SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (8-13, 7-8 CCAA) will play its final two home games of the 2023-24 season this week as it hosts Cal State Monterey Bay (6-14, 4-11 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before welcoming Stanislaus State (6-15, 3-12 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in The Sports Center.
 
During halftime of the men's game on Thursday, the 2023 CSUSM women's soccer team will be honored with a banner-raising ceremony to celebrate the Cougars' CCAA Tournament Championship.

Before Saturday's game, CSUSM will honor seniors Edwyn Collins, Chris Howard and Bing Huang.
 
LAST WEEK

• The Cougars took a pair of losses to Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino in The Sports Center on Thursday and Saturday.
• CSUSM fell 71-56 to CPP before an 80-61 loss to CSUSB.

 
COUGAR FACTS

• CSUSM sits seventh in the CCAA standings and is one game behind sixth-place San Francisco State.
• The Cougars rank second in the conference for assist/turnover ratio (1.17) and assists per game (14.1).
• CSUSM has the third-best turnover margin in the league at 3.2 while also committing the third-fewest turnovers per game at 12.1.
• The Cougars are forcing the fourth-most turnovers per game at 15.29.
• Edwyn Collins is the CCAA's top stealer at 2.14 per game while ranking third in scoring (15.8), third in assist/turnover ratio (1.39) and fourth in assists per game (3.0).
• Charlie Henderson has the third-best field-goal percentage in the conference at 54.6% while ranking sixth for blocks per game (0.95) and ninth for rebounds per game (6.6).
• Mike Pope is still the CCAA's top 3-pointer shooter with an accuracy of 38.1% while making 2.52 per game.

THURSDAY AGAINST THE OTTERS

• Monterey Bay enters Thursday's contest on a seven-game losing streak.
• The Otters fell 83-82 to Cal State Dominguez Hills this past Thursday before taking an 86-65 loss to Cal State LA on Saturday.
• CSUMB has the CCAA's worst scoring defense at 78.1 points allowed per game while having the sixth-best scoring offense at 73.5 points per game.
• The Otters also rank last in steals per game (4.8), 3-point percentage defense (39.5%), turnover margin (-2.4) and turnovers forced per game (10.70).
• CSUMB ranks second in the league for defensive rebounds per game (27.10) and 3-pointers per game (9.0).
• The trio of Jailen Nelson (14.0), Charles Johnston (13.6) and Jaden Tengan (13.1) are the Otters' leading scorers.
• Johnston is the CCAA's top rebounder at 10.5 per game while ranking first for double-doubles (10) and second for field-goal percentage (65.7%).
• Nelson is averaging the second-most assists in the conference at 3.8 per game.
• The Otters took the first game of the season against the Cougars on Jan. 6 by a score of 93-88 in Seaside.
• CSUSM has a 9-4 lead in the all-time series against CSUMB and is 5-1 when playing at home.
• The Otters are currently 10th in the CCAA standings.

SENIOR DAY AGAINST THE WARRIORS

• The Warriors enter the week fresh off a pair of losses to Cal State LA (88-83) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (82-77) this past week.
• Stanislaus will head to Sonoma State on Thursday before making its way to San Marcos on Saturday.
• The Warriors have the worst field-goal percentage in the CCAA at 39.8%.
• Stan State's scoring defense ranks 10th in the conference at 73.0 points allowed per game while it is scoring the ninth-most points per game at 67.0.
• The Warriors are scoring the most bench points per game in the league at 28.24.
• John Wade III (12.5) and Dontrell Hewlett (11.8) are Stan State's leading scorers.
• Daniel Ameyaw is the conference's fourth-best rebounder at 8.1 boards per game.
• CSUSM earned a 71-42 victory against Stan State in Turlock on Jan. 4.
• The Cougars have won the past five meetings against the Warriors and are 10-3 in the all-time series.
• CSUSM is 5-1 when playing Stanislaus in San Marcos.
• The Warriors are currently next-to-last in the CCAA standings.

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.