The Long Beach State men’s basketball team aims to gain some consistency in its up-and-down season as it prepares to host Nevada on Wednesday at the Walter Pyramid in its lone home game of the month.
LBSU (4-4) hasn’t been able to get above a .500 record, alternating wins and losses. During last week’s Wooden Legacy Tournament, the 49ers beat Western Michigan, fell to Washington, then defeated Xavier in the finals round to earn third place. The team’s best chance to start a winning streak will be Wednesday when it faces Nevada at home, where the 49ers are 2-0.
The Beach hopes for the triumph last Sunday against Xavier in the Wooden Legacy Tournament to help springboard them as its schedule gets tougher.
Head coach Dan Monson became the all-time winningest coach in school history with the victory over the Musketeers, surpassing Hall of Famer Jerry Tarkanian (LBSU coach from 1969-73), who had 122 wins.
Nevada (2-4) is on a four-game losing streak after winning its first two games of the season. Three of the four losses for the Wolf Pack have been single digit defeats; the team’s lone, blowout loss came in its previous game against Nebraska-Omaha (78-54).
The Wolf Pack, lacking an explosive scorer, has relied on four players for most of the scoring. Sophomore guard D.J. Fenner, junior guard Marqueze Coleman, junior forward A.J. West and senior guard Michael Perez, all averaging just over 10 points.
Nevada’s offense will be a welcome sight for a 49er defense that has struggled for much of the season, particularly against three-point shooting. The Wolf Pack is shooting just under 30 percent from beyond the arc on the season.
Senior point guard Mike Caffey has been making an early push for Big West Conference Player of the Year. Caffey is leading the team in scoring (18.9) and assists (4.1), and is shooting 47 percent from beyond the arc and 53 percent overall.
The Beach also got a major boost from a pair of freshmen. Forward Temidayo Yussuf and guard Deontae North have given the 49ers much needed scoring off the bench, with both of them having career-best scoring games Friday night against Washington.
Yussuf in particular has played an important role for the 49ers, bringing a physical presence inside that was lacking in the first few games of the season. The team finished with 88 rebounds in the first three games of the season, and racked up 108 in its last three games. Yussuf started all three games in the Wooden Legacy, scoring double figures in two of them.
The 49ers will host Nevada at the Walter Pyramid Wednesday at 7 p.m.