Since taking over the Long Beach State men’s basketball program in 2007, head coach Dan Monson has put an emphasis on scheduling tough, big-name, out-of-conference opponents.
Though the results haven’t always been favorable, there’s no doubt in Monson’s and his players’ minds that playing stronger competition has made them a better team both on and off the court.
“I think we’ve talked plenty about my philosophy with scheduling games,” Monson said. “I think you get a lot out of playing really good competition. Know your weaknesses. I don’t think kids need a lot of games to build their confidence. I think they have a lot of confidence when they get to this level.”
Monson said 49ers have consistently had the toughest schedule in the nation throughout the past five years, but their stretch in December was the toughest one they have ever had. That stretch was a six-game road trip, four of which came against Top-25 opponents.
LBSU dropped all six games, five by double digits. The only close result was its loss at San Diego State, a 60-59 defeat in the final minute of the game. Monson doesn’t stress too much on the final score; instead, he focuses on how the games helped his team improve.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re a better defensive team then when we started,” Monson said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re a better rebounding team. I think we’re executing OK offensively. For us to get to where we need to be, I think the biggest thing we’ve been exposed [to] that we haven’t gotten better at is our discipline.”
Senior Forward David Samuels said the road trip helped the team learn about their personnel and how to play better with each other. He says the grind of those games was one of his biggest takeaways from the trip.
“The second half [of games],” Samuels said. “We kind of lost our edge around the 10 to 12 minute mark where we would play really well then it’s a few minutes where we can’t get a stop. I won’t say we struggled offensively, but it’s more on the defensive end where we’re on the opposite side of our bench. We need to grind out those minutes.”
Monson said he didn’t spend any time worrying about how his four freshmen would respond to the road trip, with most of them never having done that kind of travel or played that level of competition.
“I think all four of them saw what they can do,” Monson said. “And the things they have to work on and that’s part of growing.”
Forwards Temidayo Yussuf and Jack Williams and Guards Justin Bibbins and Deontae North have each made contributions to the team. Monson said he signed them because he thought they were up to the task and weren’t going to be discouraged by a couple of blowout losses.
“I’m not letting them off saying ‘oh, hey, that was tough,’” Monson said. “I believe in them. I just try to address why we didn’t do good enough and move on. I like these four freshmen. I think they’re good players. I think they didn’t play as well as we wanted them to in the first stretch and I think those games showed them why.”
Bibbins admitted that the losing streak was hard on the team, but the benefits have made them better.
“I feel like this trip really bonded us,” Bibbins said. “Especially all those road games, hotels, flights. We really got to know each other better and just know what each player can do and pick the spots for each player.”
Senior Guard Tyler Lamb praised Monson and the program for scheduling teams that regularly play in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think that’s the beauty of this program,” Lamb said. “We play a real tough schedule for preseason so we can go into conference with an advantage over the teams in our conference who haven’t played those big games and the players who haven’t been in those type of games. [The schedule] can either help us a lot or can hurt us depending on how we respond from it.”
The results, so far, speak for themselves. Since returning from the road trip, the 49ers are 4-1 with their lone loss coming in overtime at UC Davis.
“Our team, as a group, knows what it has to work on, and I think that’s a good thing.”