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The562’s coverage of Long Beach State men’s basketball for the 2023-24 season is sponsored by Arline & Mike Walter.
The Long Beach State men’s basketball program got two more transfers to commit last week who are coming to play for new coach Chris Acker this season. Christian Richardson and Cam Denson will both add depth and shot-blocking ability to the Beach front court.
Richardson, 7’0” 225-pounds, is from Los Angeles and comes to LBSU as a junior out of Butler Community College in Kansas where he averaged seven points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 47 games over the last two seasons.
“Experience (at BCC) has really helped him gain a tremendous amount of confidence,” Acker said of Richardson. “We are excited about what he is going to bring to our program from a rim protection standpoint, and we believe he is going to do a great job to help our program thrive.”
Richardson shot over 70 percent from the field at BCC while he helped them put together consecutive 20-win seasons.
Denson, a 6’7” 210-pound Compton native, comes to the Beach from Pacific where he played in 64 games over the last two seasons. He started 29 games last year while averaging 8.5 points and leading his team in rebounding and blocked shots. Denson’s best game came against Pepperdine when he scored a career-high 23 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. As a sophomore he shot 44.8 percent from the field.
During the COVID-affected 2020-21 campaign with Odessa College, Denson reached the NJCAA Championship for the first time as the Wranglers went 28-7 overall. Acker said he thinks of toughness, strength and a defensive mindset when he thinks of Acker.
“He’s from Long Beach and wants to come back here to win,” Acker said of Denson. “I could tell right away when I met with him he was on a mission and has a burning desire to exceed expectations. I am motivated by his mentality and will lean on his experience to help lead and anchor us defensively this upcoming season.”
Denson is the sixth Division I transfer joining the program along with Devin Askew, Ramel Lloyd Jr., Austin Johnson, TJ Wainwright and Derrick Michael Xzavierro. Those six players join junior college transfer Christian Richardson, three returners and incoming freshmen Kam Martin and Andrew Nagy.