Matador Madness Gives CSUN Reason to be Excited for Basketball Season

  • CSUN students and fans got their first taste of basketball at the annual Matador Madness. The Women's team participated in a 3-point shooting contest, while the Men's team took part in a dunk contest and an intrasquad scrimmage. Photo by Paul Trafecanty.

  • Reggie Theus Jr. gets the Matador fans on their feet with a high-flying dunk during the slam dunk contest. Photo by Paul Trafecanty.

  • The CSUN cheer team performs in front of the excited crowd inside the Matadome. Photo by Paul Trafecanty.

  • CSUN students show their school spirit at the annual Matador Madness event. Photo by Paul Trafecanty.

  • Women's head coach Jason Flowers thanked fans for coming out and showing their support. The Matadors return a solid core of young players, such as last year's Big West Freshman of the Year Channon Fluker, Serafina Maulupe, Cheyenne Allen and Tessa Boagni. Photo by Paul Trafecanty.

  • Men's coach Reggie Theus tells attendees that his team will play with passion and that the best players will be the ones who take the court. The Matadors have five transfer players eligible to play this season who will help boost the team. Photo by Paul Trafecanty.

California State University, Northridge students and the Northridge community were treated to a night of fun and their first look at the CSUN Men’s and Women’s basketball teams at Matador Madness on Oct. 21.

The annual event began at the Spirit Plaza at 6:30 p.m. with free food and drinks being provided by vendors such as The Fresh Potato Factory, Mountain Dew, El Pollo Loco and Menchie’s frozen yogurt. Besides receiving free CSUN basketball tank tops, students could also spin a wheel and win free candy, popcorn and Matador bags.

“I’m really glad that CSUN is taking an interest in sports and trying to rally students to back their school and have some real school spirit,” CSUN senior Ryan Wilson said.

By the time 8 p.m. hit, energized students and fans poured into the Matadome. DJ Mal-Ski pumped the crowd up even more by playing hit songs, hosting dance-offs with the crowd and giving out free gift cards and CSUN parking passes.

After women’s coach Jason Flowers thanked the fans for coming and showing their support, the women’s team showed off its shooting range by taking part in a 3-point shooting contest.

 Serafina Maulupe, a redshirt junior guard who averaged 10 points and a team-high 2.5 assists per game last season, said Matador Madness was a great environment to be in.

“This year’s Matador Madness was great,” Maulupe said. “The benefit of having this every year is that it pumps up the fans for the season.”

The Matadors are a young team — guard Emily Cole is the only senior — but the team brings back a talented core of Maulupe, guard Cheyenne Allen, forward Tessa Boagni and center Channon Fluker, last season’s Big West Freshman of the Year.

Like the women’s team, the men’s team only has one senior on the squad, talented point guard Aaron Parks. The 6-foot-3 senior averaged an impressive 13.3 points per game last season.

Head coach Reggie Theus said having a full team this season should greatly benefit the Matadors, who welcomed five transfer players who are now eligible to play this season: Rakim Lubin (Connecticut), Reggie Theus Jr. (South Carolina), Darin Johnson (Washington), Dylan Johns (Texas A&M) and Blair Orr (Winnipeg).

The men’s team got fans on their feet with a high-flying dunk contest and concluded the night with an exciting intrasquad scrimmage.

For more information and to get the schedules for the Matador basketball teams, visit gomatadors.com

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