CSUN Meets UC Davis and UC San Diego at Home This Week

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Men's Basketball returns to Premier America Credit Union Arena for a two-game homestand this week. The Matadors face UC Davis on Thursday at 7 p.m. before meeting UC San Diego on Saturday at 5 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan and Alan Zinsmeister on the call.

FOR STARTERS
CSUN (11-10, 4-5 Big West) opens a home heavy portion of its schedule with four of the next five games played inside the friendly confines of Premier America Credit Union Arena. This week, the Matadors are looking to get back on the winning track after dropping the past two games and three of the last four overall. After this week's home games, CSUN returns to the road to meet Cal Poly on Thursday, Feb. 5 before returning home next Saturday to square off with UC Riverside on Spectrum SportsNet.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
CSUN was handed its second straight defeat for the first time in Big West play as the Matadors fell on the road in Hawai'i 89-68 last Saturday. The Matadors kept pace with the Rainbow Warriors through one half, only trailing 40-34. However, Hawai'i jumped out to a 15-5 run to open the second half and never looked back. Hawai'i led by as many as 23 points in the win and made 12 threes on the day. Larry Hughes II topped CSUN with 19 points while Mahmoud Fofana chipped in with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF
Guard Larry Hughes II has enjoyed a career season in his first year with CSUN. Hughes has led the team in scoring throughout the season, posting the second-best average in the Big West at 18.6. Hughes also tops the Big West and ranks 19th overall in the nation in 3-point field goals made per game (3.3). His 66 made threes are the seventh-most in school history while he is 12 treys away from entering the top five on the list. No slouch on the defensive end, Hughes is tied for second place in the Big West in steals per game at 1.9.

OWNING THE GLASS
CSUN remains the Big West leader in rebounding, totaling 41.8 per game, good enough for 13th-best in the nation. The Matadors, who have also led the Big West in rebounding each of the last two seasons, are tops in the league in offensive rebounds per game (13.7) along with second in rebounding margin (+6.5) and third in defensive rebounds per game (28.1). CSUN boasts two of the top three rebounders in the Big West on its squad as Joshua O'Garro sits in first place at 9.7 per game and Mahmoud Fofana ranks third in 7.8 per game. O'Garro, who scores 14.3 points per game, has averaged 7.9 defensive rebounds per game (fifth in the nation), while he has posted 10 double-doubles on the year. Fofana is the Matadors' top offensive rebounder, posting 3.1 per game.

ASSIST MAN
Josiah Davis has taken the regins of the point guard position this season at CSUN and gone on to lead the Big West in assists. His league-leading 137 assists and 6.5 assists per game are among the best in the nation, ranking 12th and 15th in Division I basketball, respectively. Davis has already etched his name in CSUN history this season, tying the single-game record for assists with 15 against Cal Poly on Jan. 8 while he has reached double figures in assists four times total. Overall, Davis has dished out the eighth-most assists in a season in school history with 137 helpers. While his playmaking has been impressive, Davis has also averaged the second-most points on the team at 14.3 per game, which is also a new career high.

QUICK HITS
CSUN enters the week tied for second place with Hawai'i in team scoring average at 80.4. Overall, CSUN has scored 80 or more points in 13 of 21 games this season ... Mahmoud Fofana became the 20th Matador in school history to reach 500 career rebounds on Jan. 24 against Hawai'i. With 82 more rebounds this season, Fofana would reach the all-time career top-10 in school history ... Joshua O'Garro is ranked 22nd in the nation in rebounds per game at 9.7. Prior to this season, O'Garro's previous best rebounding average was 7.0 set at Texas State in 2024-25 ... James Evans Jr. made his first start of the season at Hawai'i where he scored 10 points. Evans has come on strong offensively in recent games, averaging 15.2 points over the last five contests.

SCOUTING UC DAVIS
The Aggies are 12-8 overall and 5-4 in Big West play. Winners of three of the last four games, UC Davis fell to UC San Diego 80-74 last week before knocking off UC Riverside 74-66 on Saturday. On the season, the Aggies lead the Big West in assists per game at 16.5 per game while the team averages 79.7 points and surrenders 75.5 points. Nils Cooper leads the squad in scoring at 14.4 points followed Connor Sevilla at 13.3 points, Marcus Wilson at 10.4 points and Nico Rocak at 10.3 points. Rocak is the top rebounder on the team, averaging 5.5 per game.

Series History: The Aggies lead the Matadors 31-23 in the all-time series. UC Davis held serve at home on Jan. 1, defeating CSUN 89-80 in the first meeting of this season. The Matadors would claim last season's matchup in Northridge, 73-61.

SCOUTING UC SAN DIEGO
The Tritons have gone 15-6 overall and 5-4 in Big West action. Last week, the Tritons defeated UC Davis on the road 80-74 but suffered a tight 61-59 loss to UC Irvine at home. While the team is 5-4 at home, UC San Diego has been especially impressive on the road, going 10-2. UCSD is first in the Big West in least turnovers per game (10.6) along with third in scoring defense (71.0) to go with averaging 79.3 points per game. Leo Beath is seventh in the Big West in scoring at 15.2 points per game while other double-digit scorers include Alex Chaikin (10.6), Tom Beattie (10.4) and Bol Dengdit (10.1). Chaikin is also the top 3-point shooter on the team, averaging a Big West-best 43.4 percent.

Series History: UCSD holds an 8-3 edge over CSUN in the all-time series. The Matadors took the first meeting this season with UC San Diego in La Jolla, 84-79, on Jan. 15, behind 23 points from Josiah Davis. The victory was CSUN's first-ever over UCSD in the Division I era.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Meets UC Davis and UC San Diego at Home This Week

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Players Mentioned

Josiah Davis

James Evans Jr.

Mahmoud Fofana

Larry Hughes II

Joshua O'Garro

California State University Northridge Athletics