GAME #3
ART U (0-2) v. Cal State East Bay (1-1)
November 17, 2012 at 3:00 PM
San Francisco, CA -- Kezar Pavilion
Live Stats | Live Audio

TIPPING OFF
The Knights are coming off two losses in their season-opening tournament experience in Seattle, but were very encouraged about the contributions from multiple outlets over last weekend. ART U fell to two very good GNAC teams at the Sodexo Tipoff Classic, and first-year head coach Julius Barnes was tough on the Urban Knights defense, but praised their ability as a team to learn from their mistakes and build on them moving forward against a more local and familiar opponent in Cal State East Bay. It marks the first time Knights forward Rodrigo Maza will be facing his old team, and the fourth matchup between these two schools in program history.

THE GREAT KEZAR BLACKOUT
Saturday marks the home opener for the Urban Knights, and we need everyone to wear black to the game. Show your school spirit and flood the stands with darkness as the Knights play the Pioneers. Sign up for the Fan Bus today!


PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Senior guard Ameer Shamsud-din was an All-PacWest Honorable Mention last season, was picked to the Preseason All-PacWest Team earlier this month, and this past week showed that he is more than willing to live up to that expectation, averaging 21.0 points over the first two games to earn his first PacWest Men's Basketball Weekly Fantastic 15 honor of the season. Shamsud-din also became the quickest Urban Knight to break the 500-point barrier in his career, needing only 30 games to score 508 points. He's shooting .571 on the young season, including a .500 mark (5-for-10) from three-point range. It was Shamsud-din's tenth weekly honor of his career.

PIONEERS PULL OFF SPLIT TO START SEASON
The Pioneers of Cal State East Bay started off their season with a thriller against PacWest foe Notre Dame de Namur, eking out a 63-62 win over the Argos. Gabe Kindred hit a free-throw with the score tied and only 0.8 seconds left on the clock to seal the win for East Bay. The Pioneers then traveled across the Bay Bridge to take on Division I opponent USF, holding a lead in the second half but eventually falling to the Dons at the free-throw line by a score of 73-58. Kindred (12.0 ppg) and Jurrell Turner (14.0 ppg) are leading Cal State East Bay in scoring, while Nick Marshall is pulling down 8.5 rebounds per game for the Pioneers.

KNIGHTS ENTER THE ROARING TWENTIES
The Urban Knights have played two games so far, but have already had three players scoring at least 20 points in a game. Ameer Shamsud-din was good for 27 points against Seattle Pacific last Friday, the second time in his career he's had 27 and only five points off his career-high of 32. On Saturday against Central Washington, the Knights had two players reach that point, with Czar Robotham putting down 22 points and five assists and redshirt freshman Akil Johnson having a monster game with 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Johnson is currently shooting .706 from the floor in his first two games for Academy of Art.

ON THE REBOUND
After facing Cal State East Bay, the Knights will travel to Phoenix as PacWest foe Grand Canyon hosts their annual GCU Thanksgiving Holiday Classic. This year they will face off against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday and then GNAC opponent Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday. Both games will start at 7:15 Mountain Time, 6:15 Pacific.