Men’s basketball loses first home game of the season to Long Beach State

Daniel Robles, Contributor

January 20, 2026

CSUN head coach Andy Newman speaks to players during a game against UC San Diego at the Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2025. The Matadors lost 71-77.

The CSUN Matadors looked to continue their win streak at home after coming off a road win against UC San Diego. However, they came up short Saturday against Long Beach State who won 87-80.

With this loss, the Matadors fell to 4-4 in the Big West Conference (11-9 overall), dropping to seventh in conference standings.

For the Beach, they moved up to sixth in conference standings with a 4-4 record (8-11 overall). This was the Beach’s first road victory of the season.

The Beach led 7-5 three minutes into the game, which looked fairly balanced from both sides. Each team had solid defensive matchups and both attacked the paint early, ending with 16 paint points each in the first half.

The Matadors’ leading scorer in the first half was guard Larry Hughes II, with 13 points off of 4-8 from the field. For the Beach, the leading scorer was guard Gavin Sykes with 10 points 2-9 from the field in the first half.

The competitiveness was prevalent in the first half, as well as foul trouble for both teams. Within ten minutes, both teams went into double digits of team fouls, leading to each getting the bonus. At halftime, the Matadors had a small lead of 38-35.

As the second half began, the tides started to sway in favor of the Beach. The Beach’s field goal percentage went up over 20% compared to the first half and shot 50% above the arc.

Sykes continued to play well, finishing the game with 34 points on 8 of 18 shooting. Alongside him, guard Rob Diaz III shot 66% from three-point range. This helped lead his team to a victory.

Hughes finished the game with 21 points alongside guard James Evans Jr, who came off of the bench with 17 points and a few good flashes throughout the game.

A few notable mentions were guard Josiah Davis with 13 points and ten assists, Joshua O’Garro with 15 points on 45% shooting and forward Mahmoud Fofana with 10 points and 9 rebounds.

The Matadors will fly across the Pacific for their next game on Saturday, Jan. 24, where they will take on the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors at 9 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.