The Long Beach State men’s basketball team will start its season in Utah against BYU on Friday. LBSU will return on Saturday to host San Francisco State for the Homecoming game at the Walter Pyramid.
Monson has yet to name his starting five for this season, but senior point guard Mike Caffey, senior shooting guard Tyler Lamb and senior forward Eric McKnight have been the typical starters during practice so far.
LBSU won the three previous Big West regular season championships before UC Irvine won last year and is projected to finish third in the Big West Conference in the preseason media poll.
“I think [being picked to finish third in conference] is very deserving,” Monson said. “That’s where we ended up last year. We have the majority of our guys back. That’s where Irvine and Santa Barbara finished, and they have the majority of their guys back [too].”
The 49ers will start the season at perennial NCAA Tournament contender BYU. The Cougars are coming off a 23-12 record last season, which is their ninth consecutive winning season, after being eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against University of Oregon.
The Cougars’ pursuit of a 10th consecutive season with at least 20 wins will be buoyed by the return of senior guard Tyler Haws. Haws led the team in scoring last year with 34.6 points per game and is BYU’s most lethal outside shooter at 40 percent from the three-point line.
Seniors Skyler Halford and Anson Winder are two of the four players who averaged double figures last year for the Cougars, and they will also return this season.
BYU also has one of the best home records in the country. Over the last nine seasons, the Cougars have gone 131-12 at home, including going undefeated from 2006-2008 (33-0).
After their matchup against the Cougars, the 49ers will return to The Beach to face Division II San Francisco State in the Homecoming game on Saturday.
The 49ers will play BYU Friday at 4 p.m. and SFSU on Saturday at 4 p.m.
