Black And Blue Rivalry Highlights Start Of Big West Play

1/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Jan. 2, 2017

Long Beach, Calif. -

Game: Long Beach State at UC Irvine
Date: Wednesday, January 4, 2016
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Irvine, Calif.
Arena: Bren Events Center (5,000)
TV: ESPN3
TV Talent: Trent Rush, Richie Schueler
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: WatchESPN
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com

RIGHT AWAY
• A marquee matchup kicks off Big West play, as the Black and Blue Rivalry starts up league action Wednesday. Long Beach State will travel to UC Irvine, as the two favorites to claim the league title match up on ESPN3 at 7 p.m.

• 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.

• Long Beach State won the last meeting between the teams, taking a 77-72 victory in the Big West Tournament Semifinals last season. The Anteaters won both regular season matchups in 2015-16, including a 90-67 victory the last time the teams met in the Bren Events Center.

• A transfer from LMU, Evan Payne has helped carry the scoring load in the early part of the season, leading the team in scoring nine times and averaging 14.5 points per game, best on the team. 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.

• Junior Gabe Levin has had an outstanding start to the season, putting up three double-doubles, second-most in the Big West, including two against back-to-back ranked opponents in North Carolina and Louisville. Scoring in double-figures in 12 games, Levin is leading in rebounding at 6.2 boards per game, and is second at 12.2 points per game.

THE PLAYERS
• Junior point guard Justin Bibbins is third on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game, while averaging 4.0 assists per game and adding 3.8 rebounds per game, third on the team despite his 5-8 height. Bibbins is also on the Lou Henson Award watch list, an honor presented at the end of the year to the Mid Major Player of the Year. Both Bibbins and Levin were named to the preseason All-Big West team prior to the season.

• Roschon Prince has really come on of late, recording back to back double-doubles against Oregon State and the Master's. The Big West Player of the Week after the OSU game, Prince is averaging 5.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game on the season.

• Temidayo Yussuf and Javonntie Jackson have been the team's most regular starters outside of the top scorers in Payne, Levin and Bibbins. Yussuf is averaging 5.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in a solid return to action after missing 2015-16 on a medical redshirt. A true freshman, Jackson has provided a steady defensive presence, scoring 2.8 points with 1.9 rebounds per game.

• Long Beach State's is relying on three additional underclassman guards. Sophomore Noah Blackwell is fifth on the team in scoring at 5.6 points per game, while freshman Jordan Griffin is averaging 4.8 points per game. Finally, freshman Loren Jackson has averaging 5.2 points and 1.4 assists per game as the backup point guard to Bibbins.

• Junior college transfer Barry Ogalue has been a sparkplug off of the bench. The Yuba CC transfer scored a career high 21 points against the Master's, and is now averaging 4.7 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in an average of under 10 minutes per game.

• Other contributors in the frontcourt this season include sophomore Mason Riggins and redshirt freshman LaRond Williams. Williams has 11 blocks and is averaging 2.1 points in just 8.5 average minutes per game so far in 2016-17, while Riggins is contributing 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

• Among the reserves, the team's lone senior, Anson Moye is back for his fourth and final season and has started the last two games. 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.

• 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 enters conference play 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 eight 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 four in each of the last five years, including leading the nation both in 2012-13 and last season.

• The slate wasn't any easier in the non-conference schedule in 2016-17 for Long Beach State, ending up as the fourth strongest in the nation per Ken Pomeroy. The Beach played four teams currently in the Top 15 in Kansas, Louisville, UCLA and North Carolina and faced six teams that advanced to the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

• LBSU's first return to the Walter Pyramid came after a nine-game road swing that totaled 15,125 miles in travel, and featured games against four teams now ranked in the Top 15: North Carolina, Louisville, UCLA and Kansas. In total, Long Beach State will travelled 23,000 miles in the course of the non-conference slate.

• 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 26 of the team's regular season games may be broadcast nationally, with 23 guaranteed.