Long Beach State faces their most equal opponent this season when they host the Utah State Aggies tonight in the Pyramid. Click here to check out our full game preview, then weigh in with your opinion in the Comments section below this article.
The game starts at 7:05pm tonight. Our updates will begin around 6:30pm. Scroll down to the bottom of this column and refresh the screen for live updates.
Can the 49ers emerge victorious with a big non-conference win? Or will the Aggies shock the Monson Maniacs as they return to visit one of their former Big West Conference opponents?
What say you?
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Last night I wrote that Arturas Lazdauskas would be missed in the middle, as a hand injury would keep him out for the season. A commentor named Marilyn said that I was wrong and Arturas might even see action tonight – turns out Marilyn was right. Arturas is warming up with a hand brace and is looking pretty good.
Anything you guys want to know before the game gets started? Leave a comment below.
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Thanks to reader LJ for his barrage of questions in the Comments section below, haha. I’ll respond in shotgun format:
- We’re about ten minutes from tip-off and yes, there’s already a pretty substantial crowd out here tonight. A great sign to have good student representation even as the holiday break begins.
- On the defensive side, Long Beach allows far more points per game than the Aggies, although some of that has to be attributed to the 49ers’ brutal schedule and the talented teams they’ve faced. The 49ers have had trouble focusing on playing consistent defense; even against Cal State Monterey Bay last week. Their athleticism may hurt Utah State tonight, but watch out for point guard Jared Quayle. Long Beach State has been playing much improved interior defense but they traditionally have trouble with penetrating guards.
- Both teams can pout up points in a hurry so I wouldn’t be surprised to see this game finish in the high-70’s, even low or mid-80’s.
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Key matchup to watch tonight: Casper Ware (LBSU) vs. Jared Quayle (USU) – Both teams’ point guards are their offensive catalysts and the ball will be in their hands for most of the night. Whoever can limit their turnovers, whoever can control the tempo in their favor, whoever can get their teammates going early will probably come out on top.
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Your starters tonight (no surprises on the Long Beach side):
LBSU – Eugene Phelps, T.J. Robinson, Larry Anderson, Casper Ware and Stephan Gilling
USU – Pooh Williams, Jared Quayle, Tyler Newbold, Nate Bendall and Tai Wesley
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9-7 Utah State, 15:30: Utah State is handling Long Beach State’s size and pressure defense pretty well early on, while the 49ers look a little disjointed on offense. Sometimes it’s amazing how quickly they devolve into one-on-one offense. Steph Gilling hit a picture perfect three-pointer but Ware and Robinson got themselves turnovers trying to do too much.
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14-11 Long Beach State, 12:15: Utah State goes into a rotating 2-3 zone and Gilling makes them pay with another three-pointer. Long Beach counters with a full-court press that so far has resulted in two Utah State baskets, a missed layup and a cheap foul on T.J. Robinson. I don’t understand the desire to continue with this press; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until it begins to work or they get rid of it.
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19-13 Long Beach State, 11:23: Stephan Gilling hits another three-pointer and that should be enough to bring Utah State out of their zone defense. I should be happy to see Gilling lighting it up, but instead I’m yet again confused at why Larry Anderson is invisible tonight. He’s been subbed out for Greg Plater.
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23-20 Long Beach State, 8:30: Utah State’s Brady Jardine just slammed the ball in frustration and the 49er faithful waited for a technical foul that didn’t come as the ball sailed into the air. The crowd is none the happier about the no-call. Lazdauskas sighting! Big A takes a nifty pass from Greg Plater for the lay-in.
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26-26 Long Beach State, 4:30: Utah State was really gaining some momentum and looked like they might take a lead, but Casper Ware came up with a big three-pointer. His 9 points are putting him ahead of counterpart Jared Quayle’s 3 points in the key matchup of the night, although the rest of the 49ers aren’t really following suit. A Tai Wesley lay-in and a three-pointer from Pooh Williams are making this a very tight game.
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31-26 Long Beach State, 1:00: With the shot clock winding down, Larry Anderson put his head down and drove straight to the hoop, missing a pull-up jumper but following his shot and tipping it in for his first 2 points of the game. You could almost literally see his spirit lifting as the Monson Maniacs screamed in delight. At some point, you’ve got to figure that Larry will realize he can get to the baskert whenever he wants to. Looks like the 49ers are picking up their energy and T.J. Robsinon is fouled and converts a three-point play.
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31-28 Long Beach State, HALF: The 49ers head into the break with a three-point lead, and both teams playing relatively well. Stephan Gilling, Casper Ware and T.J. Robinson lead Long Beach with 9 points each, but Utah State forward Tai Wesley is your game’s leading scorer with 12.
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41-36 Long Beach State, 15:38: As the 49ers come out of the half on a hot streak, let’s consider the asset that makes Long beach so dangerous on offense; their ability to score in a variety of ways. At times this season, the 49ers have won games based on T.J. Robinson’s inside moves, Casper Ware’s penetratin and Stephan Gilling’s deep shooting. This makes them very difficult to defend as a team, but the one thing that makes it all work to perfection s Larry Anderson. The slashing forward may be the most athletic player in the Big West Conference, and the purest scorer next to Riverside’s Kyle Austin. When he’s attacking the basket, every player on defense has to have their eye on him. He opens up lanes for Ware and pulls defenders away from Gilling. So it’s no mystery that Long Beach tends to struggle when Anderson does. Notice that the 49ers clung to a 1 or 2-point lead through most of this game but opened the gap up to eight as Anderson converted a three-point play. He’s still only got five points, but that drive and score forced Utah State to sag off of Casper Ware, who promptly sunk a three. Ware is this team’s motor, but Anderson is their best barometer.
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49-38 Long Beach State, 13:04: I really don’t know where this team would be without Casper Ware, who poured in another trademark pull-up jumper to give him 16 points, then drove and dished to Eugene Phelps who found Robinson underneath for an easy lay-in. Beautiful teamwork from the 49ers, and their quickness may be taking over the Aggies right now.
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52-38 Long Beach State, 11:27: Long Beach State’s athleticism is really overwhelming Utah State right now. T.J. Robinson ripped the ball away from one Aggie and soared in for a monster two-handed jam, and if you ever told me that the Pyramid crowd would erupt during a non-conference game right after the end of the semester, I would’ve called you crazy. The ‘Myd is rocking right now and the 49ers are rolling. Let’s see if they can close it out.
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59-43 Long Beach State, 9:49: The athletic department’s decision to let children into games for free was simply genius. They never get tired, they never stop yelling, and if you put some balloons in their hands they’re more obnoxious than you can imagine – which comes in very handy when Utah State is shooting free throws and has to face a hoard of screaming young’ns. The floating heads of Chewbacca and Carrot Top are more distracting than the student section can ever be. Simply genius.
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61-45 Long Beach State, 8:51: I’m a little surprised that we haven’t seen Kyle Richardson, Andrew Fleming or Lin Chang at all tonight. The 49ers are playing well and while I understand that Coach Monson doesn’t want to take his foot off the accelerator, this would be a good chance to give quality minutes to some guys that will come in handy during Big West play. Are you surprised?
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By the way, you can check out Twitter.com/LBPOSTSports for brief, more frequent updates.
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70-54 Long Beach State, 5:31: The Monson Maniacs student section has this great tradition. They have a large cardboard cutout of Casper The Friendly Ghost with a basketball in his hand and a #22 stamped to his chest, and anytime point guard Casper Ware scores a bucket the Maniacs pass the ghost cutout across the row so it looks like the ghost is floating. Ware has 19 points tonight so they’ve had plenty of opportunities to do this. You’ve gotta see it.
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73-58 Long Beach State, 3:33: I don’t want to harp on a team that’s holding a double-digit lead against good competition, but (#1) Long Beach is still playing all five starters and (#2) Larry Anderson is pulling an A-Rod impression by scoring a load of points when the game’s outcome is already decided. You’d prefer to see some bench guys getting time right now to shore up your depth, and also it would be nice to see Anderson lead the charge instead of benefit from it at the end. Just my two. What do you think?
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75-62 Long Beach State, 1:20: T.J. Robinson just threw down one of the most vicious dunks that the Pyramid has ever seen, with some poor Aggie absolutely posterized by the left-handed baseline jam. And he was fouled. The energy is electric in here. This game is a reminder of what the 49ers are capable of when they play to their full potential. Seriously. Vicious.
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75-62 Long Beach State, FINAL: A quality win at home for the 49ers against a good opponent tonight. Robinson is your leading scorer with a game-high 25, while Ware poured in 19 and Utah State was led by Tai Wesley with 22. Quotes from players and coaches are forthcoming; thanks for joining us in the live blog tonight!
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