Big West Conference Play Begins Wednesday For The Beach

1/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Jan. 5, 2016

Long Beach, Calif. -

Game: Long Beach State at CSUN
Date: Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Northridge, Calif.
Arena: The Matadome (2,000)
TV: ESPN3
TV Talent: Trent Schlom, Richie Scheuler
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: WatchESPN
Live Stats: gomatadors.com

RIGHT AWAY
• Big West Conference play begins Wednesday for Long Beach State, as the 49ers head up the 405 to face CSUN as their first league foe. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

• The Beach finished their 2015-16 non-conference schedule last week, which for the second time under Dan Monson was rated as the most difficult schedule in the nation by Ken Pomeroy. 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.

• Justin Bibbins has been one of the best distributors in the nation this season. Bibbins is ranked 16th nationally in turnover/assist ratio and 2nd in total assists, averaging 5.8 per game for the Beach while adding 9.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

• The Beach has been one of the nation's best teams with the ball this season. The 49ers rank 52nd in the nation in assists per game and are 38th in assist/turnover ratio, and have shot extremely well from 3-point range as well. The Beach is shooting 39.6 percent as a team, which ranks 25th in Division I.

• 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 15.7 points per game.

• 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.

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 42.0 points per game in 2015-16.

• 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 seven players averaging over seven 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 (9.6), Justin Bibbins (9.0), Gabe Levin (8.4), Roschon Prince (8.3), and Noah Blackwell (7.2) 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Long Beach State begins conference play with a Top 100 RPI, one of four teams in the Big West to start league play with an RPI that high. That's a strong start for the conference as a whole, as the Big West rates as the No. 12 conference in RPI out of 32 conferences in Division I.

• 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 21 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.

• 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.