SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (9-14, 8-9 CCAA) will begin a five-game road trip to finish its regular-season schedule by heading to No. 22 Cal State Dominguez Hills (19-4, 14-3 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. followed by a trip to RV Cal State LA (18-5, 13-4 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
LAST WEEK

• CSUSM fell 70-64 to Cal State Monterey Bay at The Sports Center on Thursday.
• The Cougars concluded their home schedule with an 80-75 victory over Stanislaus State on Saturday.
• Prior to Saturday's contest, CSUSM honored seniors Edwyn Collins, Chris Howard and Bing Huang.

 
CCAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Edwyn Collins earned CCAA Player of the Week honors for the second time this season on Tuesday.
• Against the Otters and Warriors, Collins averaged 30 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 48.8% from the field and was 16-of-19 from the free throw line, including a game where he went 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.
• In Thursday's game against Cal State Monterey Bay, Collins scored 28 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had two steals.
• He completed his second double-double of the season in the next game against Stanislaus State when he put up 32 points and 10 rebounds.

 
COUGAR FACTS

• Collins leads the CCAA in scoring with 17.0 points and 2.04 steals per game while ranking fourth in assists (3.0) and ninth in rebounds (6.3).
• Mike Pope continues to make the most 3-pointers per game in the CCAA at 2.35 while making the most in the league this season at 54.
• Charlie Henderson is the fourth-best blocker at 0.95 per game.
• Henderson also ranks third in the CCAA with a 53.6 field-goal percentage and eighth in rebounds per game at 6.5.
• The Cougars have the second-best turnover margin in the conference at 3.4 and rank 27th nationally.
• Forcing 15.48 turnovers per game, CSUSM is fourth in the CCAA and 37 in Division II.
• The Cougars have the second-best assist/turnover ratio in the league at 1.12 while ranking third in assists at 13.6 per game and third in turnovers at 12.1 per game.
• CSUSM finds itself in a three-way tie with Sonoma State and San Francisco State for sixth place in the CCAA standings with five games remaining.

THURSDAY AT NO. 22 CSUDH

• The Toros fell from No. 18 to No. 22 in this week's NABC Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
• CSUDH fell 75-65 to Cal State East Bay last Thursday at home before earning a 71-62 win against San Francisco State on Saturday.
• CSUDH's loss to the Pioneers snapped a nine-game winning streak.
• The Toros have already locked up a spot in the CCAA Tournament and have a one-game lead at the top of the CCAA standings.
• CSUDH was victorious over CSUSM in the first season meeting at The Sports Center on Dec. 2 as it left with a 73-66 win.
• The Toros have the top field-goal percentage defense in the CCAA and rank 16th nationally at 40.6%.
• CSUDH also has the best free throw percentage in the conference at 74.1%.
• The Toros are scoring the fourth-most points per game in the league at 76.3 while allowing the eighth-most points at 70.5.
• CSUDH is making the second-most 3-pointers per game in the CCAA at 8.8 while also ranking second with a 38.1 3-point field-goal percentage.
• The Toros are coming down with the fewest offensive boards in the conference at 8.30 per game and rank next-to-last with 5.7 steals per game.
• Jeremy Dent-Smith leads CSUDH in scoring at 16.8 points per game while making the third-most 3-pointers per game in the CCAA at 2.0 and ranking fifth with a 46.0 field-goal percentage.
• CSUSM has a 7-6 advantage in the all-time series against CSUDH and is 3-2 when playing the Toros in Carson.
• The Toros will be the Cougars' fifth top-25 opponent this season.

SATURDAY IN LA

• The Golden Eagles enter the week on a four-game winning streak while receiving votes in the NABC Coaches Poll.
• LA earned an 81-72 win against San Francisco State last Thursday before following that up with an 82-66 victory against Cal State East Bay on Saturday.
• The Golden Eagles are a perfect 8-0 in home games this season.
• LA is in a tie with Cal State San Bernardino for second in the CCAA standings and sits a game behind leader Cal State Dominguez Hills.
• CSUSM fell 76-65 to LA in the season's first meeting on Nov. 30 at The Sports Center.
• The Golden Eagles lead the CCAA in assist/turnover ratio (1.50), assists per game (16.9), fastbreak points per game (15.09), scoring offense (79.7), steals per game (9.4), 3-pointers per game (9.3), turnover margin (7.5), forced turnovers per game (18.78) and turnovers per game (11.3).
• LA is coming down with the fewest rebounds per game (30.09) in the CCAA while having the worst rebound margin (-8.2).
• The Golden Eagles are giving up the fourth-most points per game in the conference at 71.1.
• LA has four players scoring double figures this season in Shane Bell (13.2), Corey Cofield (12.5), Eche Okeke (12.2) and Dominic Escobar (11.1).
• CSUSM has an 8-6 lead in the all-time series at LA and is 3-3 when playing the Golden Eagles in Los Angeles.

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.