Long Beach State Back at Home, Hosting Oregon State Sunday

Game: Long Beach State vs. Oregon State
Date: Sunday, November 25, 2018
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Arena: Walter Pyramid (4,200)
TV: None
TV Talent: None
Radio: 22WestMedia.com
Radio Talent: Jason Schwartz
Webcast: Beach Vision
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com

RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State split its two contests in Las Vegas at the MGM Resorts Main Event, defeating Iona on a buzzer-beater from junior Ron Freeman before falling to Utah Valley in the Middleweight Bracket championship game on Wednesday.

• Senior point guard and Las Vegas native Deishuan Booker dropped 29 points in the Utah Valley game, scoring 23 of his points after halftime. He also nailed four 3-pointers to finish two points shy of his career high in scoring and one triple off his career high in a single game. Both those records were set in the season opener, when he dropped 31 with five made three's at UCLA.

• The Beach forced 21 Wolverines turnovers while only giving it away 12 times, but couldn't fully capitalize as the teams were tied 16-16 in points off takeaways. Utah Valley shot 58 percent from the floor and won the rebound battle 41-21 to pick up the win.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Oregon State enters the contest at 4-1, with two victories coming on its home floor and the other two wins coming as part of the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. Sunday's game at Walter Pyramid represents the first true road game of the season for the Beavers.

• OSU opened the season with a 72-59 win over LBSU's Big West rivals, UC Riverside. The Beavers suffered their only defeat against Missouri (69-63) but bounced back with a 74-58 win over Penn in their last game on Monday.

• Junior Tres Trinkle has done it all for Oregon State this season, leading the Beavers in scoring (21.8 ppg), rebounding (10.6 rpg), assists (4.6 apg), and 3-point percentage (40.7%), while also shooting 51.3 percent from the floor. He has four double-doubles in five games, coming off a 32-point, 12-rebound performance against Penn the last time out. Stephen Thompson, Jr. also averages 15.4 points per game for the Beavers.

FAMILIAR FOES
• Sunday's matchup represents the fourth meeting between the Beavers and the Beach within the last two calendar years. Long Beach State has gone 2-1 in those meetings, splitting two meetings in Corvallis and winning on a neutral court in Orlando last season.

• The teams met twice last season, with Long Beach State losing the first meeting on OSU's home floor on Nov. 18 before responding less than a week later on Nov. 24 with a 74-69 victory in the Advocare Invitational.

• These programs first met in 1990 and will have played eight times following Sunday's contest. That means half of the all-time meetings between these teams will have occurred during the last three seasons.

DEISHUAN AT THE LINE
• Senior Deishuan Booker has been arguably the best free-throw shooter in the country so far this season. He is currently tied for fifth in the country in free throws made with 42 on just 44 attempts.

• His free-throw percentage of 95.5 percent ranks 14th in the nation, but among players who have attempted at least 30 free throws on the season, Booker's percentage is the best in the country.

• Booker set a career high with 11 made free throws against Menlo College, and he's made at least four free throws in all six games this season.

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 5.2 points per game, with six averaging between 5.2-8.3 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. In the last game against Utah Valley, 10 different players scored in the first half.

• Additionally, all 13 eligible players have appeared in every game for the Beach this season, and all of them are averaging at least 4.5 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.

Calendar

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Players Mentioned

Bryan Alberts

Deishuan Booker

Ron Freeman

Gabe Levin

Mason Riggins

Temidayo Yussuf

Long Beach State University Athletics