Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Basketball To Play UCSB On The Road Saturday
2/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Long Beach State Game Notes 
Game: Long Beach State at UC Santa Barbara
Date: Saturday, February 18, 2017
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Arena: The Thunderdome (6,000)
TV: None
TV Talent: None
Radio: KBEACH.org; HD 88.1-3
Radio Talent: Anthony Masterson
Webcast: bigwest.org/TV
Live Stats: ucsbgauchos.com
RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State will take its next to last road trip of the season, heading up to the Central Coast to face UC Santa Barbara in the Thunderdome at 4 p.m.
• Saturday's game resumes the most-played series for Long Beach State. The 49ers have a 65-58 edge in the all-time series, with the next game being the 124th time the teams will meet in a series that dates back to the second season of Beach basketball in 1951-52.
• Long Beach State continues to lead the conference in scoring during league play, and are averaging 81.3 points per game as a team. Long Beach State is the only team in conference play averaging over 80 points per game.
• That team output has been relatively balanced for Long Beach State, who has five players averaging double-figures in conference play, and four rank in the league's top 15 scorers. Evan Payne is averaging 16.3 points per game, just in front of Justin Bibbins who is averaging 15.4 points per game. Roschon Prince is averaging 14.6 points and a league-leading 9.8 rebounds per game, and Temidayo Yussuf is adding 12.8 points per game. Noah Blackwell was also averaging 13.0 points per game prior to his injury, while his replacement in the starting lineup, Loren Jackson, is averaging 8.3 points per game.
• A transfer from LMU, Evan Payne has helped carry the scoring load in his first season at Long Beach State, leading the team in scoring 13 times and averaging 15.3 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, now with over 1,300 points in three seasons.
• LBSU has been fantastic from the free throw line in 2016-17, now shooting 72.1 percent from the charity stripe. That would be the third-best single-season mark in school history. Leading the way individually are Evan Payne and Justin Bibbins, who both rank in the league's Top 5.
THE PLAYERS
• Junior point guard Justin Bibbins is second on the team in points scored, averaging 12.7 points per game, while averaging 4.3 assists and adding 3.3 rebounds per game. 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, and was also preseason All-Big West selection. In Big West play, Bibbins is averaging 15.4 points per game, fifth in the league. The junior also became the 14th 49er with 300 assists, and now ranks 13th in school history.
• Roschon Prince has really come on of late. The junior has now has eight double-doubles this season, the latest coming in a 21 point, 14 rebound effort at Cal Poly. In Big West play, Prince is the league's leading rebounder at 9.8 boards per game, and the junior recently had double-figure rebounds in seven straight games, putting up five double-doubles in that time. His 14.6 points per game in conference play are also ninth in the Big West.
• Long Beach State has played without Noah Blackwell in February, who is out indefinitely with a foot injury. His absence marks the second starter unavailable for the Beach along with Gabe Levin. Blackwell was leading the conference in 3-pointers made, and averaging 13.0 points per game in Big West play.
• Temidayo Yussuf has solidified the other frontcourt position alongside Prince, starting in 11 consecutive games. Yussuf has now scored in double-figures in eight of his last 11 games, and is averaging 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 2016-17 after missing last season on a medical redshirt. Yussuf's numbers are even better in league play, averaging 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and the sophomore scored a career high 25 points against UCSB.
• Sophomore Mason Riggins picked up his first double-double Thursday against UC Davis, grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds along with 10 points. The sophomore is averaging 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in his second full season at the Beach.
• Long Beach State's trio of freshmen are continuing to press for more time on the court this season. Loren Jackson is averaging 6.5 points and 1.6 assists per game as the primary backup point guard to Justin Bibbins, and is averaging 19.4 minutes per game. Guard Jordan Griffin is averaging nearly four points per game in his first season, while Javonntie Jackson has started nine games in his first year at the Beach, averaging 1.9 points and 1.7 rebounds per game as a versatile defensive presence.
• 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 3.9 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in an average of under 10 minutes per game.
• Among the reserves, the team's lone senior, Anson Moye is back for his fourth and final season and has started three times this year, and is taking an increased role as a defensive stopper. 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 Gabe Levin had an outstanding start to the season, putting up three double-doubles, including two against back-to-back ranked opponents in North Carolina and Louisville. Scoring in double-figures in 12 games, Levin led the team in rebounding, but suffered a knee injury prior to conference play and is out for the season after undergoing successful surgery. Levin was one of seven players selected for the preseason All-Big West team before the start of 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.
