The Long Beach State men’s basketball team is by far and away the best squad in the Big West Conference, and widely considered one of the best Mid-Major teams in all of college basketball.
The 49ers Big West schedule is littered with teams that come nowhere near the talent in which they possess, and many of those teams now view LBSU as their big-ticket game. Meaning the ‘Niners walk into every conference game with a target on their backs.
“I think we’ve had that target for the last two years now,” LBSU head coach Dan Monson said. “I think our guys understand that. Anybody that beats us is going to rush the court, and anyone that beats us is going to be their best win of the year, and we want it that way.”
LBSU has played down to some of its lesser competition this season. Rather than blowing out teams like UC Riverside, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal State Northridge, the 49ers allow them to hang around — which results in needing late-game heroics to avoid an upset.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson narrowed his teams’ success down to two things.
“We’re going to avoid that [upsets] by staying focused and hungry,” Monson said.
Avoiding slow starts is also a key to not having these games end with close finishes.
“We’ve tried everything short of changing the lineup [to avoid slow starts],” Monson said. “The one thing about I don’t like about changing the lineup is we’re pointing the blame on specific people, and I don’t think it’s any one person.”
Monson also said he has taken a different way with his team in approaching games.
“We changed the way we warmed up last game,” he said. “We have to change our shooting practice on Wednesday of this week, and we’re just trying to push the right buttons to get this team to where it starts a little bit better.”
After beating Santa Barbara by 23 points on the road and defeating Fullerton by 14 at home, the 49ers found themselves locked in a tight contest against cellar-dwelling Northridge. The Matadors are just 6-15 overall, and 2-8 in the Big West.
LBSU led by just two 37-35 at halftime, but were able to distance themselves from the Matadors with a 54-43 lead. Again, the 49ers lost focus, allowing CSUN to go on a 11-0 run of their own, bringing the LBSU lead to back to just two, 58-56.
Thankfully for the ‘Niners, freshman guard Mike Caffey scored seven straight points to essentially close the door on Northridge, resulting in a 76-67 victory.
After that game, Monson felt his team took a couple steps backward after big wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara.
Monson said that the 49ers can’t control what other teams may do, or how they perform, but they can control the effort that they themselves put out.
“The biggest thing for us is controlling how we play,” he said. “We feel like if we play well, it doesn’t matter what they’re [opponents] doing. We have to hold ourselves to a standard we want.”
Another recent example of playing down to an opponent was LBSU’s win over UCR back on Jan. 26.
The Highlanders played the 49ers even through 40 minutes. Riverside forward David Chiavarra missed the potential game-winning free throw with 2.1 seconds remaining, handing the ‘Niners another chance at a win.
Senior guard Casper Ware took over in the extra five minutes, scoring 11 points in overtime to seal the victory. The Highlanders are just 11-12 overall and hold just a 5-5 Big West record.
Monson said that his team needs get back at it during practice in order to get back to where they need to be.
“We need to get back to work,” he said “And get ourselves back to playing the way we want to play.”
No matter where they travel, or whom they play, the 49ers will get every other teams’ best game. While being undefeated in Big West play, garnering a lot of hype in the media and earning a lot of individual accolades are not negative outcomes of winning, The Beach needs to be ready to defend against everybody’s best shot.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.