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Schueler for 2
What 2 Watch 4
Five Big West teams are above .500 in conference play. UC Irvine (11-2) has sole possession of first, while UC Davis (10-3) and UC San Diego (9-3) are within reach. Long Beach State (7-5) and CSUN (7-6) are fourth and fifth, respectively.
Thursday’s schedule is highlighted by Long Beach State at UC Davis. Both teams are 3-1 in their last four games. The Aggies have the best scorer in the league in Elijah Pepper (21.1 PPG), while the Beach have the top rebounder in Lassina Traore (9.4 RPG). Another game to watch is UC Santa Barbara at UC San Diego, a matchup that will feature the conference’s second and third best scorers in UCSB’s Ajay Mitchell (20.0 PPG) and UCSD’s Bryce Pope (18.5 PPG).
The other three contests on Thursday are Hawai’i (6-7) at Cal Poly (0-13), CSUN at Cal State Bakersfield (5-8), and UC Riverside (5-8) at Cal State Fullerton (4-8).
Hawai’i at UC Santa Barbara will be locally broadcasted on Spectrum SportsNet at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Rainbow Warriors are on a hot streak, winning four of their last five games.
The other four games on Saturday are UC Riverside at UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton at UC San Diego, Long Beach State at CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield at UC Irvine.
All Big West basketball games are set to air on ESPN+. Check listings for more information and a complete game schedule.
Weekly Highlights
Four teams went undefeated in week seven of conference play in CSUN, Hawai’i, Long Beach State and UC Riverside.
Hawai’i went 2-0 at home against two of the top teams in the league with a 94-86 overtime win against UC San Diego on Thursday and 87-70 victory over UC Davis on Saturday. Justin McKoy amassed 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists against the Tritons. Two Rainbow Warriors recorded double-doubles versus the Aggies, Bernardo da Silva with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and McKoy with 17 points and 11 rebounds. For the performance over the week, McKoy was named The Big West Player of the Week.
CSUN had two wins on the week, a 78-65 home triumph over Cal Poly on Thursday and 82-74 road victory against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. Against the Mustangs, Dionte Bostick recorded 23 points and five steals, while De’Sean Allen-Eikens had 18 points and six assists. Allen-Eikens scored 20 points and Bostick compiled 18 points against the Gauchos.
UC Riverside defended home court with two victories, 65-63 against Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday thanks to a Kyle Owens buzzer-beating hook shot, and 88-78 over UC Irvine on Saturday. Ben Griscti was the top scorer for both games with 18 and 26 points, respectively.
Long Beach State won its lone game of the week, a 77-68 triumph over Cal Poly at home on Saturday. For the Beach, Jadon Jones scored 26 points to eclipse 1,000 career points and Aboubacar Traore recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Accomplished Anteaters
UC Irvine is 17-6 overall and in first place in The Big West with a 11-2 conference record. On offense, the Anteaters’ success has come from sharing the ball, leading The Big West in assists, averaging 15.8 per contest, and bench points at 28.6 per game. Senior guard Pierre Crockrell II dishes out a league-best 6.1 assists per game (12th in the nation), while senior guard Justin Hohn (12.8), freshman guard Derin Saran (10.6), senior guard Andre Henry (10.2) and junior forward Devin Tillis (9.5) are the top scorers of a balanced lineup. The Anteaters are also potent on defense, ranking first in the league in scoring defense (65.6) and second in field goal percentage defense (.402).
Red Hot Chili Pepper
UC Davis is in second place with a 10-3 record in conference play and 15-9 overall. Senior guard Elijah Pepper leads The Big West in scoring averaging 21.1 points per game (13th in the nation). Pepper is currently third in career points in the history of The Big West with 2,109 points. Junior guard Ty Johnson pitches in 16.5 points and 3.3 assists per game and junior forward Niko Rocak is second in the league in blocks at 1.5 per contest. The Aggies force the most turnovers in the conference, with opponents committing an average of 15.1 per game.
Tritons Turning the Tide
UC San Diego is 15-9 overall and in third with a 9-3 record in Big West play. The Tritons top the league in 3-pointers made per game (9.3), free throw percentage (.758), assist/turnover ratio (1.41) and least turnovers per game (9.5). Byrce Pope ranks third in The Big West in scoring at 18.5 points per contest. Junior swingman Tyler McGhie (15.2), junior swingman Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (12.8) and junior forward Francis Nwaokorie (11.4) all average double digits in scoring for UCSD.
Beach Bash
Long Beach State is the best offensive team in the conference averaging 78.5 points per game. The Beach also lead the league in free throw attempts (24.3) and free throws made (16.9) per contest. Senior guard Marcus Tsohonis leads the Beach in scoring at 17.5 points per game. Junior forward Lassina Traore is the best rebounder in the league at 9.4 boards per game. Junior forward Aboubacar Traore leads the conference, blocked shots per game (1.7) while being second in rebounds per game (8.0) and steals (1.8), and third in assists per game (4.1). Junior guard Jadon Jones is the top ball hawk in The Big West with 1.9 steals per game and makes 2.3 3-pointers per contest.
Marvelous Matadors
First-year head coach Andy Newman has turned CSUN program around with hustle, defense and rebounding. The Matadors rank first in the league in fastbreak points (15.2) rebounds per game (41.2), defensive rebounds per game (29.0), rebound margin (+7.6), and are field goal percentage defense (.399) and are second in 3-point percentage defense (.318) and offensive rebounds per game (12.2). Graduate forward De’Sean Allen-Eikens is the top scorer for the Matadors, averaging a conference fifth-best 18.1 points per game. Junior guard Dionte Bostick (14.4), junior forward Keonte Jones (11.9) and senior guard Gianni Hunt (11.4) average double digits in scoring as well.
Big West 1K Club
16 Big West players have scored more than 1,000 career points in the NCAA. Elijah Pepper of UC Davis is currently third all-time in scoring in The Big West with 2,109 points.
Elijah Pepper, UCD 2,109
Bryce Pope, UCSD 1,467
Max Jones, CSUF 1,372
Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, UCSD 1,368
De’Sean Allen-Eikens, CSUN 1,349
Ajay Mitchell, UCSB 1,303
Marcus Tsohonis, LBSU 1,289
Noel Coleman, UH 1,209
Tyler McGhie, UCSD 1,134
DJ Brewton, CSUF 1,118
Beril Kabamba, CSUF 1,103
Dylan Thoerner, UCI 1,083
Juan Munoz, UH 1,069
Messiah Thompson, LBSU 1,059
Josh Pierre-Louis, UCSB 1,026
Jadon Jones, LBSU 1,001
Lou Henson Mid-Season Watch List
Three Big West men's basketball players were named to the Lou Henson Award mid-season Watch List:
• De'Sean Allen-Eikens, CSUN
• Ajay Mitchell, UC Santa Barbara
• Elijah Pepper, UC Davis
The Lou Henson Award is an award given annually by CollegeInsider.com to the most outstanding mid-major men's college basketball player in NCAA Division I competition.
Preseason Prognostications
UC Santa Barbara tops The Big West men’s basketball preseason poll for the third year in succession, having garnered nine of the 11 first-place votes by league head coaches.
The Gauchos received nine first-place votes for a total of 92 points. Last season UC Santa Barbara went 27-8 overall, won a share of the regular season title with a 15-5 conference record and were victorious in The Big West Championship, earning the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Gauchos were defeated in the first round of the tournament by No. 3 seed Baylor.
UC Santa Barbara is expected to be led by preseason All-Big West selection Ajay Mitchell. The junior guard from Ans, Belgium is a two-time All-Big West honoree and was last season’s Player of the Year after averaging 16.3 points and a league-leading 5.1 assists.
The remaining two first-place nods went to Long Beach State for a total of 82 points. Hawai’i (80), 2022-23 co-regular season champion UC Irvine (75) and UC Davis (69) fill out the top five. Cal State Fullerton (58), last year’s championship runner-up, was selected sixth, followed by UC Riverside (45), Cal State Bakersfield (36), UC San Diego (31), CSUN (18) and Cal Poly (12) to round out the poll.
The Long Beach State duo of junior forward Aboubacar Traore, an All-Big West Honorable Mention selection last year, and junior forward Lassina Traore, the reigning Big West Newcomer of the Year and First Teamer, get nods onto the preseason team.
Hawai’i senior guard JoVon McClanahan earns a spot on the preseason team after averaging 11.3 points and 3.5 assists per game last season that culminated into an All-Big West Second Team selection.
UC Davis senior guard Elijah Pepper claims territory on the preseason team after being the leading scorer in The Big West last season, putting up 22.5 points.
Triton senior guard Bryce Pope takes the final spot on this year’s preseason team. Pope was an All-Big West Second Team selection and the second-leading scorer in the conference averaging 18.4 points per game last season.
2023-24 Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll and Team
The Big West + Spectrum SportsNet
The Big West announced a slate of 15 men’s and women’s basketball contests to air on Spectrum SportsNet during the 2023-24 season.
The package includes five women’s games featuring eight squads. UC Irvine and UC Davis tip it off on Jan. 6 at 3 p.m. as part of Big West doubleheader. UC Santa Barbara hosts Cal State Bakersfield Feb. 3 at 1 p.m., and the Aggies travel to Long Beach State Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Closing the year with a pair of men’s/women’s doubleheaders, Cal State Fullerton hosts UC San Diego on Feb. 17 while the Beach welcome in Hawai’i on Feb. 24, with both games slated for 3 p.m. starts. Read more >>>
2022-23 Postseason Rewind
No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara defeated No. 4 seed Cal State Fullerton 72-62 in the 2023 Big West Championship title game to win its second crown in three seasons and fifth overall at The Dollar Loan Center.
Ajay Mitchell scored 20 points and dished out four assists in the title game to lead the Gauchos and was named the Tournament MVP. Teammate Miles Norris averaged 13.3 points over three games and was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Dawson Baker (UC Irvine), Flynn Cameron (UC Riverside), Tory San Antonio (Cal State Fullerton) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (Cal State Fullerton) rounded the All-Tournament Team.
No. 8 seed Cal State Bakersfield defeated No. 9 seed CSUN 61-47 and No. 10 seed Cal Poly upset No. 7 seed Long Beach State 88-68 in the first round.
In the qurterfinals, top-seeded UC Irvine cruised past the Roadrunners 75-51, Cal State Fullerton outlasted No. 5 seed Hawai’i 62-60 in overtime, UC Santa Barbara bested the Mustangs 64-54, and No. 3 seed UC Riverside downed No. 6 seed UC Davis 68-52.
In two competitive semifinals, the Titans defeated the Anteaters 83-80 and the Gauchos topped the Highalnders 92-87 to set up the title game matchup.
2023 Big West Men's Basketball Championship
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