The heart and soul of the CSUN offensive all season long had been forward Marcus Adams Jr., while there were other contributing players, it was clear as day who held the keys to the offense.
Adams Jr. entered postseason play after career highs in every major statistical category as he transferred from BYU. He was CSUN’s leading scorer, averaging 16.1 points a game, and en route to an All-Big West second-team selection.
In the quarterfinal of the Big West Basketball Championships on Thursday night vs UC Santa Barbara, Adams Jr. limped after attempting to grab a loose ball around the four-minute mark of the first half.
At that moment, an unexpected disaster struck the Matadors. Shortly after, Adams Jr. was taken out and headed to the locker room, never to return to game action for the rest of the first half.
Adams Jr. returned as the second half started, attempting to play off the injury. Although he did not begin the half, he entered around the 18-minute mark and played four more minutes before being taken out for the final time.
It was a heroic effort for Adams Jr. to try to play off the injury. He finished the game logging just 19 minutes of action, his lowest since Feb. 1, when he recorded 12 minutes in a home win over Cal State Bakersfield. He scored just two points while going 1-4 from the field.
Others had to step it up, and the team’s adjustments were drastic. With just 14 minutes to go, there was no margin for error, especially on the offensive side.
CSUN coach Andy Newman discussed the need for other players to step up and the struggle of losing the team’s leading scorer.
“Somebody’s got to step up and pull the weight of your leading scorer going down which is hard to do. I think we felt a little bit of that obviously, but you know credit to Tyler Beard who came in and gave us great minutes, Grady Lewis and Judson Martindale came in and gave us great minutes. It’s tough to win a game when your leading scorer goes out,” said Newman.
Not only did CSUN struggle without Adams Jr., but it also fell into foul trouble. The team’s second-leading scorer, guard Scotty Washington, and starting center Mahmoud Fofana are out of the game.
Washington picked up his fourth foul around the 10-minute mark of the second half and had to miss crucial minutes down the stretch. The Matadors’ offense was left to dry with their two top scorers out.
The defense also struggled to get critical stops with one of their defensive anchors out.
Newman credited the Gauchos with their ability to get key guys in foul trouble and discussed how Washington and Fofana were tasked with a lot, especially after Adams Jr.’s injury.
“I just think they’re so deep at every position they can just keep running guys at you. There’s not a lot of differences between their starters and their guys coming off the bench. They just come at you pretty relentlessly with guys,” said Newman. “There’s no break so I think with Scotty and Mahmoud they played so hard and there was so much asked of them.”
Foul trouble was apparent in the first two matchups against the Gauchos, as Fofana nearly fouled out in those two games, and Washington nearly fouled out in the previous matchup. This time, it came to bite the Matadors, who ended their season in shock.
As the season concludes, the Matadors will look to return to the drawing board. There will be many things to assess, and the team will look a lot different next year, with four seniors set to graduate.
