OFF TO STRONG START
Former CSSB men’s basketball coach Andy Newman has CSUN at 13-6 in his first season
RIVERSIDE >> New Cal State Northridge men’s basketball coach Andy Newman wasn’t expecting a warm welcome back to the Inland region, but a 19-point loss at UC Riverside on Saturday was pretty cold.
“That was kind of upsetting that Mike (Magpayo) did not roll out the red carpet for me,” said Newman after the 82-63 loss at the SRC Arena. “This one hurts.”
Newman, who led the Cal State San Bernardino men’s basketball team to its first Division II Final Four appearance last season, took the open NCAA Division I job at Northridge following the departure of former coach Trent Johnson.
“I’m actually good friends with Andy,” Magpayo said. “We used to go to lunch together often, and it was one of those hires where you go, ‘Darnit!’ We didn’t want to have to go up against him because he’s a really great coach and they’ve had a great start to the year.”
Newman has guided the Matadors to a 13-6 overall record (4-3 in Big West) with an up-tempo style that relies on athleticism and putting up more shots than their opponent.
“The guys we had hold over from last year have been great and they’ve been bought in and have really meshed well with the guys that we brought in,” said Newman, whose team is third in the conference in scoring at 78.3 points per game.
In five years at San Bernardino from 2018-23, Newman compiled a 91-30 record and the second-best winning percentage (.752) of any coach in the program’s 40year history. Only Larry Reynolds (.759) had more wins (110) over a five-year span.
“At the Division II level there aren’t as many distractions,” Newman said. “At (Division I) you have so many more things — guys trying to go pro, NIL money, transferring all the time — and different elements that go into building a program and making it what you want to be.
“At San Bernardino, we had the most Division I players of any team in the CCAA and it was a lot easier to be in that space. Now, there’s a lot more parity,” he said.
Newman led the Yotes to berths in the NCAA Tournament in 2020 (canceled by COVID-19 pandemic) and again each of the last two seasons.
Now it’s his job to lead CSUN to a Big West Conference title and selection to the NCAA tournament.
“It’s a little different at Northridge in a lot of different ways, obviously, but I’m loving every minute of it and wouldn’t have it any other way,” Newman said.
Webster reaches milestone
Jordan Webster became the 20th member of the UC Riverside women’s basketball team’s 1,000-point club on Thursday against Cal State Bakersfield.
The 5-foot-10 senior got the basket and the foul to give the Highlanders (10-8 overall) a 46-39 lead in the third quarter of an eventual 64-62 victory in which she finished with a careerhigh 31 points.
Winner of back-to-back Big West Conference’s Player of the Week awards, Webster notched 27 points in a 57-46 win over Cal State Northridge on Saturday.
She currently leads the Big West with 18.6 points per game.
Cal Baptist hosts Education Day
More than 4,500 Riverside area elementary school students and teachers are expected to attend when the California Baptist University women’s basketball team hosts University of Texas-rio Grande Valley in its annual Education Day game on Thursday morning.
An estimated 70 buses will arrive at CBU early for the 11 a.m. tipoff, bringing students and staff from 22 different area schools to watch the Lancers (13-2 overall) take on UTRGV in a Western Athletic Conference showdown.
Area teachers attending will receive a digital workbook for their classes with facts about basketball, CBU, and the Lancers’ international players.
CMS tennis ranked No. 1 in Division III
The Claremont-muddscripps women’s tennis team, looking for a third consecutive NCAA Division III title, was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The 2022 and ’23 national champions, CMS returns everyone from last year’s lineup while adding three freshmen and one transfer.
Junior Alisha Chulani, who reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III singles championship and earned All-america honors in both singles and doubles, is back as the Athenas’ top singles player.
CMS opens its schedule when it hosts UC San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 12 p.m.