THE SCHEDULE
Game #10
at #10 California Baptist (8-1, 2-1 PacWest)
Saturday, Dec. 17 • 7 p.m.
Van Dyne Gym • Riverside, Calif.
Live Stats • Video
 
Game #11
at Stanislaus State (3-6, 1-2 CCAA)
Monday, Dec. 19 • 7:30 p.m.
Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena • Turlock, Calif.
Live Stats • Video • Audio • Tickets
 
Fresno Pacific jumps back into PacWest play this week against nationally-ranked California Baptist. The Sunbirds will also face Stanislaus State, their closest geographical NCAA Division II opponent, on Monday in Turlock in non-conference action.
  
LAST TIME OUT
The Sunbirds dropped both games last week, the first to Concordia 86-78 in league play. FPU then hosted Cal State LA, as the Golden Eagles escaped Fresno with an 80-66 win. Spencer Krannitz scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds in the setback to CUI, while Mike Crawley posted his second double-double of the year (21 points, 11 rebounds) in the loss to CSULA.
 
SUNBIRDS ON THE RADIO
FPU Athletics has entered into an agreement with local radio station AM 1680 The Answer to provide a broadcast home for the Sunbirds, beginning with the upcoming men's basketball season. AM 1680 The Answer (KGED) will broadcast all 13 men's basketball home games.
 
SCHEDULE NOTES
The Sunbirds opened the regular season at home with the PacWest/GNAC Challenge that featured Point Loma, Saint Martin's and Western Oregon. The Sunbirds faced Cal State East Bay, Western Washington, Alaska Fairbanks, Cal State L.A. and Stanislaus State in non-conference action.
 
The team's 20-game PacWest schedule includes home games against Point Loma, California Baptist, Dixie State and Azusa Pacific. The top six teams in the league qualify for the PacWest Tournament in Irvine, March 1-3, with the winner receiving the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Check out the full schedule.
 
PACWEST PRESEASON POLL
FPU was picked to finish 11th in the 2016-17 Pacific West Conference standings according to a poll of the league's coaches. California Baptist received 179 points and six first-place votes to top the poll. Azusa Pacific, last season's PacWest regular season champion, was second with 171 points and five first-place votes. Following the two were Dixie State and Concordia in third and fourth, respectively. The Red Storm garnered 161 points while Eagles amassed 156 points and one first-place vote. Rounding out the poll was Point Loma (140 points, one first-place vote), Chaminade (129), Hawai'i Pacific (118), BYU-Hawaii (96), Dominican (93, one first-place vote), Hawai'i Hilo (66), FPU (59), Academy of Art (45), Holy Names (32) and Notre Dame de Namur (25).
 
ROSTER NOTES
First-year head coach C.J. Haydock returns five from the 2015-16 team, including the team's second-leading scorer Spencer Krannitz (14.9 ppg, .507 FG%). T.J. Viney (6.0 PPG, 3.3 APG), Suhail Mohammadi (18.6 MPG, 3.9 PPG), Jeff Bartley (16 GP) and Oliver Herting (.687 FG%) also return for the Sunbirds.
 
The roster will feature 11 newcomers – Mike Crawley, R.J. Horn, Sam Holmes, Kavika Jimenez, Jordan Belasco, Evan Stillahn, Adriel McGee, Sam Burt, Martin Arambula, Elijah Hill and Rafail Eleftheriou.
  
The roster features 13 California natives, two international student-athletes and three out-of-state.
 
SUNBIRD NOTES
FPU snapped a five-game losing streak with its win over ART U (12/1)…the five-game drought marked the longest to start a season since joining the NCAA Division II in 2012-13…The win also marked the first victory in head coach C.J. Haydock's career…T.J. Viney and Rafail Eleftheriou are the only two players to start all nine games this season…the Sunbirds, however, have used the same starting lineup the last six games (Viney, Eleftheriou, Krannitz, McGee, Horn)… Spencer Krannitz missed the first two games of the season due to injury, but scored a career-high 31 points in his first start on Nov. 26…the senior from Michigan had scored in double-digits in four straight games, including three 20-plus performances, before scoring nine against Cal State LA…freshman R.J. Horn scored a career-high 14 points on only five shots in FPU's win over ART U (12/1)…Adriel McGee (13 pts) and Viney (19 pts) set career-highs in scoring against CUI (12/7)…Sam Burt made his Sunbird debut against ART U (12/1) after being ruled ineligible for the first five games of the year by the NCAA…the Sunbirds totaled a season-best 52 percent shooting percentage, scored a season-best 81 points and blocked a season-best five shots in the win over ART U (12/1)…Mike Crawley is the only Sunbird to record a double-double this season (two)..the first came on Nov. 27 against Alaska (15 pts, 11 rbs) and the second against CSULA (21 pts, 11 rbs)…The Sunbirds have had nine players make their debut this year: Jimenez, Crawley, R.J. Horn, Rafail Eleftheriou, Jordan Belasco, Adriel McGee, Sam Holmes, Martin Arambula and Evan Stillahn.
 
HEAD COACH C.J. HAYDOCK
C.J. Haydock became the head men's basketball coach in April 2016 after serving as the program's lead assistant and recruiting coordinator during the 2015-16 season, following a highly-successful 11 years of coaching in the high school ranks. As an assistant, Haydock played an integral part in all aspects of running the program, working as the Sunbirds' recruiting coordinator and developing FPU's guards. He helped guide the program to its first winning record since 2012-13, a five-win improvement from the previous season. Haydock came to FPU after coaching locally at Immanuel High School where he led the Eagles to back-to-back Valley championships and a ranking as high as #1 in the state in 2014-15. Haydock, the 2015 Fresno Bee High School Coach of the Year, became the head coach at Immanuel in 2011, inheriting a program that had gone 4-23 the previous year. In four seasons with the Eagles he posted an overall record of 70-47, including a 30-3 mark in 2014-15, going undefeated against Central Section opponents across all divisions and reaching the Division IV state quarterfinals.
 
ABOUT THE LANCERS
California Baptist enters as the 10th-ranked team in Division II, and sits at 8-1 overall and 2-1 in league play. The Lancers, however, are coming off a 75-71 defeat to Dixie State last Thursday. CBU holds the seventh best free-throw percentage in the nation (79.8) and is the 26th best scoring margin (14.3) team in D2. Michael Smith leads the Lancers and ranks fifth in Division II with a 25.3 ppg average. Kalidou Diouf ranks second overall in field-goal percentage, boasting an impressive 76.3-percent from the field, which is just 0.6 percent behind the top shooter.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will be the 80th meeting between the two programs, with CBU holding a 46-33 all-time series advantage. The Lancers won the last meeting, 108-95, in Riverside a season ago. CBU has won the last four times the two teams have faced each other, with the Sunbirds last win coming during the 2012-13 season.
 
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Stan State enters at 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the CCAA. The Warriors are coming off a 78-58 loss to Humboldt State on Dec. 10. Stanislaus State scores 61 points per game and has three players averaging double-digits in scoring. Vondel Faniel leads the team with a points per game average of 11.3 and adds a team-best 7.0 rebounds per night.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Monday's game will be the 54th meeting between the two teams, with Stanislaus State holding a 33-20 all-time advantage. FPU won the last meeting a year ago 92-84 in Fresno.
 
SHOP FPU
The Fresno Pacific Department of Athletics is proud to announce the opening of a Team Store that can be accessed on ShopFPU.com. Fans and students can now purchase apparel for all 14 athletic teams, along with numerous other items, throughout of the 2016-17 season.
 
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