the rebound department. CSUN is going for its first season sweep of the Beach since 2020.

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CSUN Hosts Cal State Fullerton Before Visiting Long Beach State This Week

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Adams Jr.

Mahmoud Fofana

PJ Fuller II

Keonte Jones

Scotty Washington