Beach Finishes Road Swing With Trip To New Mexico State

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

Dec. 1, 2016

Long Beach, Calif. -

Game: Long Beach State at New Mexico State
Date: Saturday, December 3, 2016
Time: 6 p.m. PT
Location: Las Cruces, N.M.
Arena: Pan American Center (12,575)
TV: ESPN3 | Fox Sports Net
TV Talent: Adam Young, Russ Bradburd
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: WatchESPN
Live Stats: beachlivestats.com

RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State closes out its nine-game road swing with its final trip, heading to Las Cruces, N.M. to face New Mexico State on Saturday at 6 p.m. PT. The game will be carried live on ESPN3, with a tape delayed broadcast being shown locally starting at 10 p.m. PT on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.

• The Beach plays New Mexico State in the final contest of a nine-game road swing that totaled 15,125 miles in travel, and featured games against four ranked teams in North Carolina, Louisville, UCLA and Kansas, as well as Wichita State, Washington and Florida Gulf Coast. In all, Long Beach State will travel over 23,000 miles in the course of the non-conference slate.

• Junior Gabe Levin has had an outstanding start to the season, putting up three double-doubles in nine games, including two against back-to-back ranked opponents in North Carolina and Louisville. Scoring in double-figures in all but one game, Levin is leading the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.8 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per contest.

• Junior point guard Justin Bibbins is third on the team in scoring at 8.8 points per game, while averaging four assists per game and adding 3.8 rebounds per game, second on the team despite his 5-8 height. Both Bibbins and Levin were named to the preseason All-Big West team prior to the season.

• Long Beach State has won the last two meetings between the two former conference rivals, taking a 67-53 decision last season in the Walter Pyramid behind 16 points from Nick Faust and 14 each from A.J. Spencer and Justin Bibbins. The Aggies have had a long run of success against the 49ers in New Mexico however, as the Beach hasn't won in the Pan American Center since the 1988 season, a span of 11 games. Under Dan Monson, LBSU hasn't played in Las Cruces since his first season in 2007-08.

• Long Beach State was the favorite to win the Big West Conference in 2016-17 as picked by the media panel in the Preseason Big West Poll. The 49ers received 19 of 23 first-place votes to end up placed in front of UC Irvine and CSUN in the top three. UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton made up the middle while UC Riverside, Hawai'i and Cal Poly rounded out the order.

THE PLAYERS
• Junior point guard Justin Bibbins was named to the Lou Henson Award watch list, an honor presented at the end of the year to the Mid Major Player of the Year. Bibbins joins four other LBSU players in that distinction in Casper Ware, James Ennis, Mike Caffey and Nick Faust. Ware, Ennis and Faust all went on to be named Lou Henson All-Americans as finalists for the award.

• A transfer from LMU, Evan Payne has helped carry the scoring load in the early part of the season, leading the team in scoring four times, and averaging 11.5 points per game, second on the team behind Levin. Payne passed 1,000 points scored between his time at LMU and LBSU in week one, and is the career leader in Division I scoring on the team.

• Along with Levin, Long Beach State has relied on a number of other frontcourt players in the early part of the season. Temidayo Yussuf leads the scoring load and has started six games, averaging 6.1 points with 3.8 rebounds, and junior Roschon Prince is just behind with 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds. Sophomore Mason Riggins has contributed 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game thus far.

• Long Beach State's freshman class has played a big role for the team so far, all playing significant minutes. Jordan Griffin is leading the way in scoring, averaging 6.3 points per game while putting up the team's best 3-point shooting percentage at 37.5 percent. Loren Jackson has averaged 17.3 minutes per game backing up Justin Bibbins at the point, while Javonntie Jackson started five games at the wing, averaging 3.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Redshirt Freshman LaRond Williams has complemented the team's frontcourt returners well, second on the team with four blocks while scoring 21 points on the year.

• Among the reserves, the team's lone senior, Anson Moye is back for his fourth and final season, and is joined by another guard in sophomore Alex Rifkind. Two-sport athlete Quentin Shropshire will also continue to play forward with the Beach after previously competing with the Big West Champion Men's Track and Field program. Junior college transfer Barry Ogalue is also averaging 2.7 points per game while averaging 5.4 minutes per game on the season.

• Long Beach State announced the signing of Jordan Roberts in November period; a 6-8 guard out of Ridgeview High School in Bakersfield. An athletic wing player with Ridgeview High School, Roberts averaged just under 14 points and nine rebounds per game while adding 3.6 assists and 2.7 steals per game for the Central Section finalists that finished the 2015-16 campaign with a 28-3 overall record.

THIS AND THAT
• Head Coach Dan Monson is the winningest coach at Long Beach State, with more victories than basketball luminaries such as Jerry Tarkanian, Tex Winter, and Seth Greenberg who have also coached at the Beach. With 96 conference wins in nine seasons, Monson is four league wins away from becoming just the seventh coach in Big West history to record 100 victories in Big West play. Under Monson, Long Beach State has also made the postseason in four out of the last six seasons.

• The Beach is on a run of six straight seasons with 10 or more wins in conference play, the longest such streak in school history. The streak is tied with Utah State for the longest in the Big West since Utah State had a six-season run from 1999-2000 to 2004-05, and one more season would be the longest except for a seven-year stretch by New Mexico State from 88-89 to 94-95 and UNLV's run of 10 straight seasons under Tarkanian.

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

• The slate isn't any easier in the non-conference schedule in 2016-17 for Long Beach State. The 49ers will play seven teams that played in the NCAA Tournament one season ago, including two No. 1 seeds. On the schedule are games against four ranked teams, including two in the Top 10. Long Beach State has finished the games against all four however, playing at North Carolina, Louisville, UCLA and Kansas.

• In the last three years, Long Beach State has had a national broadcast of more than 20 games in each year, including a program record of 25 in 2014-15. That's more than any other program in the Big West, and an average of 70% of the 49ers' contests. This season, as many as 27 of the team's regular season games may be broadcast nationally.