The month of March was filled with madness for Long Beach State men’s basketball they lost their fifth game in a row on March 9 and two days later, The Beach announced it had parted ways with head coach Dan Monson.
Monson would still be at the helm until the end of the season and with the Big West Tournament on the horizon, this season for The Beach appeared to be nearing its last quarter.
However, the team did not give up on their head coach.
The No.4 seeded Long Beach State went on an electrifying run to win the Big West Tournament, earning an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
“You go into it with your eyes wide open and give it your best shot and then you got to let the chips fall where they may,” Bobby Smitheran, LBSU athletic director, said.
Arizona Preview
Another uphill battle is in front of The Beach as they face the dominant Arizona Wildcats.
The Wildcats are ranked in the top 12 in scoring offense, according to FOX Sports, an achievement that only Kentucky and Alabama can also claim.
Arizona is led by senior guard Caleb Love, who is averaging 18.1 points per game with 3.5 assists.
The North Carolina transfer and 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year looks to reach the Elite Eight and face off with his old team but The Beach stands in his way.
Wildcats senior and Gonzaga transfer Oumar Ballo has been owning the paint, averaging 13.1 points and 10.1 rebounds while being a defensive force.
Long Beach State’s junior big man Lassina Traore has been on fire as of late but he will have his hands full with Ballo.
The Wildcats earned a spot in the tournament through an at-large bid as they were knocked out in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament by the eventual champions, the Oregon Ducks.
In last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats were also a No. 2 seed and were defeated in the first round by the No.15 seed Princeton.
The path to the Big West title
Long Beach State was the No. 4 seed in the Big West tournament, earning a bye in the first round.
The second round saw The Beach beating No. 5 seed UC Riverside 86-67 behind junior forward Aboubacar Traore who recorded the second triple-double in the program’s history and the first since 1990.
Traore and company gave The Beach momentum heading into a game nobody thought they could win.
Long Beach State knocked off No. 1 seeded UC Irvine, who had already beaten The Beach twice on the season, to advance to the championship game where they downed No. 2 seed UC Davis to advance in the NCAA tournament behind a career night from junior forward Lassina Traore.
“The visibility that it creates for our athletics program, our men’s basketball program and institution, it really puts us in the national spotlight and that’s just so critical for what we’re trying to do at LBSU,” Smitheran said.
The Beach and the Wildcats square off at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah for the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 21 at 11 a.m., live on TBS.