Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Closes Road Trip At UC Riverside Saturday
1/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach, Calif. -
Game: Long Beach State at UC Riverside
Date: Saturday, January 23, 2016
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Riverside, Calif.
Arena: SRC Arena (2,753)
TV: None
TV Talent: None
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: BigWest.org/TV
Live Stats: gohighlanders.com
RIGHT AWAY
• It's the end of a three-game road swing for the Beach, as Long Beach State travels to UC Riverside for a 4 p.m. matinee at SRC Arena on Saturday. LBSU is 1-1 on the road trip, falling in double overtime at Cal Poly before winning Wednesday at UC Santa Barbara 77-67.
• Long Beach State is in the midst of a long run of success against the Highlanders, having won 12 straight games against UC Riverside. The Beach has also won five straight games in Riverside, with the last loss for LBSU coming in the 2010 season in overtime. The SRC Arena has been a tough place to play for the Beach, however, with four of the last seven meetings on the road between the teams going to overtime.
• Sophomore guard Justin Bibbins has been the star player for Long Beach State over the last five games, leading the 49ers to a 3-2 league mark. In Big West play, Bibbins ranks fifth in the conference in both scoring and assists, averaging 18.2 points and 4.0 assists per game, leading the Beach in both categories.
• Justin Bibbins has been one of the best distributors in the nation this season. Bibbins is ranked 49th nationally in turnover/assist ratio and 25nd in total assists, averaging 5.4 per game for the Beach. The 5-8 sophomore has also upped his scoring, averaging double-digits on the season while adding 3.2 rebounds per game.
• The Beach has been one of the nation's better teams with the ball in 2015-16. The 49ers rank 43rd in the nation in assists per game and are 46th in assist/turnover ratio, and have shot extremely well from 3-point range as well. The Beach is shooting 38.6 percent as a team, which ranks 33rd in Division I.
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 41.5 points per game in 2015-16.
• Nick Faust continues to lead the way for the Beach in 2015-16. After transferring from Maryland for his final season of eligibility, Faust has scored in double-figures in every game for the Beach this season, and is leading the team in scoring with 16.0 points per game.
• Nick 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.
• The Beach has featured very balanced scoring this season, with eight players averaging over five points per game in 2015-16. In addition to Faust, Justin Bibbins is also scoring in double-digits at 11.3 points per game, while Travis Hammonds (9.6), Gabe Levin (9.1), A.J. Spencer (8.9), Roschon Prince (7.5), and Noah Blackwell (6.5) 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 four times: Once in the opener against BYU-Hawaii, a second time against Oklahoma State in Charleston, the team's last non-conference home game against Tampa as well as the double-overtime contest at Cal Poly.
• Additionally, Long Beach State has seen eight of its nine regulars score in double figures this season, with all eight hitting the 10-point mark on at least two occasions.
• 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.
• Long Beach State made a midseason roster addition, as Barry Ogalue joined the team following the fall semester. A transfer from Yuba College, Ogalue was a two-time first-team All-Conference selection and averaged 17.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
• 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.
• The Beach finished their 2015-16 non-conference schedule with a record of 6-9, which for the second time under Dan Monson was rated as the most difficult non-league schedule in the nation by Ken Pomeroy as well as Jeff Sagarin. The Beach picked up Top 100 RPI wins over BYU and Seton Hall, as well as wins over Colorado State and New Mexico State while playing three teams ranked in the Top 15 in Virginia, Arizona and Duke.
• 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 six of the last seven years, including leading the nation in non-conference strength of schedule in 2012-13 and this year.
• 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 20 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.
• Picked to finish fourth in the Big West, Long Beach State has won at least ten games in conference play over the last five seasons, and opened the 2015-16 campaign with back-to-back wins.
• 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.
