NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Men’s Basketball concludes the road non-conference portion of its schedule tonight against Sacramento State at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed live on WatchBigSky.com and an audio only broadcast will be available on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health with Ghizal Hasan on the call.

This week, the Matadors complete a road-heavy six-week period to start the season. After Tuesday’s game against the Hornets, the Matadors would have played nine of their first 11 games away from The Matadome. In the first 40 days of the season, the team has spent 21 of those nights in a hotel room. CSUN has played teams in five different states during the stretch and competed twice in Mexico for the first time in program history. Earlier this season, the Matadors played seven-straight away from home for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

CSUN dropped an 86-58 decision at Eastern Washington on Sunday afternoon. The Matadors got off to a slow start in the first half in the contest while the Eagles shot a steady 51.6 percent from the field for the night. Eastern Washington also knocked down a red-hot 11 3-pointers en route to defeating the Matadors. Tavrion Dawson poured in 16 points and five rebounds while Terrell Gomez chipped in with 10 points and three steals. Off the bench, Reggie Theus Jr. finished with a career-high nine rebounds and a season-best nine points against the Eagles.

Leading the team in scoring, Dawson is seventh in the Big West with 14.9 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds. Micheal Warren leads the Matadors in rebounding with 6.4 per game and he is third in the conference in defensive rebounds (5.8) and free throw percentage (83.3). Warren is also scoring 12.2 points and collecting 1.1 steals. Third in the league in 3-point percentage (54.1), Gomez is also averaging in double figures with 11.3 points per game.

Dating back to 1960, CSUN and Sacramento State have faced off 36 times with the Matadors claiming a 29-7 edge in the series. The Matadors have also posted a 20-2 record since joining the Division I ranks in the 1990-91 season. Overall, CSUN has won 10 straight meetings but the teams have not played one another since the Matadors’ final season in the Big Sky Conference in 2000-01. As a member of the Big Sky, the Matadors went 11-1 against the Hornets including posting a 100-73 victory in The Matadome in the teams’ last meeting in Jan. 2001. At Sacramento State, CSUN has gone 11-6 all time.

Up next, the Matadors will play consecutive home games for the first time this season as CSUN opens up a four-game homestand on Saturday afternoon against Idaho State at 3 p.m. From there, CSUN will host San Diego Christian on Dec. 27 and Morgan State on Dec 30 to close the non-conference portion of its schedule. The Matadors will then kick off Big West play on Jan. 6 with Hawai’i at The Matadome.

A Closer Look at Sacramento State
The Hornets are 2-8 this season and have not played since falling at Boise State (77-54) on Dec. 9. Sacramento State has already faced off with two Big West teams this season as it dropped contests to UC Davis (64-47) and Cal State Fullerton (68-63). At home, the Hornets have posted wins over Notre Dame de Namur (74-53) and Antelope Valley (97-74).

Senior Justin Strings leads the team in scoring (16.3 points) and rebounding (7.8) on the season. Nearly averaging double figures, junior Jordan Tolbert and sophomore Joshua Patton are both averaging 9.3 points per game. Sophomore Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa is averaging 4.1 assists per game to go with 5.7 points. As a team, the Hornets are scoring 62.7 points and shooting 42.3 percent.