Long Beach State takes on Hawaii after Thompson's 23-point game

Updated Jan. 17, 2024 3:43 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (10-7, 2-3 Big West) at Long Beach State Beach (11-7, 3-3 Big West)

Long Beach, California; Thursday, 10 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Long Beach State plays the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors after Messiah Thompson scored 23 points in Long Beach State's 85-76 loss to the UCSB Gauchos.

The Beach are 4-1 on their home court. Long Beach State is second in the Big West with 15.2 assists per game led by Aboubacar Traore averaging 4.1.

The Rainbow Warriors are 2-3 in conference games. Hawaii is seventh in the Big West scoring 71.1 points per game and is shooting 44.7%.

Long Beach State makes 46.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.0 percentage points higher than Hawaii has allowed to its opponents (43.2%). Hawaii has shot at a 44.7% clip from the field this season, 1.1 percentage points higher than the 43.6% shooting opponents of Long Beach State have averaged.

The Beach and Rainbow Warriors match up Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Marcus Tsohonis is scoring 17.6 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists for the Beach. Traore is averaging 14.2 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 64.0% over the last 10 games for Long Beach State.

JoVon McClanahan is averaging 10.3 points and 3.6 assists for the Rainbow Warriors. Bernardo da Silva is averaging 12 points and 7.9 rebounds over the past 10 games for Hawaii.

LAST 10 GAMES: Beach: 7-3, averaging 83.3 points, 42.0 rebounds, 17.0 assists, 9.1 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.1 points per game.

Rainbow Warriors: 4-6, averaging 65.0 points, 34.9 rebounds, 11.6 assists, 4.6 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 41.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.