SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (7-8, 6-3 CCAA) will return to The Sports Center for a pair of CCAA games this week against San Francisco State (9-8, 3-6 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before ending with Cal State East Bay (10-5, 6-3 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
LAST WEEK

• CSUSM upset then No. 22-Cal State San Bernardino by a score of 84-77 on Thursday, earning their first-ever victory against the Coyotes in San Bernardino.
• The Cougars' win against the Coyotes was their second against a top-25 opponent this season.
• CSUSM capped off the weekend with a 67-60 win at Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.
• Mike Pope led the Cougars with a career-high 25 points while making eight 3-pointers – tying for the second most in a single game in program history.

 


CCAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Edwyn Collins earned his first CCAA Player of the Week honor on Tuesday after averaging 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals and a 51.5 field-goal percentage in wins over No. 22 Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona.
• In Thursday's game against CSUSB, Collins came close to recording the CCAA's first triple-double since 2017-18 (Ty Davis, STAN). The senior guard scored 26 points (11-of-21), grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out eight assists. He added a block and two steals. 
• Saturday on the road at CPP, he scored 15 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists.
• Collins is the 11th CCAA Player of the Week selection in program history and the first since Greg Milton III on Jan. 31, 2023.

 
COUGAR FACTS

• CSUSM enters the week in a three-way tie with Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State East Bay for fourth in the CCAA standings and is just one game back of first-place Chico State, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State LA.
• The Cougars sport the 43rd-best scoring defense in Division II at 68.3 points allowed per game.
• CSUSM is taking the 32nd-most 3-point field-goal attempts in the nation and ranks second in the CCAA at 26.3 while making an average of 9.2 per game to lead the conference.
• The Cougars have the second-best assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 1.28 while dishing out the third-most assists at 15.2.
• CSUSM has the third-best 3-point field-goal percentage in the league at 35%.
• The Cougars are committing just 11.9 turnovers per game to rank third in the CCAA while forcing the fourth-most turnovers per game at 14.8. CSUSM's 2.9 turnover margin also ranks fourth.
• In the CCAA, Collins ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (1.47), second in steals per game (1.93), third in points per game (14.7) and fourth in assists per game (3.1).
• Charlie Henderson is tied for the league lead for blocks per game at 1.13 while ranking third in field-goal percentage (58.5) and fifth in rebounds per game (7.7).
• Mike Pope's 3-point percentage (40.2), 3-pointers per game (2.73) and total 3-point field goals made (41) all rank first in the conference.

 

GAME 16 | SAN FRANCISO STATE
Date	Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024
Time	7:30 p.m.
Location	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	The Sports Center
Records	CSUSM (7-8, 6-3 CCAA) SFSU (9-8, 3-6 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network
Tickets	HomeTown Ticketing

THURSDAY AGAINST THE GATORS

• The Gators will come into Thursday's contest ninth in the CCAA standings at 3-6.
• SF State fell 94-89 in overtime against Cal State Dominguez Hills last Thursday at home before earning a 72-68 victory against then-No. 21 Cal State LA on Saturday.
• The Gators are scoring the second-most bench points per game (27.82) in the CCAA and have the second-best 3-point field-goal percentage defense (30.4).
• SF State has the eighth-best scoring offense (72.0) and scoring defense (70.6) in the conference.
• Averaging 14.8 turnovers per game, the Gators are committing the second most in the CCAA.
• SF State also has the second-worst assist/turnover ratio in the CCAA at 0.73.
• Jailen Daniel-Dalton leads the Gators in scoring at 12.2 points per game while ranking eighth in the CCAA with 7.0 rebounds per game.
• CSUSM has won four of the past five meetings against SF State and hasn't fell to the Gators at home since a triple-overtime contest on Nov. 23, 2019.
• The Cougars and Gators split last season's series as CSUSM won 70-51 in San Marcos before SF State earned a 64-62 win in San Francisco.
• The Gators have a slight lead in the all-time series at 7-6 and are 4-3 in San Marcos.

 

GAME 17 | CAL STATE EAST BAY
Date	Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024
Time	3 p.m.
Location	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	The Sports Center
Records	CSUSM (7-8, 6-3 CCAA) CSUEB (10-5, 6-3 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network
Tickets	HomeTown Ticketing

FINAL JANUARY HOME GAME AGAINST THE PIONEERS

• As previously mentioned, the Pioneers are in a three-way tie with CSUSM and CSUSB in the CCAA standings at 6-3.
• Prior to facing CSUSM, CSUEB will travel to Sonoma State on Thursday.
• East Bay is on a three-game skid entering the week after falling to then-No. 21 Cal State LA by a score of 80-76 last Thursday before taking an 87-84 overtime loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday. Prior to those two games, the Pioneers fell 75-66 against then-No. 20 Chico State on Jan. 6.
• CSUEB has the fourth-best scoring margin in the conference at 6.5 while ranking fifth in scoring offense (75.1) and seventh in scoring defense (68.5).
• The Pioneers rank second in the CCAA for blocks per game (4.2), steals per game (9.1), turnover margin (4.4), forced turnovers per game (17.0), fast-break points per game (13.0) and field-goal percentage (46.5).
• Dimitros Klonaras is the conference's second-leading scorer at 15.3 points per game while ranking first for steals (2.0), tying for first in blocks (1.13) and ranking sixth for rebounds (7.3).
• CSUSM and CSUEB have alternated wins in the last six contests, winning on their own home floor.
• Last season, the Cougars took a 56-48 decision in San Marcos before the Pioneers won 75-70 in Hayward.
• CSUSM has never lost to East Bay at home in seven meetings and has the all-time series lead at 10-4.

2023-24 OUTLOOK

• First-year head coach Nick Booker takes over the reins of the CSUSM men's basketball program after spending three seasons as an assistant at UC San Diego.
• The Cougars return six from last season's roster, including Edwyn Collins, Chris Howard, Bing Huang, Jermaine Rogers II, Jack Schultz and Donovan Watkins.
• CSUSM has six newcomers for 2023-24, including transfers Uriah Foster, Charlie Henderson, Teagen Hoard, Luc Krystkowiak and Mike Pope while welcoming true freshman Max Tengan.
• The Cougars' 30-game slate includes two road exhibitions to go along with 13 home games and 15 road games in the regular season.
• CSUSM was selected to finish seventh in the 2023-24 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.

THE BOOKER FILE

• Nick Booker became the Cougars' third head coach in program history on June 5, 2023.
• Booker came to CSUSM from UC San Diego where was the Tritons' assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for three seasons beginning in June 2020.
• Prior to UCSD, Booker was the associate head coach at Eastern Washington from April 2017 through May 2020 and was named the top assistant coach in the Big Sky Conference by Stadium.
• While at Eastern Washington, Booker helped the Eagles win 59 games overall and a Big Sky Conference Championship in 2019-20 while helping develop two Big Sky Players of the Year.
• Before Eastern Washington, Booker was the director of basketball operations at Davidson College in 2016-17 after a five-year stint as an assistant coach at UC Irvine from April 2011 to March 2016, where he was also the director of basketball operations for one season prior.
• Booker's first coaching gig as an assistant came at Miramar Community College in 2006-07, and he later became the assistant coach and interim head coach at Saddleback Community College from July 2007 through August 2010.
• Booker earned his bachelor's in history at Davidson College in 2004and earned his master's in physical education from Azusa Pacific in 2010.
• At Davidson, Booker was a starter for the 2002 Southern Conference Championship team that faced Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament and contributed to back-to-back regular-season conference championships in 2001 and 2002.