CSUN Practice Notes

Wednesday, November 1st

Got a chance to head out to practice on Wednesday, as CSUN Basketball prepares to open 2023-24 with a three-game road swing, that will take them to Palo Alto, Moscow and Chicago, before their November 17th home opener against Life Pacific.

There were a couple of segments of the session where the team split into post players and perimeter players, and executed drills, focusing on fundamentals, but for the most part, it was a lot of full-court, game-situation type of instruction. Split into Black, Red and White teams, the squad was placed into a competitive environment for about 70-75% of the practice.

Gianni Hunt was one of the stand-outs from a leadership standpoint, both with his play and with his approach, both supporting and challenging his teammates. Holdovers De’Sean Allen-Eikins and Dionte Bostic both looked like they’d made strides from the previous season. No official word, but if I had to prognosticate, Allen-Eikins, Bostic and Dearon Tucker will likely be part of the starting five on Monday, against Stanford.

Mahmoud Fofana also stood out in the session, and should probably start, unless they choose to make him the sixth man, to balance the rotation a bit. I got my first look at freshman Darius Cook, who’ll be redshirting this season, and he definitely looked like the real deal. Walk-on Simon Tilahun also got considerable time, and looked like he could help, if needed. Also got my first look at Grad Transfer Jared Barnett from San Diego State, who got time at PG as well.

The focus from Andy Newman and assistant Scott Cutley seemed to be on defensive communication. The Matadors recently played closed door scrimmages at CBU and against Southern Utah, in Las Vegas, and the emphasis stemmed from those performances. Both Newman and Cutley were vehement about the Matadors “talking” on the defensive side. Once in the middle of the session, and then afterwards, Newman addressed the group about being coachable, and working to be a good teammate. As practice closed, there was again an appeal about how the group needed to be together, as the season was about to start.

We’ll talk to you from Palo Alto on Monday. You can tune in via GoMatadors.com, or on the Varsity Network App. Pregame commences at 750pm, with tip-off at 8pm.