Long Beach State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Back In Action Wednesday At Pepperdine
12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach, Calif. -
Game: Long Beach State at Pepperdine
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Malibu, Calif.
Arena: Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104)
TV: None
TV Talent: None
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: TheW.tv
Live Stats: pepperdinesports.com
RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State resumes a local rivalry Wednesday, traveling to Malibu to face Pepperdine for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse.
• Pepperdine owned the series between the two teams for a stretch through the early 2000s, winning eight straight games against the Beach. Since that time, however, Long Beach State has won three of the last four meetings, including the last game between the teams in 2009.
• Larry Anderson scored 20 points and T.J. Robinson picked up a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards to lead the Beach to a win the last time Long Beach State traveled to Pepperdine.
• Senior Nick Faust was named the Big West Player of the Week after a tremendous week for the Beach. Faust has scored in double-figures in every game this season for LBSU, but stepped his game up over four games in six days, averaging 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting over 50 percent both from the floor and from three.
• Justin Bibbins has been one of the best distributors in the nation this season. Bibbins begins the week ranked 16th nationally in turnover/assist ratio and 8th in total assists, averaging 6.1 per game for the Beach while adding 9.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
• Long Beach State begins the week with an RPI in the Top 100 at 82. That's second-best in the Big West, and one of three teams in the league to rate in the Top 100. The league as a whole rates as the No. 10 league currently, with only two teams below 200 entering the week.
THE PLAYERS
• For the first time since the 2006-07 season, entering head coach Dan Monson's first season at the Beach, the 49ers return no starters from the previous season. LBSU has four starters with former DI experience however. 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 41.6 points per game in 2015-16.
• Nick Faust blew past 1,000 points scored 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 17.0 points per game as well as in minutes, averaging 31.9 per game.
• The Beach has featured very balanced scoring this season however, with seven players averaging over six points per game in 2015-16. In addition to Faust, Travis Hammonds is just under double-digit scoring on the year with 9.4 points per game, while Justin Bibbins (9.0), A.J. Spencer (8.7), Gabe Levin (8.1), Roschon Prince (7.8), and Noah Blackwell (6.2) are also being strong contributors this season.
• Long Beach State has gotten good production from its bench early in the year. With Travis Hammonds, Branford Jones, Noah Blackwell and Mason Riggins all playing good minutes, the foursome is averaging 23.6 points per game this season.
• 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. Four teams the Beach will play currently rank in the Top 25, as the Beach faced Virginia (#6) in Charleston and still has Duke, Arizona and Oregon on the schedule.
• 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.
• Balanced scoring has been the strength of Long Beach State in 2015-16. 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 twice: Once in the opener against BYU-Hawaii and a second time against Oklahoma State in Charleston.
• 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 last week, 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.
