Women’s Basketball
Who: Cal State Northridge (5-16, 3-4)
When: Thursday at 7 p.m.
Where: Walter Pyramid
Need to Know: Long Beach State (16-5, 5-2) will try to extend its four-game winning streak and look to get some revenge against CSUN from last season’s home defeat. LBSU entered that matchup with a 15-game winning streak only to have it snapped in a 67-52 defeat.
After starting the season 2-16, the back-to-back Big West champion Matadors managed to win their last three games. Although LBSU lost both of last season’s head-to-head games, the 49ers own the all-time series lead 36-17.
CSUN’s freshman center Channon Fluker leads the Matadors in points per game with a 10.7 average and has earned the conference player of the week award two weeks in a row. The Pasadena native collected four double-doubles in her last four games, putting up an average of 23.8 points and 12 rebounds per game.
Men’s Basketball
Who: Cal State Northridge (7-14, 2-5)
When: Saturday at 4 p.m.
Where: Walter Pyramid
Need to Know: Long Beach State (11-12, 5-3) will look to keep its momentum rolling when it hosts CSUN on Saturday. The 49ers pulled off two impressive victories last week, defeating UC Santa Barbara 80-70 in overtime and then handing Hawai’i its first conference loss in front of a sell-out crowd at the Stan Sheriff Center.
When these two teams met on Jan. 6, LBSU defeated the Matadors, 94-79, at Northridge. Overall, the 49ers lead the all-time series 20-14.
The Matadors will play on Wednesday at UC Riverside; CSUN has dropped its last two games. LBSU will need to limit CSUN’s leading scorer, junior guard Kendall Smith, who is shooting 41.4 percent from the field and is averaging 16.8 points per game.
Meanwhile, senior guard Nick Faust is on a tear of his own. The Raleigh, North Carolina native is fourth in the Big West in points per game, averaging 16.8.
Men’s volleyball
Who: No. 6 Stanford (7-1, 5-1)
When: Friday at 7 p.m.
Where: Walter Pyramid
Need to know: Long Beach State (7-2, 4-2) leads the all-time series against Stanford 48-28. The 49ers have won 10 of their last 12 matchups against the Cardinal, including the last seven in a row.
Stanford is sitting in second place after winning its fourth game in a row on Sunday against Southern California. The Cardinal’s only defeat this season came against Brigham Young University on Jan. 16.
Senior outside hitter Hayden Madison leads Stanford with 3.82 kills per set and ranks second with 1.57 digs per set. Senior setter James Shaw is averaging 10.9 assists per game and has the Cardinal hitting at .342. Senior middle blocker Conrad Kaminski leads Stanford and ranks second in the nation with 1.52 blocks per set.
Who: No. 9 Pepperdine (5-2, 4-2)
When: Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Walter Pyramid
Need to know: Long Beach State trails the all-time series against the Waves 43-38. The 49ers have also lost their last four games against Pepperdine, including a quarterfinal matchup on April 19, 2014. LBSU’s last win against the Waves came that same year, on Jan. 14. The 49ers won in five sets at home.
Senior middle blocker Tommy Carmody had a career-high 12 blocks, four of them solo, in the Waves’ 3-2 win at USC last Tuesday. Carmody leads the NCAA with 50 total blocks for an average of 2.00 blocks per set this season and Pepperdine as a team leads the nation with 3.54 blocks per set.
Senior opposite Matt Tarantino recorded a career-high 20 kills in the same game. He leads Pepperdine with 3.62 kills per set.