Tuesday, November 18th, 10:30 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Maples Pavilion (7,233) -- Stanford, California. Television: None. Home Record: CS-Northridge 1-0, Stanford 0-0. Away Record: CS-Northridge 0-0, Stanford 1-0. Neutral Record: CS-Northridge 0-0, Stanford 0-0. Conference Record: CS-Northridge 0-0, Stanford 0-0. Series Record: Stanford leads, 3-0.

GAME NOTES: The Cal State Northridge Matadors hit the road for a string of six straight away games, beginning with a meeting against in-state rival Stanford tonight at Maples Pavilion. The Matadors opened the 2008-09 campaign on Friday at home with a victory over Cal Lutheran (73-62), but from here the team heads to New Mexico, New Jersey and Pennsylvania before returning to the Golden State. In fact, the next home date for the Matadors doesn't take place until December 9th versus Denver. As for the Cardinal, this is the first of three in a row at home and the team doesn't hit the road again until December 14th at Colorado State. Stanford's opener was against Yale on Friday, a meeting that resulted in a 75-67 victory for the visitors. Stanford has won all three previous meetings in this series, each by double digits. The most recent of those contests took place back in 1993, with that season opener going to the Cardinal by a score of 89-58. Against teams from the Big West Conference, Stanford is a stellar 69-9 through the years.

Despite shooting only 1-of-11 behind the three-point line in the first half, Northridge trailed by just a single point at the break in the opener, allowing the host team to battle back for the 11-point win. Josh Jenkins tallied a team-best 16 points, handed out four assists and logged five steals, but he also turned the ball over seven times for a team that had 22 miscues. Rob Haynes chipped in 12 points and reserve Tony Osunsanmi accounted for a game- high 14 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. In addition to forcing 22 turnovers of their own, the Matadors were rather lucky that the visitors converted a mere 34.5 percent from the field and 19-of-34 at the free-throw line. From a team that finished 20-10 a season ago and 12-4 in conference play, the Matadors are counting on Deon Tresvant to have another season like he did in 2007-08 when he led the team in scoring with 13.9 ppg, even though he came off the bench in every single contest. Jenkins (10.5 ppg) was and is a solid scorer for the program, but he knows that his job is to primarily get the ball to his teammates so they can score, something he did 191 times last year.

New Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins got his team off on the right track in the opener as they moved past Yale in an eight-point decision in New Haven. Lawrence Hill erupted for a double-double consisting of 22 points and 11 rebounds, all in just 19 minutes of action as he dealt with foul trouble. Anthony Goods shook off a 6-of-15 shooting effort from the floor to come up with his 19 points, followed by Mitch Johnson with 11 points and a team-best six assists. Had the Bulldogs not turned the ball over 19 times and shot a mere 7-of-16 at the free-throw line, the outcome could have been drastically different however. Last season Stanford, which finished up 28-8 and 13-5 versus the rest of the Pac-10, also began the campaign against an Ivy League school and in that case the Cardinal crushed Harvard at home, 111-56, which says a lot about how much this team has changed. Gone are the Lopez brothers, which means Goods is the top returning scorer for the group after putting up 10.0 ppg. Johnson (6.7 ppg) will have to score more in 2008-09, but he'll have to do so while he's also distributing the ball.

These two teams may be closer in talent than some want to believe, but with the Cardinal playing at home it is tough to pick against Stanford tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Stanford 79, Cal State Northridge 66