On Aug. 31, the CSUN men’s basketball team released their schedule for the 2023-24 season.

It will be the first season under new head coach Andy Newman and staff as they look to right the ship after the former head coach, Trent Johnson, went 14-48 in his two years here before resigning after the season ended last spring.

Coach Newman and his staff definitely did not take the easy way out when he entered the team into a good non-conference period and the Big West tournament, which is always competitive.

The Matadors will open their season up with a trip to Stanford on Nov. 6 for their first of two Power 5 matchups. On Dec. 19, the Matadors will make their way to the Pauley Pavilion to take on one of last year’s Sweet 16 teams, UCLA.

The first home game of the year will take place against National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics opponent Life Pacific University on Nov. 17. The following game will be against recently reclassified Le Moyne at the Premier America Credit Union Arena on Nov. 21. Le Moyne was a NCAA Division II school just last year; however, with some shake-ups in conference alignments on the East Coast, Le Moyne got the opportunity to move up and the 2023-24 season will be their first at the Division I level.

After UCLA, Montana State University will come down for a visit to the PACU Arena on Dec. 22. Montana State won the Big Sky tournament last year, and also participated in the Big Dance tournament.

The toughest stretch for the Matadors will be in mid-January, with home games against Cal State Fullerton and Big West favorite UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 13 and Jan. 18. That will be followed by a trip to UC Riverside on Jan. 20 to conclude the week. Santa Barbara, Riverside, and Fullerton finished second, third and fourth in the Big West tournament last year, respectively.

It will be interesting to see how the Matadors fare against Big West opponents after going 7-31 in conference play the past two years.