Long Beach State men’s basketball guard Justin Bibbins will be among the laundry list of university players who won’t be returning next season.
Bibbins will be the fourth basketball player this roster to leave LBSU after the departure of forward Roschon Prince and guards Noah Blackwell and Loren Jackson.
During the 2015-16 season, Bibbins averaged 13 points, five assists and three rebounds per game, and led the team in steals with 44. He had one of the school’s breakout performances during the Big West Tournament, after scoring a career-high 27 points and six assists against Hawai’i March 5.
The junior guard was selected Preseason Big West Player of the Year before the 2016-2017 season. Junior forward Roschon Prince received All Big West honorable mention.
Prince earned nine double-doubles in the season, averaging nine points and seven rebounds per game.
Other than Bibbins and Prince, guards Blackwell and Jackson will be leaving LBSU, depleting the team’s starting lineup. Although Blackwell sustained a left foot injury toward the end of the season, he still averaged eight point per game and shot 38 percent from behind the 3-point line, a team high.
In his freshman year, Jackson averaged 5.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.4 turnovers in 18.9 minutes per game.
While the team has lost a few key players from this year’s team, LBSU will be welcoming some players with something the team was lacking — size.
Over the past month, the 49ers have received commitments from 6-foot-10-inch Milos Apic, 6-foot-8-inch Jordan Roberts and 6-foot-6-inch Ron Freeman.
The team will also welcome back Gabe Levin, who was lost in late December due to a fractured kneecap.