SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Finishing up a four-game road trip, the Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball team (1-4, 1-0 CCAA) will head to Northern California to face Stanislaus State (2-5, 0-1 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before facing Chico State (2-3, 1-0 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
LAST WEEK
In its pre-Thanksgiving game last Tuesday, CSUSM fell 67-53 at Point Loma with Greg Milton III leading the way with 16 points.
In its conference opener at Cal State LA on Saturday, the Cougars erased a 16-point first-half deficit and went up by as many as 24 points en route to a 78-64 victory.
Milton led CSUSM in scoring for the fifth consecutive game with 22 points in addition to six boards while the team as a whole shot a season-best 53.6% and tallied a season-best 13 steals.
The win was the Cougars’ fourth consecutive over the Golden Eagles.
COUGARS BY THE NUMBER
Milton leads the CCAA in scoring at 22.2 per game while playing a conference-high 35.8 minutes per contest. His averages rank 21st and 34th in the nation, respectively.
Jayce McCain has the second-best assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 2.88 and ranks 43rd nationally.
McCain is dishing out 4.6 assists per game to rank fifth in the league while also tallying the fifth-most steals at 2.0.
Joel Mensah’s 7.0 rebounds per game rank sixth in the CCAA while his 3.0 offensive boards per contest rank third.
CSUSM has the best turnover margin in the conference and ranks 25th nationally at 5.6.
At 9.0 steals per game, the Cougars are the best in the league while forcing the second-most turnovers at 17.0.
CSUSM is committing the fourth-fewest turnovers in the CCAA at 11.4 per game, ranking 45th nationally.
Committing 16.2 fouls per game, the Cougars have the second fewest in the conference.
Allowing 70.4 points per game, CSUSM’s scoring defense ranks third in the CCAA.
GAME 6 | STANISLAUS STATE
Date Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022
Time 7:30 p.m.
Location Turlock, Calif.
Venue Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena
Records CSUSM (1-4, 1-0 CCAA)
STAN (2-5, 0-1 CCAA)
Live Stats SideArm Stats
Live Video ($) CCAA Network
THURSDAY IN TURLOCK
Thursday’s tilt between the Cougars and Warriors will be the 11th in the all-time series dating back to 2016.
CSUSM has won the past two meetings and is 7-3 in the all-time series.
This will be the Cougars’ first visit to Turlock in nearly three years as they last traveled to Stanislaus on Jan. 11, 2020.
In contests in Turlock, CSUSM is 3-2.
Last week, the Warriors knocked off an Academy of Art team that was receiving votes nationally with a 75-69 win at home on Tuesday.
Stanislaus then fell 64-55 in its CCAA opener at Chico State on Saturday.
The Warriors have the second-best 3-point field-goal defense in the CCAA at 32.4%
Stan State ranks third in the CCAA with 8.6 steals per game.
As a team, the Warriors have the CCAA’s worst field-goal percentage at 41.4.
Averaging 15.7 points per game, Kobe Ordonio leads Stanislaus in scoring.
Benno Zecic leads the CCAA and ranks 11th national with 6.1 assists per game.
The Warriors were picked to finish sixth in the 2022 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
GAME 7 | CHICO STATE
Date Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022
Time 3 p.m.
Location Chico, Calif.
Venue Acker Gym
Records CSUSM (1-4, 1-0 CCAA)
CHICO (2-3, 1-0 CCAA)
Live Stats SideArm Stats
Live Video ($) CCAA Network
WRAPPING UP THE ROAD TRIP IN CHICO
Prior to Saturday’s game, Chico will face Cal State LA on Thursday night.
The Cougars and Wildcats will play the 13th game in the all-time series on Saturday with Chico leading the series at 7-5.
CSUSM and Chico split last year’s regular-season series with each team winning on the other’s home floor.
Meeting for a third time in the semifinals of the 2022 CCAA Tournament in Arcata, the Cougars came out on top with an 80-66 victory.
CSUSM is 2-4 when playing in Chico, winning last year’s contest 87-85 in overtime.
The Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak last Saturday by defeating Stanislaus State 64-55 in their home and CCAA opener.
Starting in just one game and playing all five, freshman Jojo Murphy leads Chico with 14.8 points per game while starting guard Joshua Hamilton averages 14.0.
Hamilton is dishing out the third-most assists per game and ranks 24th nationally at 5.4.
The Wildcats were picked to finish third in the 2022 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
A NEW CAMPAIGN
The Cougars were voted to finish second in the 2022-23 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
Nine Cougars return from the 2021-22 team, including All-CCAA first-teamer Jayce McCain and second-teamer Greg Milton III.
CSUSM is joined this year by five transfers, including sophomore Quinn Denker (West Valley College), redshirt junior Edwyn Collins (Riverside City College), graduate Zack Perlstein (Cal State East Bay), redshirt junior Bing Huang (Johnson County CC) and redshirt junior Chris Howard (Palomar College).
Rounding out the Cougars’ roster of 15 is lone freshman Jermaine Rogers II (Ruben S. Ayala HS).
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THE FOSTER FILE
Head coach B.J. Foster enters his sixth season in charge of the CSUSM Men’s Basketball program after taking over the head position in 2016.
Under his leadership, the Cougars earned their first CCAA Tournament Championship in 2022 and made their first NCAA West Regional appearance.
Prior to becoming head coach of the Cougars, Foster was an assistant coach with the team from 2013 to 2016.
Foster has tallied a career record of 80-63 (.559).
