It is win or go home for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team, which will face off against UC Riverside in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament tonight inside the Honda Center.
Since the 49ers (18-13, 12-4) lost to the Highlanders 74-72 on Jan. 23 in Riverside, they have won nine of their last 10 games. Meanwhile, UCR has only won three out of seven games in that same span.
Although the Highlanders (14-18, 5-11) struggled down the stretch of the regular season, they beat Hawai’i, the top team in the conference, on the road. For that reason, LBSU head coach Dan Monson thinks the Highlanders are a dangerous team playing with a lot of confidence.
“One thing that they’re hanging their hats on is that they had 20 hours between the Hawai’i game and coming in here and having to play [on Feb. 27],” Monson said. “We know they feel like they didn’t give us their best shots the other day, and we know that we’re going to get their best shots this week.”
UCR took a hit to its roster when it dismissed Taylor Johns on Feb. 19 due to a violation of team rules, according to the Press-Enterprise. Johns was one of the Highlanders’ leading scorers, averaging 15.5 points per game in 22 games played.
Nevertheless, the Highlanders rebounded with senior Jaylen Bland leading the way. The 6-foot-3-inch guard leads his team and ranks fourth in the Big West with 15.9 ppg. The 49ers know they will have to keep a lid on Bland if they want to come out with a win in this quarterfinal matchup.
“[Bland] is like the head monster of their team,” LBSU senior guard A.J. Spencer said. “We just have to come out with whatever game plan the coaches draw up and try to settle him down. I think last time he only had six or eight points.”
In the most recent matchup between these two teams, Spencer guarded Bland most of the game and stymied his offensive rhythm. Bland scored eight points and made just two out of 10 attempts from the field and two out of nine from beyond the arc.
“I think [Bland] is the best shooter in the league,” Monson said. “If you leave him open he is going to make you pay. We have got to dedicate a guy on him and not help off of him.”
The 49ers have their own arsenal of shooters to counteract UCR’s, including the second highest scorer in the Big West, senior guard Nick Faust. In his lone season with LBSU, Faust averaged 17.1 ppg and came up big for the 49ers in tight games.
Against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 28, Faust poured in a game-high 34 points and helped LBSU rally from a 15 point second half deficit to defeat the Gauchos 80-70 in overtime.
On Monday, Faust earned first-team All-Big West honors and won the 2015-16 Big West Newcomer of the Year.
In addition, junior forward Travis Hammonds won the Big West’s Best Sixth Player award. Coming off the bench, Hammonds averaged 9.8 points per game and shot more than 40 percent for the season.
Starting point guard Justin Bibbins earned second-team All-Big West honors and fellow sophomore Gabe Levin earned an honorable in his first season of eligibility at LBSU.
After finishing the season on a high note, LBSU knows it has a lot of momentum going into this matchup. But the 49ers understand that the season can be cut short if they are not focused on its first opponent of the tourney.
“What a lot of teams do is they look ahead, and all of a sudden their year is over,” Monson said. “If you’re worried about getting deep into the tournament, you’ll never go deep.”
The 49ers’ quarterfinal match against the Highlanders is set to tip off at 8:30 p.m. Thursday inside the Honda Center in Anaheim.