It’s hard to sustain sustained success in the modern age of college basketball, especially at the mid-major level, where NIL and the transfer portal practically force coaches to rebuild rosters after every offseason.

After winning 19 games in his first season at the helm of the CSUN men’s basketball team, Andy Newman has the Matadors rolling in year two. CSUN currently sits with a 17-7 record, and with seven games remaining in the season, the Matadors are in great shape to reach 20 wins for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Newman attests to the success of the culture that the Matadors have cultivated.

“We’re in year two now, and hopefully as we continue to bring players in and build a culture and to see a fight to the bitter end kind of mentality is fun to see,” Newman said.

Despite the wins and records accumulated in his short time at CSUN, Newman said he doesn’t concern himself with the season’s hoopla and achievements.

“I mean, those are all nice to look at at the end of the year. So you just take it one day at a time, one game at a time, and hopefully, those are things you look at in April and May when you’re recruiting the next batch of guys and say, ‘Hey, look at the success we had.’” Newman said.

As the regular season winds down, the race for a top-four seed and first-round bye in the Big West conference tournament. Last season, CSUN was in the hunt for a first-round bye before the team stumbled to end the regular season.

“It’s huge, last year, it came down to one game. That game in Hawai’i was when we lost the third seed and went from three down to six, and ended up with the seventh seed. We talk about that a lot with our team,” Newman said. “Wanting to get that first-round bye is huge…and so that’s something we’ve been preaching with our guys.”

The Matadors currently sit in third place in the Big West standings with a 9-4 conference record, sitting behind UC San Diego and UC Irvine. CSUN only needs one more win to top their total from last season, as they ended the year with nine conference wins. It won’t be easy for the Matadors as their final stretch of the schedule is one of the toughest in the conference.

CSUN has a 4-3 record against their next seven opponents. Still, the Matadors will face some of the Big West’s best teams: UCSD, UCI and UC Riverside. The Matadors have already lost to three of these teams.

If the Matadors want to earn a first-round bye in the Big West, they must handle business at the Premier America Credit Union Arena. They host Cal Poly on Saturday, Feb. 15, and then UCSB on March 1, followed by their season finale on March 8 vs. Hawai’i.

Considering how chaotic the Big West has been this season, with two teams potentially making the NCAA tournament, anything can happen to close out the year.