Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Stays On The Road With A Trip To Arizona
12/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach, Calif. -
Game: Long Beach State at #8 Arizona
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Time: 6:00 p.m. PST
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
Arena: McKale Center (14,538)
TV: Pac-12 Networks
TV Talent: JB Long, Lamar Hurd
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: pac-12.com/live
Live Stats: arizonawildcats.com
RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State continues a difficult road stretch, as the 49ers will face two straight ranked opponents. The Beach starts next Tuesday, December 22, facing off against No. 8 Arizona at 6 p.m. That game will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks. The Beach will then travel to play at No. 10 Duke on December 30 to close the non-conference schedule.
• The Beach has been one of the nation's best teams with the ball this season. The 49ers rank 53rd in the nation in assists per game and are 41st in assist/turnover ratio, and have shot extremely well from 3-point range as well. The Beach is shooting 39.2 percent as a team, which ranks 38th in Division I.
• Long Beach State has two wins over ranked opponents under Dan Monson. The Beach stunned No. 9 Pittsburgh at Pitt in 2011-12, as Casper Ware scored 28 points in an 86-76 win over the Panthers. Later that season, the Beach defeated No. 14 Xavier at the Diamondhead Classic, as five players finished in double figures in a 68-58 victory.
• This season, the Beach has one win over a power conference team, as the Beach opened up the Gildan Charleston Classic with an 80-77 win over Seton Hall. Nick Faust scored 16 points and Travis Hammonds scored 14 as Long Beach State picked up a critical non-conference win.
• Arizona has won all five meetings between the two teams, all five coming on the road in Tucson. The Wildcats have scored over 90 points in all five contests. The closest game between the teams came under Dan Monson, in 2012 in a 94-72 defeat that saw James Ennis lead the Beach with 17 points and seven rebounds.
THE PLAYERS • LBSU has four starters with former DI experience, making up for having no returning starters in 2015-16. Senior Nick Faust transfers in from Maryland, and the Beach gets a pair of sophomores in Gabe Levin from LMU and Roschon Prince from USC, along with 2013-14 LBSU starter A.J. Spencer who missed 2014-15 with a knee injury. Combined the foursome averaged 33.8 points per game in 2013-14, and that number has gone up to 41.7 points per game in 2015-16.
• Nick Faust blew past 1,000 points scored in his career with a big week in Charleston. The senior has scored in double-figures in all of his games at the Beach, and the Baltimore, Md. native leads Long Beach State in scoring at 16.0 points per game as well as in minutes, averaging 31.3 per game.
• Faust was named the Big West Player of the Week after a tremendous week for the Beach on December 7. Over the course of four games in six days, Faust averaged 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting over 50 percent both from the floor and from three to earn the award, the first for the 49ers this season.
• Justin Bibbins has been one of the best distributors in the nation this season. Bibbins is ranked 9th nationally in turnover/assist ratio and 11th in total assists, averaging 5.8 per game for the Beach while adding 8.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Bibbins is one of just four players in the country to have 10 games of 5 points and 5 assists in the nation this season.
• The Beach has featured very balanced scoring this season, with seven players averaging over six points per game in 2015-16. In addition to Faust, Travis Hammonds is averaging double-digit scoring on the year with 11.0 points per game, while A.J. Spencer (9.0), Justin Bibbins (8.5), Gabe Levin (8.4), Roschon Prince (8.3), and Noah Blackwell (6.6) are also being strong contributors this season.
• While it had been three full seasons since LBSU had five players score in double-figures, this squad has already had five players finish in double-figure scoring three: Once in the opener against BYU-Hawaii, a second time against Oklahoma State in Charleston, and the team's last home game against Tampa.
• Additionally, Long Beach State has seen eight of its nine regulars score in double figures this season, with Branford Jones being the latest after scoring 10 points at Pepperdine.
• On the bench for the Beach, junior Anson Moye, two-sport athlete and LBSU Track and Field High Jumper Quentin Shropshire and redshirt freshman Alex Rifkind have each played in two or three games this season. Sophomore Temidayo Yussuf is on the sidelines for an extended period following a second injury this season.
• Looking ahead, Long Beach State has one more Division I transfer in Evan Payne. The junior point guard must sit out the 2015-16 season after averaging 16.7 points per game over two seasons with Loyola Marymount.
