SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Making it to the NCAA West Regional for the second consecutive season, the sixth-seeded Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball (19-10) team will face third-seeded RV/RV Azusa Pacific (22-7) on Friday at noon in Golden Gymnasium on the campus of Point Loma in San Diego.
FREE TICKETS FOR STUDENTS
The first 100 CSUSM students (with a valid CSUSM student ID) will receive complimentary game tickets by showing up at the CSUSM pass list table at Golden Gymnasium, thanks to the generosity of Dick Lansing and Carleen Kreider. If CSUSM advances to the semifinals and championship game, this offer will continue to be valid.
LAST WEEK
For the second consecutive season, CSUSM defeated Chico State in the semifinals of the CCAA Tournament.
The Cougars’ 104 points against the Wildcats was the most-ever scored by a single team in the CCAA Tournament. With Chico’s point total of 96, the 200 combined points was just one shy of the tournament record.
CSUSM then had a rematch with Cal State San Bernardino in the tournament’s championship game but fell 88-81 to the Coyotes.
Quinn Denker was named to the CCAA All-Tournament Team after leading the Cougars with 31 points against Chico and 26 points against the San Bernardino.
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS
This will be CSUSM’s second appearance in the NCAA West Regional after making it for the first time as the top seed last season.
CSUSM ended the regular season with the 10th-best active home winning streak at 12 games.
CSUSM had its best-ever finish in the CCAA standings as it came in second.
The Cougars tallied a perfect home record in CCAA play at 11-0.
Head Coach B.J. Foster is now two wins away from 100 for his career.
To date, CSUSM has played the toughest schedule among CCAA opponents as past opposition has accumulated a winning percentage of .539.
CSUSM had four All-CCAA selections for the second consecutive year as Greg Milton III took home first-team honors while Quinn Denker, Jayce McCain and Joel Mensah were named to the second team.
At 4.4 turnovers per game, the Cougars rank 11th nationally and lead the CCAA.
CSUSM is committing the 12th-fewest turnovers in the nation and the fewest in the league at 10.3.
With an assist/turnover ratio of 1.37, CSUSM ranks 24th in Division II and first in the conference.
The Cougars have the 30th-best 3-point field-goal percentage in the nation and rank second in the CCAA at 38.4%.
CSUSM has the best scoring defense in the conference and ranks 52nd nationally at 67.7 points allowed per game.
The Cougars 8.0 steals per game rank second in the CCAA.
Shooting 46.8% from the field, CSUSM ranks second in the league.
The Cougars are hitting 73.4% of their free throws this season – second best in the conference.
CSUSM has the second-best scoring margin in the CCAA at 4.5 points per game.
The Cougars rank third in the conference for assists per game at 14.1.
Forcing 14.76 turnovers per game, CSUSM is third in the league.
Jayce McCain is three steals from tying Danny Redmon’s career record of 147.
McCain has the second-best assist/turnover ratio in the conference and ranks 23rd nationally at 2.60. His 3.9 assists per game are the fourth best in the CCAA.
Joel Mensah ranks third in the conference with a 57.6 field-goal percentage while ranking fourth with 7.7 rebounds per game.
Greg Milton III continues to lead the Cougars in scoring and ranks third in the CCAA at 17.6 points per game while ranking sixth with a 47.8 field-goal percentage.
GAME 28 | NO. 3 SEED AZUSA PACIFIC
Date Friday, March 10, 2023
Time 12 p.m.
Location San Diego, Calif.
Venue Golden Gymnasium
Records CSUSM (19-10)
APU (22-7)
Live Stats SideArm Stats
Live Video Stretch
Tickets HomeTown Ticketing
RETURN TO THE NCAA WEST REGIONAL
CSUSM drew the No. 6 seed in this year’s NCAA West Regional being held at Point Loma.
CSUSM will be facing the other Cougars from Azusa Pacific, who enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed.
This is APU’s third consecutive NCAA West Regional appearance as it was the No.5 seed last season.
Last year, APU defeated fourth-seed Point Loma, 66-64, in the quarterfinals before falling 72-71 to eighth-seeded Alaska in the semifinals.
This past weekend at the PacWest Conference Tournament in Honolulu, APU defeated Academy of Art, 72-60, before falling 80-69 to Point Loma in the championship game.
APU finished the regular season second in the PacWest at 16-4.
Against common CSUSM opponents this season, APU was 3-5.
This will be the first meeting between CSUSM and APU since Nov. 26, 2019.
CSUSM is 2-6 in the all-time series against APU with no games occurring on a neutral floor.
CSUSM’s last win against APU occurred Nov. 21, 2017, as CSUSM earned a 78-57 victory at The Sports Center.
APU is taking the ninth-most 3-point attempts per game at 28.5 per game and is making the 12th-most 3-pointers per game at 10.5.
APU has the second-best 3-point field-goal percentage (36.8) and second-best 3-point field-goal percentage defense (32.1) in the PacWest.
Holding opponents to 66.2 points per game, APU ranks 31st nationally and second in the PacWest.
APU is outscoring opponents by 9.3 points per game and rank 35th nationally.
With 7.3 steals per game, APU ranks second in the PacWest.
Hayden Gray has leads the PacWest and ranks 33rd nationally with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.45.
Making 2.9 3-pointers per game, Ken West leads the PacWest and ranks 31st in Division II.
West leads APU in scoring at 14.3 points per game and is tied for third on the team with 5.0 rebounds.
Justin Hemsley and Nate Kleppe are tied for the team lead in rebounding at 5.5.
POTENTIAL SEMIFINAL AND CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
Joining CSUSM and APU in the regional are top-seed and host Point Loma, second-seeded Cal State San Bernardino, fourth-seeded Saint Martin’s, fifth-seeded Academy of Art, seventh-seeded Montana State Billings and eighth-seeded Northwest Nazarene.
Of the teams in this season’s NCAA West Regional, CSUSM has played the third-toughest schedule (.539) as Northwest Nazarene has played the toughest at .561 and Point Loma has played the second toughest at .550.
If CSUSM is successful in its quarterfinal game against APU, CSUSM will face the winner of second-seeded Cal State San Bernardino and seventh-seeded Montana State Billings in the semifinals on Saturday at 5 p.m.
The winner of the semifinal matchup will play in the West Region Final on Monday at 7 p.m.
CSUSM and CSUSB have faced each other three times this season with the last occurrence coming in the championship game at the CCAA Tournament on Saturday. CSUSM won the second game of the season at The Sports Center by a score of 98-85 on Jan. 28.
CSUSM and MSUB met in the second game of the season on Nov. 12 and saw the Yellowjackets come away with a 68-64 win.
CSUSM and SMU played in the season opener on Nov. 11 and saw the Saints earn an 84-72 victory.
CSUSM and PLNU faced each other in Golden Gymnasium on Nov. 22 and saw the Sea Lions take a 67-53 win. PLNU’s 67 points tied for its fewest in a game this season.
CSUSM has faced Academy of Art just one time in program history as it earned a 68-52 win over the Urban Knights on Nov. 15, 2019 in Seaside.
Like ARTU, CSUSM has only faced Northwest Nazarene once as the Nighthawks earned a 77-62 win in Portland, Oregon, on Nov. 16, 2018.
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).
THE FOSTER FILE
Head coach B.J. Foster enters his seventh 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 have made two NCAA West Regional appearances.
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 98-69 (.587).
