49ers
search for first win on road
Men's
Basketball: 49ers men's basketball will
attempt to win its first road game versus
Idaho, Utah in nearly two years.
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State men's basketball team recently
snapped a four game losing streak with a
overtime win against UC Irvine 77-74 last
Saturday at The Pyramid. But if you expect
things to start turning around for the 49ers
now your expectations might be more than
just wishful thinking.
The
49ers (5-11, 3-4) who are winless on the
road this year must now leave Long Beach
for a two game trip that begins tonight
with a game against Idaho. They then travel
to Utah State on Sunday where they go against
The Aggies, a team they lost to 95-61 the
last time they met at Utah.
The
49ers are not the best road team in recent
history and this road trip could be a big
road block. They have been unable to win
a single game on the road this year losing
all seven games not played at The Pyramid.
They also lost all 14 of their games on
the road last season.
In
fact, in just his second year as head coach
of the 49ers men's basketball team Larry
Reynolds has lost almost as many games (33)
as he had in all five season with his former
team Cal State San Bernardino where he establish
a 110-35 record.
Expectations
for the 49ers this year by other coaches
in the Big West Conference were not high
as the 49ers were picked to finish last
in the conference by a preseason poll. Despite
the predictions, to which coach Reynolds
responded that nobody expected the Florida
Marlins to do what they did.
He
does have a point. With over a month remaining
in the 2003-04 NCAA college basketball season
the 49ers have already won as many games
(five) this year as they did all of last
season. The team is also tied for fifth
place in the Big West Conference with UC
Riverside and has a good chance of coming
away with at least one victory on this weekend's
road trip.
The
49ers split the series last season with
Idaho, winning 59-55 in Long Beach and falling
75-67 at Idaho. The Vandals are 5-11 overall
and 2-5 in the Big West this season and
the team doesn't pose much of an offense
threat for the 49ers except for its two
top scorers forward Tyrone Hayes and guard
Dwayne Williams. Hayes is the team's top
scorer averaging 13 points a game and shooting
.500 from the field. Williams torched the
49ers in their loss last year scoring a
game-high 30 points. Williams is one of
the conference's top three point shooters
and the 49ers will have to contain them
if they have a shot of coming away with
a victory.
The
49ers will have a much tougher time against
Utah State. The Aggies rank number one in
several offensive categories including best
scoring offense (418 points- 69.7) and field
goal percentage (.535 percent and are ranked
number one in the Big West with a 7-0 conference
and 15-1 overall record. The Aggies are
9-0 at home and its only lost came early
in the season against Utah. But if that's
not enough The Aggies also have the No.
1 scoring defense in the conference holding
opponents to just 57 points a game.
The
49ers in case you were wondering rank 7th
in scoring offense (388 pts -64.7) and 5th
in field goal percentage (.445 percent)
but give up more points per game 71.7 than
any other team in the conference except
for Cal Poly who give up 76.3.
The
Aggies won both meetings last season and
posses several offensive threats including
senior forward Spencer Nelson who dropped
21 points on the 49ers last year at The
Pyramid.
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