Long Beach State Opens Vegas Tourney Monday Against Iona

Monday, November 19

Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)

2:00 P.M.

Long Beach State University

Iona College

Tickets

Photo by: John Fajardo

11/17/2018 6:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Complete LBSU Game Notes

After a pair of challenging road games, Long Beach State is lined up for a neutral site contest on Monday at 2 p.m. PT against Iona, opening the MGM Resorts Main Event at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

By: Tyler Hendrickson, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Game: Long Beach State vs. Iona
Date: Monday, November 19, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Arena: Cox Pavilion (2,454)
TV: None
TV Talent: None
Radio: 22WestMedia.com
Radio Talent: Jason Schwartz
Webcast: bdglobal.inplayer.com
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com

RIGHT AWAY
• LBSU dropped its second road test against a ranked team on Friday, suffering a 79-51 defeat at No. 17 Mississippi State. The Beach are now 0-3 away from Walter Pyramid this season, with all games coming against Power 6 opponents.

• Long Beach State looked impressive in the first stage of the game with the Bulldogs, leading for over 13 minutes in the first half. LBSU's largest lead was eight, holding a 32-24 advantage with 10 minutes until halftime. The offense went cold, however, as LBSU didn't score over the final six minutes of the half and the host Bulldogs closed on a 15-0 run for a 36-28 halftime lead.

• The Beach did its best work from beyond the arc as Bryan Alberts, KJ Byers and Jordan Griffin each hit two 3-pointers in the game, Alberts and Byers led the team with eight points, with Byers chipping in two steals and a block. LBSU was 7-16 (43.8 %) from deep, holding MSU to just 4-23 (17.4%) on triples.

SCOUTING THE GAELS
• Iona has been to the NCAA tournament three consecutive seasons and five times total during the tenure of ninth-year head coach Tim Cluess. The Gaels were 20-14 a season ago, falling to Duke in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 15 seed.

• Iona has played just two games this season, winning its home opener over Albany before a road defeat at New Mexico on Tuesday. The Gaels have five scorers averaging double-figures, led by EJ Crawford's 15.0 points per game. Rickey McGill is averaging 11.5 points and 8.5 assists, while Isaiah Still is putting up 12 points and eight rebounds per contest.

• The only previous meeting between LBSU and Iona was in 1979 at the second annual Great Alaska Shootout, which ended last year after a 40-year run. Long Beach State's head coach in that game was the late Hall of Fame coach Tex Winter.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS?
• Long Beach State will be playing its first game in Las Vegas since visiting UNLV for the 2005-06 season opener on Nov. 18, 2005. That game resulted in a 108-73 win for the Runnin' Rebels.

• This is the fifth year of the MGM Resorts Main Event, which was previously held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The event has always featured eight teams split into a Heavyweight and Middleweight Bracket. Last season's winners were UNLV and Prairie View A&M, respectively.

• Both Iona and Long Beach State will be seeing its first neutral-site action of the season. The Beach went 1-3 in neutral site games last season, with the victory coming over Oregon State at the Advocare Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

HOME BOOKING
• Point guard Deishuan Booker returns to his hometown for a pair of games in Vegas this week. The senior is Long Beach State's leading scorer with an average of 16.0 points per game on the season, led by a career-best 31 points in the season opener at No. 21 UCLA.

• Booker also led the Beach in scoring with 19 points against Menlo, going 11/12 from the free-throw line to set a new career high in free throws made in a game. He had 15 of Long Beach State's 28 first-half points to keep the team in front after 20 minutes.

• Few players across the country have done a better job than Booker of getting to the free throw line and converting this season. He is 29/31 (93.5%) at the charity stripe so far this season, and those 29 made free throws rank sixth in the nation through Friday's games.

BALANCE BEACH
• Behind Booker's standout scoring, Long Beach State has shown solid depth and balance in the early part of the season. Seven players are averaging over five points per game, with six averaging between 5.7-7.5 points. Against Mississippi State, nine different players scored within the first 14 minutes of the game as the Beach held a 28-21 lead over the Bulldogs.

• Additionally, all 13 eligible players have appeared in every game for the Beach this season, and all of them are averaging at least 5.5 minutes per contest.

SIX SENIORS
• Long Beach State boasts a six-player senior class, giving LBSU an older roster, but not necessarily one with a ton of experience. Only two of the six seniors (Temidayo Yussuf and Mason Riggins) have spent more than two seasons at the Beach, with the other four transferring in from the junior college ranks.

• LBSU returns a pair of All-Big West honorees from a season ago. Both Yussuf and Booker were Honorable Mention All-Big West selections.

• Yussuf is in his fifth season at Long Beach State, after redshirting his sophomore campaign. Entering the season, the Oakland native had appeared in 97 games during his career and has a chance to become the 24th member of the 1,000-point club at Long Beach State, needing to score 297 points during his final season to reach that mark.

• Also in the senior class, Bryan Alberts should be one of the leading perimeter weapons for the Beach in his second and final season in Long Beach. The Gonzaga transfer had an immediate impact at the start of last season before an injury caused him to miss a month of action. The three-point marksman was second on the team in scoring last season, averaging 11.3 points per game and was in double-figures a dozen times.

• Fellow senior Mason Riggins is in his fourth year at the Beach, making him another frontcourt mainstay to go with Yussuf. His first game of the 2018-19 season will represent his 100th appearance for the Beach and he's made 42 starts over his previous three years. Riggins led the team with a field goal percentage of 62.4 percent, a statistic he's improved each season in Long Beach.

THIS AND THAT
• With a 70-69 win at UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 1, 2018, Long Beach State earned the 1,000th win in program history. Dan Monson is responsible for 185 of those wins, making him the winningest head coach in Long Beach State history.

• Departed senior Gabe Levin was a First Team All-Big West selection after leading the Beach in scoring (18.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg) in 2017-18. Levin is set to begin his professional playing career in Israel with Bnei Rav-Bariach Herzliya.

• On Thursday, Nov. 8, Long Beach State basketball legend Casper Ware entered the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame. Ware was at the Beach from the 2009-12 seasons, helping the Beach to the NCAA Tournament as a senior. He was a two-time Big West Player of the Year and is currently a member of Melbourne United in the National Basketball League in Australia.