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LBSU ends long road trip at Arizona

Long Beach State freshman point guard Edon Maxhuni dribbles the ball in the paint against San Francisco State on Nov. 14 at the Walter Pyramid.

After losing three games last week and falling out of the AP Top 25 polls, Arizona will be looking to bounce back in a big way against the Long Beach State men’s basketball team. A road game combined with frustrations from the Wildcats three-game losing streak make Wednesday night’s matchup one of the toughest of the season for Long Beach.

The Wildcats came in last place at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament and are only the second team in AP poll history to drop from the top two to unranked in back-to-back polls. Led by sophomore guard Allonzo Trier (24.5 ppg) and freshman center Deandre Ayton (20.3 ppg), the two projected NBA draft picks will be tough to contain for Long Beach.

LBSU (3-4) will look to snap Arizona’s 43 game nonconference home winning streak Wednesday at 5 p.m. Coming off a disappointing 85-80 loss to Nebraska in the Advocare Invitational, the 49ers will need to be up for the challenge to keep it close in Tucson.

Senior forward Gabe Levin comes into the game after several double-double games last week against No. 19 West Virginia and Nebraska, pushing his averages up to a team-leading 15.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Junior point guard Deishuan Booker has also impressed early on, posting consecutive double-double games last week against Oregon State and Nebraska. The junior college transfer is averaging 8.7 points and 6.3 assists per contest, separating himself and fully taking over the starting point guard position from freshman Edon Maxhuni.

Wednesday’s game between the 49ers and Wildcats is the fourth in the last six years. Two seasons ago, the Beach fell 85-70 in another road game at Arizona. The game will be televised at 5 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.

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