Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach men hit road for three games this week
11/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2009
LONG BEACH, Calif. - THE BEACH ON THE INTERNET: Fans can log on to www.longbeachstate.com and and listen to all of the 49ers' games. Scott Himelstein handles the play-by-play duties for all Long Beach State games.
BEACH HEADS TO PEPPERDINE TO START LONG STRETCH AWAY FROM LONG BEACH: Tuesday night's road game at Pepperdine is the beginning of a long stretch away from the Walter Pyramid for Long Beach State. The 49ers play their next seven games and 12 of their next 14 on the road. The Beach opens its road trip when it visits Pepperdine in a rematch of last year's game that saw LBSU come away with an 80-61 win on Dec. 3. After the game, the 49ers will travel to Notre Dame for a game on Thursday, Nov. 19, and Green Bay for a rematch of last year's bracket buster game on Saturday, Nov. 21. LBSU returns to California for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament in Anaheim where The Beach faces No. 8 West Virginia in the opening round on Thanksgiving morning. LBSU then meets either No. 25 Clemson or Texas A&M on Friday, Nov. 27 and an opponent to be determined on Sunday, Nov. 29 to round out the tournament. After a Dec. 7 game at No. 3 Texas, LBSU will finally return to the Walter Pyramid after 28 days to face Cal State Monterey Bay in the first of a two-game homestand.
ANDERSON NAMED CO-BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Larry Anderson has been named the co-Big West Player of the Week after leading Long Beach State to a season-opening 86-65 win over Alaska Anchorage. Anderson (Long Beach, Calif./Jordan HS) earned the award after leading The Beach in scoring, assists and steals in the win. He finished with 18 points, a career-high seven assists and a career-best five steals. Anderson made 5-of-8 shots, 2-of-3 from three and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. The player of the week honor is the first of Anderson's career. He shared the award with UC Davis' Joe Harden.
LBSU PICKS UP FIRST SEASON OPENING WIN IN EIGHT YEARS: Long Beach State won its opener Saturday night when the 49ers knocked off Alaska Anchorage 86-65 in the Walter Pyramid. The win was the first to start a season for The Beach since it beat Western Michigan 71-64 in Eugene, Ore., to open the 2001-02 season. Since then, LBSU lost openers to Charlotte (89-61), San Diego State (74-44), Charlotte (93-64), UNLV (108-73), Air Froce (69-68), and BYU the last two years (74-34 and 75-65).
LONG BEACH STATE SET TO FACE ONE OF THE TOUGHEST NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULES IN THE COUNTRY: Long Beach State will be tested by the time the conference season rolls around in January. The Beach will face four of the current top 10 teams in the country by the end of December, while also matching up with three other teams that are ranked in the top 51 in the latest Associated Press poll. There is also a chance that LBSU could face another of the top 50 teams if things break the right way at the 76 Classic over Thanksgiving weekend.
The 49ers definitely will tangle with the No. 3 (Texas), No. 4 (Kentucky), No. 8 (West Virginia) and No. 9 (Duke) teams in the country. LBSU faces Texas in early December, Kentucky just before Christmas (Dec. 23), West Virginia on Thanksgiving Day in the 76 Classic and Duke just after Christmas (Dec. 29). In addition, The Beach has a road game against No. 27 Notre Dame on Thursday and a home game against No. 51 Utah State on Dec. 18. LBSU will also face either No. 22 Clemson or No. 43 Texas A&M in the second round of the 76 Classic on Nov. 27 and could face either No. 11 Butler, No. 24 Minnesota or No. 36 UCLA in the final round of the 76 Classic on Nov. 29. Throw in road games against Pepperdine tonight, Green Bay on Saturday, and Loyola Marymount on Dec. 21 and LBSU will be battle tested by the time Big West Conference play starts on Jan. 2 at UC Riverside.
LONG BEACH STATE THE PRESEASON PICK TO WIN THE BIG WEST; ANDERSON AND ROBINSON NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS: Long Beach State was the preseason pick to win the Big West title by the league's media, outdistancing second-place UC Santa Barbara by 31 points. The Beach collected 17 first-place votes and 209 points, while UCSB grabbed six first-place votes and 178 total points. Defending champion Cal State Northridge was third with 130 points. Pacific, picked fifth, also had one first-place vote. Individually, sophomore guard Larry Anderson was one of six players named to the preseason all-league team. The reigning first-team All-Big West selection was also picked as a preseason first-team all-league selection by Blue Ribbon Magazine along with teammate T.J. Robinson. Robinson, also a sophomore, earned Big West All-Freshman Team honors last season and was an honorable mention all-league pick as a true freshman.
ANDERSON BECOMES FIRST FRESHMAN TO BE NAMED FIRST-TEAM ALL-BIG WEST IN 25 YEARS: Larry Anderson (Long Beach, Calif./Jordan HS) became the first freshman to earn first-team all-league honors last year since Long Beach State's Clifton Pondexter after the 1973-74 season. Anderson finished the regular season averaging 10.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He scored in double digits 17 times, including nine of Long Beach State's last 10 games. Anderson also became the first 49er freshman to earn Big West Freshman of the Year honors since James Cotton claimed the award after the 1993-94 season, and the third overall along with Cotton and Lucious Harris (1989-90).
ANDERSON JOINED ON THE 2008-09 BIG WEST ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM BY ROBINSON AND WARE; BEACH ROSTER BOASTS FOUR FORMER ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM MEMBERS: Larry Anderson, T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware allowed Long Beach State to dominate the 2008-09 Big West All-Freshman Team. Anderson, Robinson and Ware occupied three of the five spots on the team with all three ranking among the league leaders in various categories. Anderson was among the league leaders in a number of categories, while Robinson ranked high in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. Ware was among the league leaders in assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and steals, while also setting a Long Beach State freshman record for total assists with 122. Two years ago, 49er junior Greg Plater represented Long Beach State on the Big West Conference All-Freshman Team. Plater finished second on the team in scoring and 3-point shooting in 2007-08.
ANDERSON FINISHED WITH CAREER BESTS IN STEALS AND ASSISTS AGAINST ALASKA ANCHORAGE: Larry Anderson put together career bests in both assists (7) and steals (5) in LBSU's season opener against Alaska Anchorage. Anderson's previous bests came when he had six assists (four times as a freshman) and four steals (at Pacific on Jan. 8, 2008).
GILLING CLOSING IN ON 1,000 CAREER POINTS: Senior guard Stephan Gilling should accomplish a major career milestone sometime during the 2009-10 season. Gilling needs just 171 points heading into this week's games at Pepperdine, Notre Dame and Green Bay to score 1,000 career points. Gilling started his career at Colorado State where he scored 484 points (216 as a freshman and 268 as a sophomore) during his two-year career with the Rams. After sitting out the 2007-08 season after transferring to Long Beach State, Gilling scored 330 points as a junior last year and had 15 in the opener against Alaska Anchorage to run his career total to 829 total points. Gilling also proved to be one of LBSU's top all-time 3-point shooters last season when he made 83-of-228 3-pointers. He ranks second in both single season 3-pointers made and 3-point attempts at LBSU. Gilling earned honorable mention All-Big West honors for his efforts last season.
SOME GOOD, SOME BAD FOR PHELPS IN FIRST CAREER START: After a year of coming off the bench, sophomore Eugene Phelps has moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore for the 49ers. Phelps joins classmates Larry Anderson, T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware in the starting lineup along with senior Stephan Gilling. Phelps was impressive early in the 49ers' win over Alaska Anchorage in the opener scoring six points in the first 6:23 of the game before heading to the bench because of foul trouble. Phelps finished his first start with 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting, but played just 11 minutes with just one rebound before fouling out.
ALL FIVE BEACH STARTERS SCORE IN DOUBLE FIGURES AGAINST ALASKA ANCHORAGE; FIRST TIME THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE JANUARY 20, 2007: Long Beach State's starters each recorded double-digit scoring efforts in the season opener against Alaska Anchorage, the first time all five starters have scored in double figures in the Monson Era. Larry Anderson led the way with 18 points, Casper Ware scored 16 points, T.J. Robinson and Stephan Gilling had 15 points each and Eugene Phelps chipped in 10 points.
The last time all five 49er' starters recorded double-digit scoring games came on January 20, 2007 when LBSU beat UC Riverside 99-65. In that game Kevin Houston had 17 points, Dominique Ricks 15 points, Aaron Nixon 14 points, Kejuan Johnson 12 points and Sterling Byrd 10 points. The Beach has had five guys score in double digits in the Monson era, just not all five starters. Last season it happened twice with the first coming in an 86-78 home win over UC Santa Barbara. In that game Casper Ware had 21 points, Donovan Morris 16 points, Brian Freeman and Stephan Gilling 11 points each and T.J. Robinson 10 points. The Beach did it again in an 86-78 win at UC Davis on Jan. 10, 2009, when Morris scored 27 points, Larry Anderson 18 points, Eugene Phelps 13 points, Robinson 12 points and Ware 11 points.
