On Tuesday, the Long Beach State men’s basketball team did what plenty of other teams have done in Durham, N.C., they lost.
But hardly anybody wins in storied Cameron Indoor Stadium anymore. LBSU became the 75th consecutive nonconference opponent to fall in the facility.
The 21-point loss ended the most impressive nonconference schedule that the program, quite possibly, had ever seen.
The 49ers played four teams ranked in the nation’s Top 10, whose combined record stands at 47-1 this season. All four of those teams – No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 6 West Virginia and No. 7 Duke – have legitimate shots to make the Final Four.
That’s how you prepare a team for the Big West Conference and a possible trip to the NCAA Tournament in March.
Head coach Dan Monson knew the Ls would come, but he stressed that the daunting schedule would pay off as long as his team learned about themselves along the way.
With a record of 6-7 heading into Big West play – which begins on Saturday with a road game against UC Riverside – the 49ers did what they were supposed to do.
They took care of the lowly CSU Monterey Bay Otters and Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. And they picked up two key wins against Green Bay, on the road, and at home against Utah State.
The 75-62 win over the Aggies is most telling of the progress that Monson has made in his third year at the helm. Utah State won 30 games last season and returned four starters from that team.
Last year’s 49ers might not have won that game.
LBSU even managed to do some things they probably weren’t supposed to do.
Nobody outside of Long Beach was giving the ‘Niners any hope in their five games against Top 25 teams. Yet, there they were trailing then-No.19 Clemson by one point in the second half, and putting a scare into the Kentucky faithful at Rupp Arena.
Heck, LBSU even managed to get one of the big dogs along the way when, in the words of UCLA head coach Ben Howland, the 49ers “outplayed” the Bruins in an 11-point win.
The Beach’s resiliency has been the most impressive part of the team this season as the players don’t seem to back down from any big-time challenges.
When the 49ers have been put in tough spots this season they just don’t crumble under the pressure, and at times even seem to feed off of it.
It was most evident in the game against Kentucky when the ‘Niners had a lead in the second half and were holding their own against John Wall and Patrick Patterson.
And what has often been forgotten during the first 13 games is that Monson is not playing with a veteran-laden squad. The Beach has been able to accomplish what they have by basically playing only seven players, with four of them being sophomores.
T.J. Robinson has been the most consistent player for The Beach this season. He leads the team in both points per game and rebounds per game.
Going forward the 49ers will have to find somebody on the bench to step up, but they may have seen flashes of that on Tuesday. During a stretch when LBSU cut a Duke lead to 13 points, the team on the floor included Andrew Fleming and Jesse Woodard.
All that is left now is to see how scheduling some of the nation’s top teams will pay off come conference play.