Gameday: at Cal State Northridge

Back on Jan. 18 at the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii gummed up the works of Cal State Northridge’s offensive machine just enough to emerge with a victory.

That engine is sure humming now, though; CSUN is coming off a 108-98 home win over Long Beach State on Wednesday.

The Matadors (10-12, 6-3 Big West) had an extra day to prepare for UH (10-11, 4-4), which picked up its first road win of the season Thursday at UC Riverside, 72-63.

UH is shooting for its third straight season sweep of CSUN, but that could be quite a challenge at the Matadome. Reigning Big West Player of the Week Tavrion Dawson is the hottest player in the Big West at the moment. He’s got three straight double-doubles, including 20-10s in the last two, as CSUN has won three straight.

As always, CSUN will endeavor to get to the free-throw line repeatedly. They went 25-for-34 at the Sheriff and led late — thanks in part to Kendall Smith’s 20 points, his most in three games vs. UH — but Leland Green had the last word with his buzzer-beater from the corner.

Can Noah Allen bust out for his best road game of the year, something approaching the 30 and 12 he hung on the Matadors last time? Can Sheriff Drammeh replicate his effective performance off the bench at Riverside?

UPDATE: Per Bobby Curran, Green is back at the team hotel with flu-like symptoms. Drammeh has stepped into the starting lineup.

Tipoff is at 5:30 p.m. HST on Fox Sports Prime Ticket. CSUN was favored by 5.5 points coming into today.