The CSUN men’s basketball team came in with a full steam of momentum into Thursday night’s Big West conference game vs. UC San Diego. The Matadors were riding a seven-game winning streak, but cooled off against one of the hottest teams in the country in their 77-71 loss to the Tritons.
CSUN had a chance to potentially tie or even win the game with under a minute to go after PJ Fuller II sank two free throws to make it a two-point game, but the Tritons would hold on and close out the game on a 5-0 run to put the Matadors’ comeback hopes to rest.
With three games left in the season, the loss diminishes CSUN’s chances of finishing inside the top two in the conference. The Matadors currently sit with a 20-8 record and are 12-5 in conference play.
CSUN head coach Andy Newman was blunt about his team’s execution.
“I’m disappointed. We put ourselves in position to play for a championship and didn’t have our best stuff tonight, which is too bad,” Newman said. “We worked really hard to put ourselves in this position and we didn’t have our best stuff. In big games like this against really good teams, like UC San Diego is. You gotta be really good if you’re gonna beat them and we weren’t.”
Despite the loss, the Matadors got all they could from Keonte Jones, who had one of his best nights in a Matador uniform.
The senior forward put up a double-double performance, dropping 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jones continues to etch his name into the program’s history and sits tied at No. 8 in the all-time season leaders list for double-doubles with 13.
Coming into the game, Newman knew what the keys to winning the game were: rebounding and shooting the ball well. However, the Matadors shot just 36 percent from the field, including 27 percent from behind the arc and were out-rebounded in the first as UCSD jumped out to a 37-30 lead at the half.
“That’s a very well coached team with a lot of really good players that were really good tonight. and they deserved it. They came in here and they rebounded with us. All the things that we do really good, they took away from us,” Newman said.
CSUN amped it up offensively in the second half. They shot a much more effective 56 percent from the field and out-scored the Tritons 41-40 in the second half. The Matadors were much better at cleaning up off the glass and out-rebounded UCSD 18-13.
However, the Tritons managed to get key stops down the stretch to hold on and survive the Matadors’ late comeback attempt.
The grind doesn’t stop for the Matadors as they host UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, March 1 in another crucial game for seeding in the postseason tournament. CSUN retains sole possession of third place in spite of the loss and could seal up a first-round bye with a win over the Gauchos. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
