LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Rivalry week is here. Already off to its best start in PacWest play, Biola's Men's Basketball team gets its first shot of the season at its two biggest rivals -- and two of the teams ahead of the fifth-place Eagles in the conference standings. First up is Concordia Irvine, the preseason no. 1 team in the PacWest, on Jan. 16. The big one follows two days later, as the third year of Cornerstone Cup basketball action begins on Jan. 18 at Azusa Pacific.

THIS WEEK: at Concordia Irvine (12-4. 6-1 PacWest) - Thursday Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m.; at Azusa Pacific (12-3, 7-2 PacWest) - Saturday Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

MULTIMEDIA: Live video and live statistics will be available for all games. See the links below for the direct link for each game. Biola offers free live video of all home events at portal.stretchinternet.com/biola.

BIOLA (10-5, 6-3 PacWest) AT CONCORDIA IRVINE (12-4, 6-1 PacWest): Thursday Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
It is Eagles-on-Eagles for the first time this season, with Biola looking to make a statement against CUI, which enters just a game out of first place in the PacWest standings. Dr. Dave Holmquist's squad has played Concordia tough on the road since the old Golden State Athletic Conference rivals were reunited in the NCAA, but Biola has come up just short each time in Irvine, with single-digit losses in 2017 and 2018. Michael Bagatourian was the leading scorer with 23 points the last time Biola played at Concordia, an 84-78 defeat where the home team pulled away late. Only two players from each team's starting five in that game return for this season--Bagatourian and Alex Wright for Biola, and Jamel White and Kayle Knuckles for CUI. Like Biola with Marquise Mosley and Chris Rossow, Concordia's offense has also gotten a boost from transfers this year, as all three of the team's leading scorers in conference play are newcomers. Concordia's top offensive weapon Andre Green (15.1 points-per-game in conference) is a familiar face to Biola, having played the previous three seasons at Holy Names before arriving at CUI as a graduate transfer. Green helped his new team get off to a 5-0 start to their PacWest schedule, but the win streak came to a screeching halt in Azusa as APU blew out the green and gold by 33 points back on Jan. 9. Concordia went ice cold from the floor in that one, mustering a field goal percentage of just 32.8 after never shooting below 40 percent in any of their first five PacWest games. While Concordia can usually out-shoot opponents easily, having done so in each of their six conference victories, they can be vulnerable on the glass, as they've been out-rebounded in all but two of their PacWest games thus far this season. It will be up to Biola's frontcourt of Bagatourian and Jesse Elrod, each averaging roughly eight boards per game, to try and expose that weakness on Thursday.
BIOLA (10-5, 6-3) AT AZUSA PACIFIC (12-3, 7-2 PacWest): Saturday Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video ($6.95)
APU had the challenge of starting its 2019-20 conference schedule with a road trip to Hawaii, and the Cougars dropped their first two PacWest games to Hawaii-Hilo and Chaminade, respectively. Since then, however, APU has been on a tear with six-straight victories and an opportunity for revenge against Hilo at home on Jan. 16. The Cougars have won their last two games by a combined margin of 67, and each of their PacWest victories at home has come in double-digit blowout fashion. That includes impressive wins against Point Loma and Chaminade, who have yet to lose to any other PacWest schools this season. The Eagles do have a transitive win over the Cougars thanks to their four-overtime thriller over Chaminade, and their first Cornerstone Cup road victory would go a long way towards establishing Biola as a true contender in the upper tier of the PacWest. The Cougars are led by senior forward Selom Mawugbe, who is averaging a team-high 15.2 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game in conference play. Mawugbe made a big impression with an 18-point, eight-rebound performance at Chase Gymnasium in the Cornerstone Cup opener last season, but cooled off quite a bit with just three points on 1-of-6 shooting during the rematch in Azusa. His frontcourt mate Jake Spurgeon has also taken on a bigger scoring load in his first season as a starter, shooting just over 40 percent from three-point range while averaging 12.7 points per game in PacWest play. Both Mawugbe and Spurgeon scored double digits in the Cougars' blowout of Concordia, but it was new point guard Brennan Rymer, in his first season with the Cougars after two years at University of Alaska-Anchorage, who led the way with eighteen points and eleven assists. Rymer is averaging 10.3 points and 4.6 assists per game in his first tour of the PacWest. Another strong showing from Bagatourian, who scored a game-high 24 points during the Eagles' last trip to Azusa, could go a long way towards starting off this year's Cornerstone Cup basketball battle on the right foot.
ABOUT LAST WEEK: Following their 4-OT win at Chaminade, the Eagles went ice cold at Hawaii-Hilo, shooting just 38.9 percent in a 69-63 loss to the Vulcans. Sasa Vuksanovic racked up 26 points for Hilo in the win. Biola bounced back at home against Academy of Art on Jan. 11. The Eagles staved off a late ART U rally for a 75-67 win, led by 16 points from Bagatourian and 15 from Wright. Biola at 6-3 in conference is right behind fourth-place Chaminade (6-2) and third-place Azusa (7-2) in the PacWest standings.

THRIVING UNDER PRESSURE?: Biola is just 3-4 on the road this season, which brings down the luster of the Eagles' 7-0 home record. Strangely, the Eagles have been at their best on the road when they've had more than one true road game in one week. Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist's team has a 3-1 in its road weeks with more than one true road contests. The last time this happened before this week was when Biola went 1-1 in a week that contained games at Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade. The Eagles were 2-0 earlier in the year during their road trip to the Bay Area. Now, it's a bit more difficult of back-to-back road games as the Eagles play at two of the top-three teams in the conference.

THE BIG FUNDAMENTALS: Biola is a team built on defensive execution and taking care of the little things well. So far this season, the Eagles have been doing just that. Well, that plus the addition of two explosive guards making it possible to put up points in a hurry. The Eagles are top-5 in the PacWest in assist-to-turnover ratio, free-throw shooting, defensive rebounding, points allowed, fewest fouls committed, turnover margin and more. The Eagles' execution in all these areas it what makes for close games night in and night out. It's a disciplined group that can keep up with just about any team because of that, especially on a night when they can actually get some three-pointers to fall. Outside shooting is the only area of the game where Biola isn't in the upper-echelon in the conference. It's still top-half, but not top-5. We'll see if that shifts at all as teams make their way through conference for a second time.

ALL ABOUT THE BOARDS: Alex Wright and Michael Bagatourian have been trading the team lead in rebounding all season long. Right now Wright's pulling down 7.5 rebounds-per-game to sit second in the PacWest. Bagatourian is checking in at 7.2 rebounds-per-game to be third overall in the league. This could be the second year in a row that Biola's featured at least one of the top-2 rebounders in the conference. Last year Alex Talma averaged 8.4 per game to finish second.

FAMILIAR FACES, FAMILIAR PLACES: Two of Biola's three most prominent historic rivals are on the docket this week. The trio of Azusa Pacific, Concordia Irvine and Westmont (NAIA/GSAC) are undoubtedly the top-3, but these two hold special distinction now since the rivalries can continue into the NCAA Division II era. Biola Men's Basketball has played 176 games against Azusa Pacific and Concordia Irvine, with the earliest official matchup coming back in 1960. The Eagles have a combined record of 85-91 all-time against these two schools. 

HOLM-QUEST FOR 1,000: Head Coach Dr. Dave Holmquist enters his 40th season as the head coach at Biola this season. He's coached at BU since the 1978-79 season, but took a few years off here and there along the way. The legendary coach begins the year with 937 wins at Biola and 973 wins overall to sit on the doorstep to history. Holmquist's side would need quite the remarkable year to get him to 1,000 this season, but chances are he could grasp 1,000 total victories before the end of 2020. He would be just the fifth coach in four-year college men's basketball to reach the 1,000-win plateau. The most recent to cross the threshold was Jefferson University's Herb Magee. Magee, who's coached the NCAA Division II Rams (formerly Philadelphia University) since 1967, eclipsed the 1,000-win total on February 7, 2015. Others with 1,000 officially recognized coaching victories are Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, McKendree's Harry Statham (NCAA III) and Oregon Tech's Danny Miles (NAIA). Holmquist or Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim should be the next to hit 1,000. Entering 2019-20, Boeheim has 946 officially recognized wins in his coaching career, which began back in 1976. He had 101 wins vacated by the NCAA, so when he reaches 1,000 he will technically be doing so for the second time. His Orange have averaged right at 20 wins-per-year over the last five seasons.

IT'S REAL STARTING NOW: The 2019-20 Biola Men's Basketball season has added significance in that it's the Eagles' first as full members in NCAA Division II. Back on July 12 the Biola campus received a call from the NCAA Division II Membership Committee notifying BU of its successful completion of the membership transition process. The change became official as of September 1 and now Biola is officially eligible for NCAA postseason play, national and regional rankings and official NCAA postseason honors for the first time. The Eagles are also now eligible to compete in the PacWest Conference tournament for the first time. The top-6 teams after the regular season qualify for the conference tournament. Biola finished in a tie for fifth last season and would have been into the postseason tournament had the Eagles been eligible. Azusa Pacific will host this year's tournament between March 5-7. This year Biola will also hope to finish top-8 in the NCAA Division II West Region and earn a spot in the NCAA West Regional and ultimately the national tournament. Last season, Point Loma made a postseason run all the way to the NCAA Division II title game, setting the precedent for a PacWest team to make a deep journey through the upper echelon of NCAA Division II. The Sea Lions lost in the title game to Northwest Missouri State. The PacWest had three teams (PLNU, Concordia Irvine, Chaminade) make the eight-team west regional.

UPCOMING MILESTONES:
Michael Bagatourian - 75 games played (71)
Michael Bagatourian - 500 field goals made (316)
Michael Bagatourian - 200 free throws made (131)
Michael Bagatourian - 400 rebounds (349)
Michael Bagatourian - 200 assists (144)
Michael Bagatourian - 100 steals (65)
Michael Bagatourian - 2,500 minutes (2,137)
Tyus Dennis - 50 games played (34)
Marquise Mosley - 120 games played (109)
Marquise Mosley - 2,000 minutes (1,832)
Marquise Mosley - 300 field goals made (201)
Marquise Mosley - 200 free throws made (143)
Marquise Mosley - 150 rebounds (122)
Marquise Mosley - 200 assists (208)
Marquise Mosley - 75 steals (60)
Chris Rossow - 2,500 minutes (2,324)
Chris Rossow - 300 field goals made (263)
Chris Rossow - 100 3-point field goals made (81)
Chris Rossow - 250 free throws made (205)
Chris Rossow - 300 rebounds (273)
Chris Rossow - 350 assists (304)
Chris Rossow - 100 steals (98)
Alex Wright - 1,500 minutes (1,414)
Alex Wright - 200 field goals made (138)
Alex Wright - 300 rebounds (229)
Alex Wright - 100 assists (89)
*Transfer student-athletes include numbers from other NCAA institutions

NEXT WEEK: vs Notre Dame de Namur (2-14, 1-9 PacWest) - Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.; vs. Dominican (2-13, 2-7 PacWest) - Saturday, January 25 at 4 p.m.