2020-21 MEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY RELEASE NO. 6
BROADCAST GUIDE
TIPOFF TIME
Championships Move To Vegas
The 2021 Big West Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, presented by Hawaii Tourism Authority, have been moved to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. All 10 men’s teams and nine women’s teams will compete at the five-day event, March 9-13. The bubble-like setting will utilize daily screenings and rapid PCR and antigen testing to safeguard the health and safety of all parties. The men’s first round and quarterfinal games will be carried on ESPN3, while the semifinals and championship game will be aired on ESPN linear networks.
Conference Schedule Update
Week one of conference action has concluded and UC Irvine – backed by a sweep of UC Santa Barbara – is on top of the standings at 2-0.
Four additional week one matchups were cancelled due to COVID or county-related pauses. Games on December 27-28 between CSUN and Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UC Riverside, UC Davis and CSU Bakersfield, and Cal Poly and Hawai‘i will not be made up.
CP, CSF, LBSU and UCR paused team activities due to a positive COVID test within each of those programs, while UC Davis remains grounded because of Yolo County restrictions preventing competition through January 2.
Week Two Glance
Entering week two of league play, three series are scheduled to be played. UC Irvine at CSUN and Cal State Fullerton at UC Santa Barbara will be available on ESPN3. CSU Bakersfield at Long Beach State will be streamed on Big West.TV. The Titans and Beach return to action after mandated quarantine periods due to a positive COVID test within each program. LBSU last played on December 10 at San Francisco, while CSF has been idle since December 13 against San Diego Christian. The Titans will play their first Division I opponent of the season on Friday at UC Santa Barbara.
The UC Riverside at UC Davis series will not be contested due to the Yolo County restrictions affecting the Aggie program. UC San Diego at Cal Poly also has been cancelled.
Big Picture
In total, Big West teams have lost or had to reschedule 37 games through January 2, 2021. Twelve of a possible 20 games through the first two weeks of the conference schedule have been cancelled. A list of those games can be found on page 3 of this release.
Scheduling Primer
On October 21, the Big West announced a 20-game conference schedule under a modified format designed to reduce travel and emphasize health and safety amidst the pandemic.
The traditional home-and home round-robin schedule was altered to allow teams to play each other on consecutive days at one site, with the majority of games scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Teams would play out the schedule over an 11-week period with one bye week built in. Games lost due to team quarantines would not be rescheduled. No fans will be allowed to attend games to start the season although the issue of spectator attendance will be revisited as the season progresses.
Recent cancellations have reduced the maximum number of league contests for various teams as follows: Cal Poly (16), CSU Bakersfield (18), Cal State Fullerton (18), CSUN (18), Hawai‘i (18), Long Beach State (18), UC Davis (16), UC Riverside (16) and UC San Diego (18).
BIG WEST BY THE NUMBERS
3 – Three former Big West players are listed on current NBA rosters – UC Santa Barbara’s Gabe Vincent (Miami Heat), Cal Poly’s David Nwaba (Houston Rockets) and Long Beach State’s James Ennis III (Orlando Magic).
5 – CSUN junior guard Darius Brown II ranks No. 5 nationally with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 6.60. Brown II has dished out 33 assists with just five turnovers through seven games.
6 – UC Irvine head coach Russell Turner occupies sole possession of sixth place on the Big West’s career wins list with 214. He is now eight shy of tying UC Santa Barbara’s Jerry Pimm for the fifth spot.
11 – The Big West became a conference of 11 schools when CSU Bakersfield and UC San Diego officially joined on July 1, 2020.
21 – Number of days Long Beach State will have paused due to a positive COVID-19 test in its program before returning to action on New Year’s Day 2021 against CSU Bakersfield.
85 – Sophomore Ezra Manjon of UC Davis has scored 85 points over four games to rank 21st in the nation at 21.2 PPG. Manjon’s Aggies have not played a game since December 4.
PRIOR TO TIPOFF – JANUARY 1-2, 2021
UC IRVINE AT CSUN (ESPN3)
PXP: Dave Caldwell | COLOR: Richie Schueler (Fri.)/Alan Zinsmeister (Sat.) | SIDELINE: Jill Painter Lopez
• UC Irvine has won six of its last seven Big West road openers under head coach Russell Turner.
• UCI is 20-2 in its last 22 conference road games
• The Anteaters have won six straight games at the Matadome, with last loss in that venue on Feb. 22, 2014.
• CSUN snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Anteaters on UCI’s “Senior Night” last season, earning a 72-70 victory.
• Career numbers for CSUN junior guard Darius Brown II – 336 assists against only 108 turnovers.
CAL STATE FULLERTON AT UC SANTA BARBARA (ESPN3) | PXP: Gerry Fall | COLOR: Jerry Pimm
• UC Santa Barbara has not started Big West play 0-3 since the 1999-2000 season.
• UCSB has won 10 of the last 11 meetings against Cal State Fullerton in the Thunderdome.
• UCSB sophomore Ajare Sanni has scored 78 of the team’s 138 bench points over the last five games.
• CSF junior Wayne Arnold had 19 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting in the Dec. 13 game against San Diego Christian.
• The Titans have lost their Big West opener in each of the last two seasons.
CSU BAKERSFIELD AT LONG BEACH STATE (BIGWEST.TV)
• CSU Bakersfield plays its first official game against a Big West opponent after the cancellation of its series with UC Davis.
• The ‘Runners are coming off a 28-point road win over Pepperdine in which 11 players got into the scoring column.
• Long Beach State has won five of its last six Big West openers.
• CSU Bakersfield has had a different leading scorer in each of its last six contests.
• LBSU is ranked fourth in the Big West in free throw percentage (.753).