Long Beach State begins road‑heavy finish at Cal Poly with freshman Sykes in record chase
Road swing opens in San Luis Obispo
Long Beach State enters the decisive stretch of its regular season with three of the last four games away from home, starting Thursday, February 26, 2026, at Cal Poly. The Beach have already taken the first meeting, 74–66 in Long Beach, and now face a smaller‑venue test at Mott Athletics Center, where student‑section energy and sightlines can compress possessions for visiting offenses.
The trip matters beyond a single result: with conference play nearing its conclusion, performances across this road swing will shape seeding and rhythm heading into the Big West Championship, which delivers the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament under the governance of the Big West Conference. With only one automatic berth available out of the league, margin for error in positioning is thin for programs trying to avoid an at‑large selection fight on Selection Sunday.
Sykes’ surge reframes the Beach offense
True freshman guard Gavin Sykes has accelerated from promising recruit to primary option. He set a new program freshman single‑game scoring mark with 34 points in an 87–80 win at CSUN and earlier posted 30 against San Diego, becoming the first LBSU freshman since Lucious Harris in 1990 to reach that benchmark.1 Sykes has recorded 12 games with at least 20 points and leads Long Beach State in scoring at 17.6 points per game, reshaping scouting reports that early in the season were tilted toward the front court.
In conference play he is averaging 18.0 points, ranking fifth in the Big West, and he began the week among the nation’s top 15 freshman scorers, a peer group that includes Cameron Boozer (Duke), AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Caleb Wilson (North Carolina). With 441 points this season, Sykes is 17 shy of surpassing Harris for the Long Beach State freshman scoring record, turning each possession at Cal Poly into part of a live program chase. He has also been recognized as a nominee for the Kyle Macy Award, given annually to the nation’s top freshman, positioning him in the national discussion around first‑year impact guards.
Majstorovic’s interior platform travels
Sophomore forward Petar Majstorovic, a Syracuse transfer, anchors the front court at 14.8 points and a team‑best 6.4 rebounds per game, with nine 20‑point outings. He authored the difference in the first meeting with Cal Poly, producing a career‑high 25 points and 10 rebounds in a game that underlined how his low‑post usage can steady the Beach when perimeter shots flatten out.
That inside presence, paired with Sykes’ shot‑making, has given the Beach a reliable inside‑outside spine on nights when road possessions tighten. Against a Cal Poly defense that prefers to keep games in the 60s and 70s, the ability to play through Majstorovic on the block, draw help, and free shooters on the weak side is central to Long Beach State’s plan to manage tempo rather than be dictated to by a home crowd.
Backcourt milestones in view
Graduate guard Shaquil Bender is 27 points from 1,000 for his Division I career. He has lifted his form with 22 points in back‑to‑back games against UC San Diego and Hawai‘i and a career‑high 27 versus CSUN, bringing steady secondary scoring (10.4 ppg) that eases defensive pressure on Sykes. Junior guard Rob Diaz III, a transfer from Division II Cal Poly Humboldt, needs 22 points to reach 1,000 across Divisions I and II. Diaz is averaging 7.0 points and leads the Beach with 76 assists, operating at nearly a 3:1 assist‑to‑turnover ratio and functioning as the primary caretaker of the ball in late‑game situations.
Those looming milestones are more than individual markers: they reflect veteran guards who have logged minutes in multiple systems and conferences, experience that typically matters most in tight conference road games where officiating crews, pacing and end‑of‑game management can swing seasons.
Continuity amid overhaul in Year 2 under Acker
In a second consecutive large‑scale rebuild, Long Beach State returned just one player while adding 13 newcomers, yet retained more returning points, minutes and rebounds than the prior season. Head coach Dan Monson’s successor, Acker, is in his second year with an intact staff of assistants John Montgomery, Anthony Santos and Philip Scott, supported by Ali Tavakol (director of basketball operations) and Jacob Eyman (director of player relations). That continuity on the bench has allowed the Beach to stabilize offensive and defensive schemes even as the roster turned over.
The Beach closed last season 7–25 but logged notable December road wins this year at San Diego and Pepperdine alongside league victories over Cal State Fullerton and Hawai‘i, signaling an internal reset in standards and travel preparation. Junior forward Derrick Michael Xzavierro—the program’s lone returner—reaffirmed his commitment as a 2024–25 starter, returned from international duty at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand with a bronze medal in 5×5, and averaged 15.8 points and 11.8 rebounds in that tournament. This season he is averaging 2.4 points and 2.9 rebounds, a reduced statistical role that nonetheless places him as a cultural touchstone in a locker room otherwise defined by transfers and freshmen.
Rotation notes that shape Thursday’s matchup
– First‑year forward Léopold Levillain has provided size and activity, averaging 4.7 points and 4.6 rebounds with 15 starts, including back‑to‑back double‑doubles against Cal State Bakersfield and UC Riverside and a 10‑point, 14‑rebound game at Bakersfield. His ability to switch across front‑court positions gives Acker flexibility against smaller Cal Poly lineups.
– Transfer guard Isaiah Lewis started the first 13 games (6.5 ppg) and ranks second on the team in assists while tallying 34 steals, offering on‑ball pressure that can disrupt Cal Poly’s half‑court sets.
– Wing Cole Farrell, from Portland State, has started every game and averages 6.4 points, adding spacing after shooting 37.7% from three last season and helping keep driving lanes open for Sykes and Bender.
– Center Shay Johnson Jr., familiar with Acker from their San Diego State days, averages 16.1 minutes and leads the team in blocks, with a season‑high five at CSUN, and is a key piece in rim protection when the Beach go to bigger lineups.
– Freshman forward Dallas Washington (a former ESPN Top‑100 recruit) contributes 3.1 points and 1.6 rebounds and returned on January 10 against Cal State Bakersfield after an eight‑game absence, slowly rebuilding rhythm that gives Long Beach State another stretch option.
– Guard Christian Jones (Angelina College transfer) is averaging 3.5 points and 1.6 rebounds and recently returned from a 13‑game layoff, adding depth to a backcourt that must absorb the physical demands of a road‑heavy finish.
– Forward JJ Chaikovsky made his LBSU debut at Pacific and posted six points and three blocks against Lincoln, flashing a combination of length and timing that could matter in short defensive bursts.
Together with Sykes and Majstorovic—both ranked in the conference’s top 10 for scoring in league play (Sykes fifth, Majstorovic ninth)—that depth offers multiple pathways to shot creation and rim protection on the road. For athletic departments and conference schedulers, that kind of roster resilience is increasingly central as travel and load‑management debates shape how leagues construct home‑and‑away slates.
What the Beach need on the road
Thursday’s setting places a premium on two factors that have traveled for Long Beach State: early‑clock efficiency from Sykes and half‑court touches for Majstorovic. Maintaining turnover control through Diaz’s stewardship and securing the defensive glass—areas that often swing tight conference games—are likely to determine whether the Beach can replicate January’s result and sustain momentum into March, when the Big West Championship awards the league’s automatic NCAA berth under the Big West’s tournament‑governance framework.
Within that structure, the Beach are effectively playing a series of seeding referendums over the next two weeks. A disciplined performance at Cal Poly would not only move Sykes closer to the program freshman scoring record but also strengthen Long Beach State’s case for a more favorable path through quarterfinals and semifinals, where officiating crews, neutral‑site logistics and television windows are coordinated under NCAA and conference oversight.
Match essentials
- Game: Long Beach State at Cal Poly
- Date: Thursday, February 26, 2026
- Time: 7 p.m. local
- Location: San Luis Obispo, Calif.
- Arena: Mott Athletics Center (3,032)
- TV/Webcast: ESPN+ (Play‑by‑play: Dylan Foreman)
- Radio: N/A
- Live stats: beachlivestats.statbroadcast.com
1 Sykes’ 34‑point game at CSUN and earlier 30‑point performance against San Diego were highlighted in Long Beach State and Associated Press game reports.
