`Runner Men Ready for Big West Basketball Championship

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The climax of the 2020-21 season has arrived as the CSU Bakersfield men's basketball team is headed to Las Vegas for the 2021 Air Force Reserve Big West Basketball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands. The Roadrunners will join the rest of the Big West Conference for the 45th annual tournament, Mar. 9-13, with CSUB rolling into Vegas as the fifth seed and looking to earn a spot in March Madness.

Rod Barnes, Bakersfield's tenth-year Head Coach, addressed his squad's quarterfinal matchup with UC Davis, the only team CSUB did not meet in the regular season due to the Aggies' local county health regulations: "They are a good basketball team. When you have played a team already, you may be aware of their personnel or their schemes. Sometimes your kids may take that for granted. I think it brings a level of excitement to our team to play someone that we haven't played."

No. 5 CSUB and No. 4 UC Davis are slated to go toe-to-toe on Thursday, Mar. 11, at 2 p.m. (PT) in the Michelob Ultra Arena, which is part of the Mandalay Bay Resort. The two teams enjoy a rich history that dates back to their days as fellow members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The `Runners own a 28-12 record all-time against the Aggies, but the teams have not met since the 2008-09 season.

Due to Yolo County health and safety policies, UC Davis (9-7, 6-4 BWC) was not allowed to compete for nearly 50 days in the middle of this season. The Aggies returned to competition on Jan. 22-23, splitting a pair of road games against UC San Diego. Davis put together a late stretch of five-straight Big West victories and wrapped up the regular season just ahead of CSUB (15-10, 9-7 BWC) in the standings on win percentage.

After playing more games this season (25) than any other team in the league, the `Runners benefited as the Big West team scheduled for its bye week just before the conference tournament.

"We were really tired and fatigued, both physically and mentally," Barnes said. "It was a long haul, not having any pause or any breaks…Our guys have done a great job and I'm very proud of them, but I think this came at a really good time for us. Hopefully the time off doesn't bother us because we haven't been in competition with other opponents. We needed these days to kind of reset and get ourselves physically and mentally refreshed."

Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between the `Runners and Aggies will tipoff at 2 p.m. (PT). The game will be broadcasted live on WatchESPN.com and in the ESPN app. Links to video and radio broadcasts as well as live stats for the whole tournament are available at GoRunners.com/mbbLinks.

If CSUB defeats UC Davis, the `Runners will move into Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal game. Bakersfield would battle the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 1 UC Santa Barbara and the winner of the 8/9 First Round game. Saturday's Championship Game is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff live on ESPN2.

~GoRunners.com~

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