The Ags stay in SoCal with another important and winnable road game. The series with The Beach dates back to 1960. Back in the old days, the team then known as the 49ers dominated 20-2 until fairly recently. Of course, for most of those games The Beach was Div.1. Since 2014, the Ags hold an 8-3 edge, despite Long Beach having swept us last season. Last year, they finished the conference 12-3. This year, they are mediocre (strangely because the preseason poll had them at 3rd), lingering in the middle of the Big West. They have now won three in a row, however, with Thursday’s night’s win over Cal Poly. Head Coach Dan Monson might not be having a good year, but no team can take any team of his for granted at the Pyramid.

Aggie fans might remember Joel Murray who scored 16.7 ppg last year and dropped 19 at Davis in a 70-63 Beach victory. This year, the senior guard leads his team in both scoring (15.7 ppg.) and assists (3.8apg.). They are kind of the polar opposite of CSU Bakersfield, as they are the worst defensive team in the conference (allowing 74.5 ppg.) while scoring 77.1 ppg. Trailing only UCI in the Big West. Also returning for the Beach is big man Lassina Traore, who leads the league in rebounding at 9.9 rpg.