CSUN Visits UC Riverside, Hosts Hawai'i on Senior Night to Close Regular Season

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball looks to secure a No. 3 seed in the Big West Championship as they visit UC Riverside on Thursday at 7 p.m. before hosting Hawai'i on Senior Night on Saturday at 5 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
CSUN (21-8, 13-5 Big West) has already clinched a first round bye in the 2025 Big West Championship and will either be the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in next week's tournament in Henderson, Nev. The Matadors sit currently in third place in the conference standings with a one game lead on UC Riverside (12-6). CSUN could still tie for second place in the Big West, but by virtue of a tiebreaker with UC Irvine, the Matadors cannot finish higher than a No. 3 seed.

SENIOR SALUTE
CSUN will honor four seniors prior to Saturday's home finale at Premier America Credit Union Arena. The Matadors are scheduled to celebrate PJ Fuller II, Tyler Beard, Festus Ndumanya and Judson Martindale. A transfer from Washington, Fuller earned a starting point guard role with the Matadors this season and has started 27 games while ranking second on the team in assists per game (3.0) and fourth in points per game (9.0). Beard, a transfer from Pacific, has been one of the top contributors on the bench this season, posting 5.2 points and 3.3 assists to go with 20 steals. A Southern transfer, Ndumanya has spent three overall years with CSUN including his first two collegiate years as he has averaged 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 74 total games with the Matadors. Another transfer from Pacific, Martindale has averaged 3.0 points on 45.7 percent shooting this season in 22 games off the bench.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Matadors split two games last week at home, first falling to first-place UC San Diego 77-71 on Thursday before bouncing back with a 103-77 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

CSUN had its season long seven-game win streak snapped by UC San Diego. Senior Keonte Jones registered his 13th double-double of the season, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds while Marcus Adams Jr. and PJ Fuller II had 14 points apiece. The Matadors trailed by 13 points in the second half before roaring back to pull to within two with under a minute to play before the Tritons secured a win with a late basket.

CSUN scored a season-high 103 points against UCSB, shooting 56.7 percent for the game while going 30-of-31 at the free throw line. The Matadors out-rebounded the Gauchos 39-19 and outscored them 45-31 in the second half. Scotty Washington had a game-high 23 points while Adams had 20, Jones had 16, Grady Lewis had 14 and Tyler Beard had 10 points. The win cliched the Matadors' first season sweep of the Gauchos since 2020.

CSUN IN THE BIG WEST AND NATIONALLY
CSUN enters play this week still atop the Big West in several rebounding categories including overall rebounds per game (40.4), offensive rebounds per game (12.9) and rebounding margin (+9.4) while the team is first in assists per game (16.8), second in opponent field goal percentage (47.1) and third in points per game (80.9). Nationally, the Matadors are up to fifth in the nation in rebounding margin along with 10th in rebounds per game, 18th in turnovers forced per game (15.2) and 20th in opponent field goal percentage.

Leading scorer Marcus Adams Jr. is eighth in the Big West in points per game (16.3) followed by Scotty Washington in 10th (14.7) and Keonte Jones is 14th (13.1). Adams is also fourth in 3-point percentage (40.4) and fifth in field goal percentage (52.9). Jones is the Big West leader in rebounds per game (9.3) while he is third in assists per game (4.3) and blocks per game (1.3) and fourth in steals per game (1.9). Two other Matadors rank in the top 10 in assists as Tyler Beard is eighth (3.3) and PJ Fuller II is 10th (3.0).

FIRST TIME SINCE 2001
CSUN has reached 21 wins for the first time since the 2000-01 season. In school history, CSUN has won 22 games twice ever with the '01 team and the 1977-78 Matadors accomplishing the feat. With two wins this week, the Matadors would set an all-time school record in overall wins. Another CSUN record could be established on Thursday should the Matadors win at UC Riverside as the team currently shares the record for wins on the road with 10.

SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE
The Highlanders come in with a 19-11 overall record and 12-6 BIg West record, currently fourth in the league standings. UCR has been especially impressive at home, winning 13 of 14 games this season. The Highlanders average 74.6 points per game and only turn over the basketball 11.2 times per game, good enough for second best in the Big West. Barrington Hargress comes in second in the Big West in scoring at 20.1 and fourth in assists per game (3.9). Three others are scoring in double figures including Isaiah Moses (11.5), Kaleb Smith (10.9) and Nate Pickens (10.2). Joel Armotrading tops the team and ranks sixth in the Big West in rebounding (6.7).

Series History: CSUN leads by a slim 47-44 margin over UC Riverside in the all-time series. The Highlanders rallied for a 68-64 win over the Matadors on Dec. 5. CSUN has lost three in a row in Riverside with its last win coming in 2020.

SCOUTING HAWAi'I
On the year, the Rainbow Warriors are 15-14 overall and 7-11 in the Big West. Hawai'i is looking to clinch a postseason spot this week as the team comes in seventh in the league but just a half game up on eighth place Cal State Bakersfield and one game ahead of ninth place Cal Poly. As a team, the Bows average 70.2 points on 45.2 percent shooting. Gytis Nemeiksa tops the team in scoring at 11.8 points followed by Tanner Christiansen at 10.8 points. Christiansen also leads the Bows and ranks fifth in the Big West in rebounding at 7.0. Other top scorers include Ryan Rapp at 8.1 points per game while Kody Williams tops the team with 36 made threes.

Series History: The Rainbow Warriors hold a 24-10 edge in the all-time series. CSUN though claimed the first meeting of the season in Hawai'i in an 83-60 victory on Jan. 16. The Matadors have never swept a season series with Hawai'i.

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CSUN Visits UC Riverside, Hosts Hawai'i on Senior Night to Close Regular Season

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Adams Jr.

Tyler Beard

PJ Fuller II

Keonte Jones

Grady Lewis

Judson Martindale

Festus Ndumanya

Scotty Washington