Long Beach State Opens Season, ICCU Arena At Idaho

Wednesday, November 10

Moscow, Idaho

6 p.m.

Long Beach State University

Idaho

Photo by: John Fajardo

11/8/2021 9:31:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes - Idaho

The Beach will open the season against Idaho for the second straight time, the last coming in 2011-12.

By: Roger Kirk, Assistant Athletics Director, Athletic Communications

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Long Beach State and Idaho will renew an old conference rivalry as the Beach opens the 2021-22 season on the road, facing the Vandals at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10 on ESPN+.

Game:.......................................... Long Beach State at Idaho
Date:.................................. Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Time:............................................................................ 6 p.m.
Location:....................................................... Moscow, Idaho
Arena:.................................................... ICCU Arena (4,200)
TV:.............................................................................. ESPN+
TV Talent:..................................... Dennis Patchin, Bill Ames
Webcast:.................................................................... ESPN+
Radio:.............................................................................. N/A
Live Stats:.................................................... govandals.com

RIGHT AWAY
• The game will mark the first men's basketball game in the new home venue for Idaho, the ICCU Arena. The two teams have plenty of history, as Idaho was a member of the Big West from 1997 until 2005. Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson is an alumnus of Idaho, having played football at the school and his father, Don, was the head coach of the men's basketball program for five seasons, leading Idaho to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances.

• Long Beach State is riding a four-game winning streak against the Vandals, and has also won the last three meetings in Moscow. Wednesday's game also marks the second straight time the teams have met in the season opener. LBSU took the last meeting in the start of a special season, as Casper Ware scored 20 points in the first of 25 wins for the Beach in the 2011-12 season that saw Long Beach State win the Big West and advance to the NCAA tournament.

• With nine returning lettermen, Long Beach State has a strong veteran core that will be supplemented by three transfers, three incoming freshman and a returning redshirt for a large roster of 16 players. Leadership will come from three players who elected to return for a fifth year, as Jordan Roberts, Colin Slater and Drew Cobb each have decided to return to the Beach.

• Jordan Roberts is coming back for his fifth season with LBSU, and is the active career leader in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals for the team during his time in Long Beach. Drew Cobb has played two full seasons for the Beach after coming to the program as a sophomore in 2018-19, while Colin Slater joined LBSU in the same season but sat out as a Division I transfer from Tulane.

PLAYER NOTES
• In addition to managing COVID-19, Long Beach State was one of the hardest hit teams in the country with injuries. 12 separate players missed at least one game, and the Beach and Miami (Fla.) were the only two teams in the nation to have five or more players miss seven or more games.

• Two starters return for Long Beach State from last season. Joe Hampton made an immediate impact with the program, starting 17 games and averaging 10.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in his first season with the program. Hampton was featured in Netflix's Last Chance U: Basketball showcasing his time at East LA College, and has found a home at the Beach.

• Freshman Jadon Jones is a local product made good. Starting 13 games as a true freshman, Jones averaged 8.4 points per game and shot 44.4% from three, third best in the conference. The Long Beach native starred in the Big West Tournament, earning All-Tournament honors after averaging 18.5 points per game in the program's two games in Las Vegas.

• Colin Slater opted out for the fall semester in 2020-21, but returned to the team and averaged 8.9 points per game off of the bench for the Beach over nine games. That included a standout performance in the Big West Tournament, where he put up 20 points in the team's loss to UCSB. In his career with the Beach, Slater is averaging just under 10 points per game entering the season.

• Jordan Roberts has been a consistent presence in the Long Beach State lineup over the last five seasons. Since 2017-18, Roberts has played in 108 games for Long Beach State, and will be on track to break the games played record for the Beach.

• A defensive stalwart, Drew Cobb returns to the Beach after playing just three games last season. The Beach will welcome his veteran presence, as Cobb has started 29 games in his career and averages 3.7 points and 3.7 rebounds while traditionally guarding the opposing team's top perimeter player.

• Jadon Jones still has four years of eligibility remaining after a strong first season at the Beach. Jones set a program Big West Tournament record by going 5-for-5 from three against UCSB, and earned All-Tournament Team honors after putting up 19 points and 11 rebounds in the team's win over CSUN before scoring 18 points against the Gauchos.

• Joe Hampton started all but one game a season ago, and averaged 10.3 points per game while scoring in double-figures 10 times. The senior will likely hold down a spot in the starting lineup once again in 2021-22.

• Romelle Mansel had a strong start to the season, averaging 5.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while starting the first three games, but injuries derailed that promising start. The sophomore returns to the Beach having started 26 games over his first two years at the Beach.

• Trever Irish played in all 18 games last season, one of just three players on the squad to feature in every game. The 7-footer averaged 4.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while increasing his minutes to 13.8 per game and making nine starts over the course of the season.

• Other returning players for the Beach include redshirt freshman RJ Rhoden and forward Jeffrey Yan along with Raymond Hawkins III, a transfer from Alabama who missed the entirety of the year due to a knee injury. Hawkins is currently continuing to rehab that injury to start 2021-22.

• The Beach also turned to the transfer portal to supplement the squad despite 10 returning players, adding three transfers for the current season.

• Eddie Scott spent three seasons at Penn where he was a team captain. He started 11 games as a junior in the shortened 2019-20 season, and then the Ivy League did not participate in the 2020-21 campaign. As a junior, he averaged 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

• Joel Murray moves up from Division II where he was a key player on the West Texas A&M squad that advanced through the NCAA Tournament all the way to the title game. Averaging 23.5 points per game a year ago, Murray is a strong outside shooter with a 34.2 percent career average from three, in addition to averaging over four assists per game, earning multiple Division II All-America honors during his time at West Texas A&M.

• The third transfer for the Beach was a late add in Tobias Rotegaard. Rotegaard spent one season at UAB, where he was recruited as a sharpshooter from Norway who has had extensive youth international tournament experience. He was injured early in the year, however, and missed most of the year, playing in just seven games. He will wear #31 during the early portion of the year.

• Long Beach State has also brought in three freshman who will challenge for immediate time on the floor. AJ George was a two-sport standout at Hoover High School in Fresno, and was an early signee for the Beach. The coaching staff also added two late signees in AJ Neal, a top guard prospect from Florida and Aboubacar Traore, an athletic wing player from the Ivory Coast.