The Long Beach State Beach and Portland Pilots face off on Monday in a college basketball showdown to kick off the season at the Chiles Center.
Long Beach State Returns with Talent
Long Beach State did a good job during the offseason keeping a lot of their team intact and they hope that is going to help them this season. 10 players are back from last year’s team, and a lot of talent from the starting lineup. Even though they kept a lot of key players, they did lose Joel Murray who averaged 15.7 points per game last season. Back though is Marcus Tsohonis who finished last season averaging 14.1 points per game. He finished the season strong and there are a ton of expectations for what he’s going to be able to do this season. AJ George also seems to be a glue player that is going to need to have a big season.
Portland Thinks They Should be Better
Portland finished last season with 14 wins, and they believe they should finish with even more than that here. There are five players back from last years squad and they were busy in the transfer portal. Tyler Robertson is back and he is in line for a big season. Last year he averaged 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. Jorell Satterfield finished with 63 3-pointers made last season and he’s going to be the sharp shooter from deep again next season. In this game, Portland is going to need to be team that gets out to a fast start and they are going to need to hit the shots from deep.
Shane’s Free Pick
Long Beach State has so much talent back from last year’s squad and especially early in the season, they are going to find success. Portland’s offense is going to take a while to get going, and that is going to be the difference here. Long Beach State is going to score over 85 points here and that is going to be the difference as Long Beach State is going to get the job done. Back Long Beach State against the spread.