The Beach ended the past season with a 17-16 overall record and an 11-9 conference record, coming up short in the Big West Tournament after being knocked out in the first round by the 10-seeded underdogs Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Long Beach State has added some key people during the offseason, including Long Beach State’s new assistant coach Larry Anderson.
During Anderson’s senior year season at Long Beach State in 2011-2012, he was ranked as the 10th-best-mid-major shooting guard. Anderson is looking to use his playing success with Long Beach to lead this team to success.
Key players that have committed to Long Beach during this offseason include Eli Djordjevic, Messiah Thompson and Isa Silva.
Djordjevic is an international recruit from Orangeville Prep in Canada and averaged 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks per game with Orangeville.
The transfer guard/forward also spent some time playing with the U.S. Grind Session and while attending, he was named the top performer in February.
Thompson is a graduate transfer with one season of eligibility remaining and averaged 11 points and three assists per game at Alabama A&M.
He spent last season with Alabama A&M and previously he spent three years at Campbell, where he played 82 games and racked up 140 assists.
As for Silva, he spent the last two seasons at Stanford and is looking for a fresh start here at The Beach.
The 6-foot-4 guard was a top 100 recruit out of Jesuit High School in Sacramento and he was ranked by ESPN as the No. 53 player in the class of 2021.
He was the No. 2 player in California during his junior year and was averaging 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.
During his time at Stanford, Silva shot 40 percent from 3-point range and averaged three assists per 40 minutes over the last two seasons.
Long Beach State is going to play in the Gulf Coast Showcase, facing off against schools that include: Iona, High Point, Illinois State, Louisiana, Wright State, Hofstra and Buffalo.
Long Beach State’s first game for this tournament will be against Illinois State on November 20 at 1:30 p.m. PST.