Cal State Northridge heads into its third season under coach, Andy Newman, after setting a school record with 22 wins last season. Clearly, Coach Newman has done an excellent job of turning the Matadors around after a miserable 2022-23 season in which they went 7-25. Seemingly a victim of his own success, the coach lost four starters retaining only forward Mahmoud Fofana, plus four other lettermen. As might be expected, they do not seem to be doing as well this season.

Northridge’s record is a bit misleading as they have played a relatively weak schedule. Their only opponent of note was 11-2 Stanford, to whom they lost but played well, leading the Cardinal at the half. In conference they are 1-1 having lost to UCI and downing Cal State Bakersfield. As with Seattle, CSUN played a common opponent of the Ags in Idaho State where they lost in SoCal 82-50. That seems to bode well, but it’s dangerous making too much of such comparisons.

Fofana, an original Newman recruit, is 6’6”and brings a good balance of scoring, rebounding and defense to his game. He hits field goals at the rate of 56%, averages 6.9 rpg. and had 17 steals this season, but is no threat from 3 (20%). The only other returning player is bench guard Jordan Brinson. The rest of the roster consists of a lot of transfers including two community college transfers. Among the latter, a significant addition has been Davius Loury , who came all the way from Illinois and has earned a starting role. The 6’ 7” forward has the second highest 3-point shooting percentage on the team. Coming from even further away in Germany is center Aleks Szymczyk who does not start but brings an imposing 7’ 0” presence in his 11+ minutes per game.

The 3-guard backcourt consists of Josiah Davis at the point plus Larry Hughes II and Joshua O’Garro, who at 6’6” scores 13.8 ppg. and nearly 10 rpg, is more like a forward. The other off guard is Joisah Davis. They are, respectively transfers from Niagara, St. Louis and Texas State. Although Davis scores at a rate of over 13 ppg, he is a true point guard, distributing 6 apg., while Hughes is the leading scorer (18.4 ppg) who has made 44 out of 103 treys so far this season. It is worth noting that he was 0 for 0 at Stanford. The Matadors strength is on the boards where they yank down over 42 rpg. Compare that to the Ags 31 rpg. If this team has a weakness, it is from the foul line where only two of the regular players hits over 70% from there. The Aggies are likely to be favored, but this will not be an easy win.