Long Beach State University Athletics
Big West Tournament Continues With Semifinals Against UC Irvine Tonight
3/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach, Calif. -
Game: (3) Long Beach State vs. (2) UC Irvine
Date: Friday, March 11, 2016
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Location: Anaheim, Calif.
Arena: Honda Center (18,336)
TV: ESPNU
TV Talent: Dave Pasch, Paul Biancardi
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: WatchESPN
Live Stats: longbeachstate.com
RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State's postseason dreams continue on Friday, as the Beach advanced to the Big West Tournament semifinals where they will face UC Irvine. The teams last met in the conference championship in 2012-13, when UCI stunned the top-seeded 49ers in the semifinals.
• Senior Nick Faust was named the Big West Newcomer of the Year and earned first-team All-Big West honors in his sole season at the Beach. Faust led the Big West in scoring in conference play at 18.4 points per game, and has scored in double-figures in all but two games this season while leading the Beach in scoring 20 times.
• Faust also scored 30 points at Cal State Fullerton, joining Donovan Morris and Casper Ware as the only 49ers to have multiple 30-point games in the last nine seasons under Dan Monson, after scoring 34 points earlier this season against UC Santa Barbara. Faust's 551 points this season rank 15th in school history through the quarterfinals.
• Sophomore Justin Bibbins was selected to the All-Big West second-team, marking the eighth straight season that a Long Beach State point guard has been named to either the 11-person first or second team selections. Bibbins is second on the team in scoring at 11.6 points per game, and is leading the team in assists with 4.9 per game.
• Two other 49ers were recognized by the conference on Monday. Sophomore Gabe Levin earned honorable mention honors, entering the postseason averaging 9.9 points per game and leading the team in rebounding at 6.0 per game. Junior Travis Hammonds as named the league's Best Sixth Player. Hammmonds is fourth on the squad in scoring at 9.8 points per game, and is third in rebounding at 4.9 boards per game while coming off the bench in 23 of 28 games in 2015-16.
THE PLAYERS
• LBSU has four players with former DI experience, making up for having no returning starters entering 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 41.0 points per game in 2015-16.
• Long Beach State has been glad to see the return of Justin Bibbins. The 49ers averaged 14.6 assists per game over the last five games of the season while posting an assist/turnover ratio of 1.46. Bibbins has also been a strong scorer, putting up a career high 26 against UC Irvine and averaging 14.6 points per game in the final five games of the regular season.
• Sophomore guard Justin Bibbins was been one of the top players for Long Beach State in conference play. In Big West games, Bibbins was just outside of the league's top ten in scoring at 14.2 points per game, and averaged 4.0 assists per game, fifth in the league. Hit .519 3-point percentage led the conference, and his .861 free throw percentage was fifth in the league.
• Justin Bibbins has been one of the best distributors in the nation this season. Bibbins is ranked 53rd nationally in turnover/assist ratio and 72nd in assists per game, averaging 4.9 per contest for the Beach. The 5-8 sophomore has also upped his scoring, averaging double-digits on the season while adding 3.1 rebounds per game.
• 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 11.6 points per game, while Travis Hammonds (9.9), Gabe Levin (9.7), A.J. Spencer (7.8), Roschon Prince (6.3), and Noah Blackwell (6.1) are also being strong contributors this season.
• Nick Faust is a three-time Big West Player of the Week honoree, and also was named the Lou Henson Award National Player of the Week after wins at UCSB and UH. Faust averaged 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists while leading LBSU to wins over Colorado State and New Mexico State, and then received the award a second time after scoring a career high 34 points against the Gauchos before putting up 28 points and 14 rebounds in a win at Hawai'i. Faust was recognized for a third time last week after scoring 30 points against Cal State Fullerton and 19 against Hawai'i in a pair of wins to close the regular season.
• Gabe Levin's efforts against Cal Poly, and particularly UC Davis, led the sophomore big man to Big West Player of the Week honors. Levin put up 23 points and 12 rebounds in a win over the Aggies, and averaged 17 points and nine rebounds on the weekend, shooting .625 from the floor to become the second 49er this season honored by the conference.
• Long Beach State has seen all nine regulars score in double figures this season, as freshman Mason Riggins was the most recent, hitting the mark on the road at Hawai'i. Eight 49ers have reached the 10-point mark on at least three occasions.
• 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.
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.
• With 12 wins in conference play, Long Beach State locked up its sixth straight season with 10 or more wins in conference play - the longest such streak in school history. The streak is the longest in the Big West since Utah State had a six-season run from 1999-2000 to 2004-05.
• 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 was on the air 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.
• 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.
