SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (7-10, 6-5 CCAA) will head to Northern California to face No. 24 Chico State (12-4, 7-4 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Chico before taking on Cal Poly Humboldt (3-13, 0-11 CCAA) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Arcata.
 
LAST WEEK

• The Cougars took back-to-back losses against San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay at home this past week.
• CSUSM fell 69-67 against SF State as the Gators got a layup to go with 0.9 seconds remaining.
• The Cougars then took a 68-65 loss to the Pioneers as Edwyn Collins scored a career-high 30 points.

 
COUGAR FACTS

• Edwyn Collins is the CCAA's leading scorer at 16.2 points per game and has scored the most total points at 275.
• Collins also leads the conference in steals per game at 2.12 and total steals at 36.
• Collins' assist/turnover ratio of 1.39 ranks second in the league while his 3.1 assists per game rank fourth.
• Mike Pope has made the most total 3-pointers in the CCAA at 46 while also leading with 2.71 per game. He also has the top 3-point field-goal percentage at 38.3%.
• Charlie Henderson has the conference's third-best field-goal percentage at 57.1%.
• Henderson also ranks fourth in the league for blocks per game (1.06) and fifth for rebounds per game (7.4).
• CSUSM's turnover margin of 3.5 ranks 28th nationally and third in the CCAA.
• The Cougars rank third for the fewest turnovers per game in the league at 11.9 while forcing the fourth-most turnovers at 15.47.
• CSUSM's team assist/turnover ratio of 1.26 and 15.1 assists per game rank second in the CCAA.

THURSDAY IN CHICO

• Like the Cougars, the Wildcats fell in both of last week's contests.
• Chico fell 86-80 at then-unranked Cal State LA on Thursday before falling 83-74 at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday.
• As a result of its two losses, the Wildcats fell from No. 10 to No. 24 in the NABC Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
• Chico has the sixth-best 3-point field-goal defense in the nation at 29%.
• The Wildcats have the third-best scoring offense in the conference at 75.5 points per game while allowing the fourth-fewest points at 67.1.
• Chico is committing the most fouls per game in the league at 21.0.
• The Wildcats are coming down with the second-most rebounds per game in the CCAA at 37.63.
• Playing off the bench, Evan Oliver is Chico's leading scorer at 13.2 points per game while averaging nearly 22 minutes per game.
• CSUSM won the first meeting against the then-No. 10 Wildcats by a score of 61-53 on Dec. 9 at The Sports Center.
• Chico will be CSUSM's game fourth game against a ranked opponent this season.
• The Cougars and Wildcats are tied at 8-8 in the all-time series with CSUSM winning the past three meetings, but Chico has a 5-2 lead when playing at home.

SATURDAY IN ARCATA

• Sitting last in the CCAA standings, Humboldt has failed to win a single CCAA contest this season and is on a seven-game losing streak.
• Before meeting up with the Cougars, the Lumberjacks will host Sonoma State on Thursday.
• This past week, Humboldt fell 71-61 at Cal State Dominguez Hills and 81-59 at Cal State LA.
• The Lumberjacks' last win occurred on Dec. 16 at Western Oregon, taking a 79-78 victory – their lone win against a Division II opponent.
• In the CCAA, Humboldt ranks last in blocks per game (1.2), fast-break points (7.75), field-goal percentage defense (49.7), free throws made per game (8.3), defensive rebounds per game (20.50), scoring margin (-7.8) and 3-point field-goal percentage defense (39.0%).
• Rob Diaz has the fifth-best field-goal percentage in the league at 47.4% and ranks eighth with 1.53 steals per game.
• Diaz leads the Lumberjacks with 13.7 points per game.
• CSUSM is 9-5 in the all-time series against Humboldt and is 5-2 against the Lumberjacks in Arcata.
• The Cougars have won the past four games against the Lumberjacks and have victories in six of the last seven meetings.
• CSUSM has won the past three meetings by five points each.

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.