CSUB men's basketball team set for test at No. 21 USC on Thursday night
Nov. 8—Fresh off a 73-72 victory over Southern Utah in its season opener on Monday, the Cal State Bakersfield men's basketball team will take a step up in competition when the Roadrunners travel to play 21st-ranked USC on Thursday in the Galen Center.
"I think our guys are going to be really excited about this opportunity," said CSUB coach Rod Barnes of the game, which will be televised on the Pac-12 Network starting at 6 p.m. "It's a big challenge for us. It's the first one for this team, but I'm looking forward to it."
The Roadrunners (1-0) squeaked past the Thunderbirds thanks in part to a big performance from 5-foot-10 point guard Kaleb Higgins, who finished with a game-high 27 points, including two free throws with under a second to play to clinch the victory.
CSUB took control after halftime and built a 13-point lead midway through the second half before Southern Utah rallied to make it a nail-biter at the end.
"We're happy to win, you're always happy to win, but we know we had a lot of guys who got to the floor (Monday) that didn't play as well as they're capable of playing," Barnes said. "We're going to have to do that come Thursday night."
Barnes is also hoping the close victory will help keep his team grounded, something he felt was necessary after a pair of lopsided performances in preseason scrimmages.
"We came into the game (Monday), and again, I don't want to take anything away from (Southern Utah), but we came into the game feeling a little bit too good about ourselves," Barnes said. "And ... if we would have beat (them) really badly, sometimes it can get hard for them to hear when they're having so much success. And I think they'll hear me now. We have to get better."
One of the areas of concern was on the boards, where the Roadrunners broke even against the Thunderbirds on Monday. Playing without one of their forces in the paint, 6-6, 260-pound Cal State Northridge transfer Fidelis Okereke, CSUB struggled at times giving up second shots to SUU.
"In our first two scrimmages, we just out-rebounded people because we're long and athletic," Barnes said. "And then (Monday) we were getting beat on the boards. Fidelis being out probably contributed to that a little bit, but we're too athletic, we're too long. That's one of our points of emphasis for our team this year, (Rebounding)."
The Trojans (1-0) defeated Kansas State 82-69 in a Hall of Fame Series game in Las Vegas on Monday, riding the success of returning All-Pac-12 guard Boogie Ellis' 24 points. Freshman guard Isaiah Collier, ranked the No. 1 recruit in the nation, had 18 points in his college debut.
USC has plenty of size, with four players in its regular rotation standing 6-foot-10 or taller. The Trojans roster also includes freshman Bronny James, the eldest son of Lakers star LeBron James. The younger James is still working his way back after having surgery for a congenital heart defect and is still not close to returning to game action.
After playing more of a free-flowing, up-tempo game on Monday, Barnes figures he may have to tighten the reigns a bit more on Thursday.
"I may have to call a few more plays to get the ball where we want it, but we're not going to change," Barnes said. "We're going to continue to push the ball up. I think we can push up more than we did (Monday). I just have to get a few more guys involved and engaged. And I think people are going to see that's how we're going to play. We'll stick with it and figure it out."
