Long Beach State To Play Duke On Wednesday

12/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Dec. 29, 2015

Long Beach, Calif. -

Game:............................. Long Beach State at #15/12 Duke
Date:................................ Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Time:.............................................................. 1:00 p.m. PST
Location:........................................................ Durham, N.C.
Arena:.............................. Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314)
TV:................................................................ Fox Sports Net
TV Talent:................................ Wes Durham, Mike Gminski
Radio:............................................ KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent:........................................ Anthony Masterson
Webcast:....................................................... Fox Sports Go
Live Stats:........................................................ goduke.com

RIGHT AWAY
• The Beach closes out the non-conference schedule with one final marquee game facing off against No. 12 Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT, with the game being broadcast live on Fox Sports Prime Ticket in California.

• The Beach has been one of the nation's best teams with the ball this season. The 49ers rank 54th in the nation in assists per game and are 35th in assist/turnover ratio, and have shot extremely well from 3-point range as well. The Beach is shooting 39.1 percent as a team, which ranks 41st 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.

• Duke has won both meetings between the two teams, both in Durham. Duke squeezed out a 79-78 win in the 1978-79 season under Tex Winter, while the teams have met once under Dan Monson, an 84-73 defeat in 2009. The Blue Devils have won 124 consecutive non-conference home games.

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 42.2 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 16.2 points per game as well as in minutes, averaging 31.1 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 14th nationally in turnover/assist ratio and 15th in total assists, averaging 5.9 per game for the Beach while adding 8.8 points and 2.9 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 10.7 points per game, while A.J. Spencer (8.9), Justin Bibbins (8.8), Roschon Prince (8.6), Gabe Levin (8.4), and Noah Blackwell (6.4) 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.

THIS AND THAT
• With each win in 2015-16, Dan Monson increases his own record of career wins at Long Beach State. Monson, in his ninth season, passed two legends of the game and of LBSU last year, passing Seth Greenberg and Jerry Tarkanian to move into the top spot among the winningest coaches at the Beach.

• As usual under Dan Monson, Long Beach State will likely again have one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the nation. Three teams the Beach will play currently rank in the Top 25, as the Beach faced Virginia (#6) in Charleston and No. 8 Arizona last week, with Duke next on the schedule. UCLA has reached the Top 25 since the two teams played, and Oregon spent a good chunk of the season ranked as well.

• Over the past six seasons, Long Beach State has ranked no lower than sixth in non-conference strength of schedule, and the Beach has ranked in the top three in five of the last six years, including leading the nation in non-conference strength of schedule in 2012-13.

• Over the last two seasons, Long Beach State has broken its previous television exposure record - playing 21 games on TV in 2013-14 and then a program-record 25 in 2014-15. This season, the Beach is scheduled to hit the airwaves as many as 22 times entering the postseason. The TV journey began with ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon, which saw the 49ers host BYU on ESPN2 in a 66-65 win.

• Long Beach State picked up back-to-back wins against Top 100 RPI opponents early in the season. The Beach defeated BYU 66-65 in a defensive struggle at home, and then outscored Seton Hall 80-77 in the opening game of the Gildan Charleston Classic to hold on to what should be two impressive wins down the road. The Beach added two more important resume builders winning on the road at Colorado State and topping New Mexico State at home.

• LBSU opened the season 2-0 for the first time since 2011-12 -- the last time the Beach went to the NCAA Tournament. The 2015-16 season also marks the first time the team has opened the year 3-0 since the 1993-94 campaign.