CSUB faces Arizona in stiff early season test
CSUB faces perennial power Arizona
Fresh off a brief tuneup victory over NCCAA opponent Bethesda in its home opener, the Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball team is set to ramp things back up when it travels to perennial power Arizona today.
The Roadrunners (1-1), who cruised to a 94-43 victory over the NCCAA-affiliated Flames on Monday, are 0-3 lifetime against the Wildcats, including a pair of preseason losses in 2016 and 2017.
But this year will have a different look when the two teams take the court. The typical raucous crowd at the nearly 15,000-seat McKale Center will be nowhere in sight. Safety precautions due to the COVID-19 are limiting attendance to only essential personnel.
“It’s going to be interesting because usually that place is packed,” CSUB head coach Rod Barnes said. “So it’s going to be interesting to see how their guys react and how our guys react. Usually when you go and you take this game, you’re taking the because of the atmosphere because you want your guys to see a big-time, Top-10, Top-20 program. And you’re going to get a hostile environment, and that’s not the case this year. So it’s going to be a little bit different.”
Arizona’s squad might look a bit different this season, as well. The Wildcats (3-0) enter the game unranked and untested after three victories over small Division I programs to start the season, including a 96-53 victory over Northern Arizona on Monday.
There are plenty of new faces. Of Arizona’s top eight scorers, four are firstyear transfers and four are freshmen.
“They’ve got a lot of young guys, and new guys,” Barnes said. “Hopefully that plays to our advantage. We got another game under our belt. I thought against Santa Clara, if you take away the first half … we played a pretty good team and we played pretty good basketball. Hopefully we’ll be better when we get there as far as not making the mistakes of playing so fast and not executing the offense. And then also, hopefully our
guys feel more comfortable about making shots.”
Powered by junior Travis Henson’s seven 3-pointers in just 13 minutes, CSUB looked plenty comfortable against Bethesda, especially behind the arc. In past year’s, perimeter shooting has been a weakness for the defensive-minded ’Runners.
Now CSUB looks to duplicate it’s effort against what might be the Roadrunners’ toughest opponent of the season.
The Wildcats are led by 6-foot-11 sophomore Jordan Brown, a former fivestar recruit from Roseville, who played his freshman season at Nevada before transferring to Arizona. Brown is averaging 14 points and 9.7 rebounds this season. At guard, Kentucky transfer Jemark Baker Jr., and former Big East freshman of the year James Akinjo from Georgetown combine to average nearly 30 points a game from the back court.
“They’re talented, they’re strong at their guard spot,” Barnes said. “They have one big guy in the post. I haven’t done a whole lot of work on them, but he seems like a really, really big-time inside player. We’re going to try to throw a lot of people at them. That’s what we’re going to do for the next couple of weeks. And we’ll see.”
The Roadrunners counter with an experienced squad featuring seven seniors, led by guards Taze Moore and De’Monte Buckingham, wingman Justin Edler-Davis, forward Justin McCall and point guard Czar Perry.
“We’re ready to go,” said McCall, a Ridgeview graduate, who had nine points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals on Monday. “We’re going to go out there with the same approach that we had (Monday). We’re just going to go out there and play hard, try to play smart, and try to get a W.”
Buckingham believes a quick start and consistent effort is going to be the key. That’s something CSUB struggled with in each of its first two games. The Roadrunners scored just 11 points in the first half against Santa Clara after making 13-percent of their shots. On Monday, the ’Runners led 16-15 at the 12-minute mark before running off 20 of the next 21 points to take control.
“We just have to come out and be ready to play,” said Buckingham, who finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds on Monday. “We just have to go out there with heart and battle all night long.”
Win or lose, Barnes says that’s all he can ask for.
“Obviously we know what kind of program and history they have,” said Barnes, who’s teams are 2-12 against Pac-12 opponents during his 10-year tenure as CSUB coach. “Now we can go there and give ourselves a chance to make history.”