Opportunity arrived for the Cal State Bakersfield men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams when the season\u2019s opening games took place on Nov. 3. Both teams had a new vibe, a new outlook.<\/p>\n
Between the two head coaches, one was weeks from being thrust into a new role he\u2019s wanted but didn\u2019t exactly expect to get when or how he did. The other coach, now in her second year, is eager to distance the program from a rough opening campaign filled with potholes, but also lessons \u2014 and a new roster \u2014 to pave a better road forward.<\/p>\n
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One month in, things are taking shape and both teams have some optimism as they prepare for a mini-Big West Conference test with two games that count in the standings this Thursday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s team is now eight games in with acting head coach Mike Scott. On Sunday, the Roadrunners did something the program has not done since 1977, according to a CSUB sports information director. The 76-71 non-conference win at Fresno State was CSUB\u2019s first win against the Bulldogs in Fresno. In 2025, being 4-4 with a tough early season schedule that includes Cal, Mississippi, Florida State and Fresno State, has been steep at times, but is serving as a great learning curve for Scott.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting for me, it\u2019s an opportunity I\u2019ve been wanting my whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I played, teammates always called me \u2018coach.\u2019 The biggest adjustment is the management side of it. It\u2019s different, but I\u2019m just as excited to learn, to grow, to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Against Fresno State, the men made 23 of 24 free throws, a small thing that can turn into a big thing, especially when it matters most.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d Scott said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been shooting them too well. A lot of our guys\u2019 percentages are down so we\u2019ve spent a lot of time working on it and it came through for us, especially the big free throws at the end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott chalked it up to the resiliency and the grind-it-out performances he expects to see more of as the season progresses. While the free-throw shooting was present against the Bulldogs with Dailin Smith going 12 for 13 \u2014 a huge confidence boost on what was a 30-point night \u2014 CJ Hardy 5 for 5 and Ron Jessamy 6 for 6, the same application needs to be there for shooting 3-pointers. The \u2019Runners are 32 of 126 from beyond the arc and in the last two games, CSUB is a combined 2 for 25.<\/p>\n
\u201cPractice, practice and more practice,\u201d was Scott\u2019s initial answer during a weekly press conference Tuesday at the Icardo Center. \u201cWe drill our guys on what we\u2019re running and get them more shots and keeping the guys confident. Same thing I told them in a game. I felt good about the shots they were taking and they will eventually fall for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week would be a great time to see what the team needs to work on and gain confidence. The Roadrunners will play at Cal State Northridge on Thursday and at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. It\u2019s a mini-Big West schedule, dubbed \u201cBold Week\u201d by conference officials.<\/p>\n
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Being on the road, Smith said it\u2019s a chance for his players to step up and find out what kind of team they can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to be a gritty team, we\u2019re going to grind out some games on the road,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWhy not put some pressure early and maybe get one or two games and give ourselves a jolt of confidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s side, the 2-28 record in 2024-25 doesn\u2019t define Ari Wideman in the midst of the new season. Last week the team picked up back-to-back wins \u2014 both on the road against Nebraska-Omaha and then Wichita State. The higher point totals her team put up showed flashes of what she is hoping to see consistently.<\/p>\n
CSUB did show a few things, too, even in a 78-63 road defeat Saturday to Arizona of the Big 12 Conference, but she\u2019s happy she scheduled that game.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSome teams might have scheduled a Division II team to clean some things up before conference. I\u2019d rather us be tested and Arizona was a good test,\u201d she said, referring to the Big West mini-set the team will play Thursday at home to Cal State Northridge and then Saturday afternoon against UC Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n
She likes the play and statistical percentages of two newcomers to CSUB, guard Morgan Hawkins and the inside presence of Tena Ikidi, but she\u2019s already identified, after a 2-5 start, what she\u2019d really like to see happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get all of our top four guards scoring then we\u2019re in a good spot,\u201d Wideman said, identifying them as Chrishawn Coleman, Marley Langi and Maria Dias to join Hawkins as a formidable force. Coleman has been the scoring leader a few times and Dias did so most recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see CC, Marley and Maria who will lead us to the promised land, but they have to have the offensive leverage, be able to score and defend their guys. If those three do their job, they can be the catalyst to our success. Once they turn the full corner, the sky\u2019s the limit for this team. We\u2019re going to be on their tails about doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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As a whole, Wideman is focused on the two Big West games and since they are both at home and the team plays four of its next five in the Icardo Center, a good showing means plenty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to get these first two at home,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were picked to finish 11th in the conference. This is a chance to send a message to the rest of the conference right away. I think we can pressure and get after both of them. We want to play them as hard as heck and protect our home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opportunity arrived for the Cal State Bakersfield men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams when the season\u2019s opening games took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,9930,39434,31913,742,23328],"class_list":{"0":"post-81381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news","11":"tag-cal-state-bakersfield","12":"tag-cal-state-northridge","13":"tag-dailin-smith","14":"tag-fresno-state","15":"tag-mike-scott"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}