The last time the Long Beach State men’s basketball team faced UC Davis, it scored 30 unanswered points to start the second half.
While the chances of history repeating itself this weekend are slim, the 49ers will be playing UC Davis again on Thursday, this time up north in Davis, Calif.
The Aggies (8-17, 3-7 Big West) have had a rough time in conference play, as they sit just half a game ahead of last-place UC Riverside in the Big West standings. Their worst loss in conference play remains the 25-point defeat they endured at the Walter Pyramid on Jan. 11.
As for the 49ers (11-14, 7-4 Big West), all four of their conference losses have come on Thursdays. After Saturday’s win over Cal Poly, head coach Dan Monson joked that “we’re better coaches on Saturdays than on Thursdays.”
“I told our guys that we’re going to switch up our week a little bit,” Monson said. “We only have a Thursday game this week, and we’re going to play it like a Saturday game. We’re going to change the days of the week or something.”
Superstition and days of the week aside, to beat UC Davis, the 49ers will have to slow down guard Corey Hawkins. Hawkins ranks second in the Big West with 18.5 points per game. He is also tied for first with LBSU’s Mike Caffey in steals with 1.5 per contest.
With UC Irvine two games ahead of The Beach and the regular season winding down, the remaining games are more for seeding than anything else. The 49ers are tied for third with Hawaii and half a game behind UC Santa Barbara.
Thursday’s game is set for 7 p.m. at UC Davis’ The Pavilion.