Beach Basketball is Back, Hosting Pepperdine Thursday Night

Game: Long Beach State vs. Pepperdine
Date: Thursday, December 20, 2018
Time: 7:00 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
• After playing nine of its first 12 games away from home, Long Beach State is lining up a two-game homestand this week, starting Thursday night against Pepperdine. LBSU has had an extended break since its 74-68 loss at Pacific on Dec. 10, getting nine full days of rest before taking on the Waves.

• The Beach shot the lights out in the first half in Stockton, shooting nearly 61 percent as a team in the first 20 minutes. That rolled over to the start of the second half, when LBSU took its largest lead of 15 points against the Tigers. Unfortunately, the shots stopped falling as the Beach were just 7/25 from the field after halftime.

• Temidayo Yussuf led the Beach with his third double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Bryan Alberts, Jordan Griffin and Edon Maxhuni each made three 3-pointers in the game as Alberts hit his first five shots of the night to finish with 13 points.

SCOUTING THE WAVES
• Pepperdine enters Thursday's contest seeking its first road win of the season. The Waves are 0-4 in true road games this season, with losses coming at Northern Colorado (88-80) and against three common opponents with the Beach, losing on the road at UC Riverside (75-71), Southern Utah (78-69 in OT), and Oregon State (82-67) in its last contest.

• Sophomore point guard Colbey Ross leads the Waves with 19.8 and 6.9 assists per game. Junior forward Kameron Edwards averages 17.7 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds per contest, but has only appeared in three games this season and hasn't played since Nov. 17. Three other players are in double-figures for Pepperdine: G Eric Cooper, Jr. (12.3 ppg), F Darnell Dunn (11.3) and F Kessler Edwards (10.3).

• The Beach won last season's meeting in Malibu, 77-71, and will be looking for a third-straight win over the Waves. Bryan Alberts hit six 3-pointers and had a game-high 20 points in last year's victory.

SHOOTERS SHOOT
• Long Beach State is outshooting its opponents 35.0 percent to 32.4 percent from beyond the three-point arc this season.

• The Beach have a handful of players shooting above that mark, led by junior arksman Jordan Griffin, who is 18/45 (40.0 %) from downtown this season. A shooter by trade, only eight of Griffin's 53 field goal attempts this season have been of the two-point variety.

• Senior Bryan Alberts leads the team with 23 made threes on the season, shooting 39.7 percent. Edon Maxhuni (39.0%) and Deishuan Booker (37.5%) are also shooting at a solid percentage.

B.A. WEAPON
• Senior guard Bryan Alberts has picked up his scoring over the last handful of games, reaching double-figures in four of his last five contests with a 12.6 points-per-game average.

• The sharpshooter has also made 13 3-pointers over his last five games, including four triples at Fresno State which fueled a season-high 18 points against the Bulldogs.

TEMI ENGINE
• Senior center Temidayo Yussuf has been a beast inside over he last month. The Oakland native has scored in double-figures in seven of his last eight contests, averaging a team-leading 15.8 points per game in that stretch with three double-doubles.

• Yussuf established a new career high with 28 points at San Diego on Dec. 1. He was an impressive 10/13 from the floor and 8/10 at the free throw line to lead the Beach.

• With 147 points scored through 12 games this season, Yussuf now has 850 points scored in his career as he seeks to become the 24th member of the 1,000-point club at Long Beach State. With 20 games left on the regular season schedule, Yussuf would need to average 7.5 points per game to reach the milestone this season.

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 other schools.

• 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 represented 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.

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Players Mentioned

Bryan Alberts

Deishuan Booker

Jordan Griffin

Gabe Levin

Edon Maxhuni

Mason Riggins

Temidayo Yussuf

Long Beach State University Athletics