SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (0-9, 0-3 CCAA) will ring in 2025 by traveling to Cal State East Bay (4-6, 2-2 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before heading across the bay to San Francisco State (3-7, 1-3 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT

• The Cougars last competed on Dec. 5 and 7 as they hosted then-No. 25 Cal Poly Pomona and then-No. 10 Cal State San Bernardino.
• Against the Broncos, CSUSM fell 72-65 as Micah Boone led the Cougars with 19 points and six boards.
• A late comeback fell short for the Cougars against the Coyotes as they took a 78-73 loss while Kyelin King led the game with a season-high 24 points.
• CSUSM was set to compete against Sonoma State on Dec. 21, but travel issues for the Seawolves forced the game's postponement to a later to-be-determined date.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• Donovan Watkins has the third-best assist/turnover ratio in the CCAA at 2.00.
• Dexter Stratton has the third-best free throw percentage in the conference at 87.1% while tallying the eighth-most rebounds per game at 6.2.
• Stratton and Kyelin King lead CSUSM with 12.2 and 11.0 points per game, respectively.
• The Cougars rank second in the league with 24.33 bench points per game.
• CSUSM has the fourth-best free throw percentage in the CCAA at 74.5% while making the third-most free throws per game at 15.6.

FIRST GAME OF 2025 AT CSUEB

• The Pioneers ended 2024 with a 69-65 win against San Francisco State on Dec. 22 to begin a five-game homestand and split the season series against the Gators.
• CSUEB is currently tied for fifth in the CCAA standings.
• Beril Kabamba leads East Bay with 15.2 points per game, a 46.7 field-goal percentage and an 82.7 free throw percentage.
• The Pioneers are averaging 9.8 steals per game, ranking second in the CCAA and 32nd nationally.
• CSUEB is forcing the second-most turnovers per game in the league at 16.70 and ranks 34th nationally, but it committing the most turnovers in the conference at 16.5.
• The Pioneers have the third-worst scoring offense in the CCAA at 67.3 points per game while ranking ninth in scoring defense at 73.3 points allowed per game.
• East Bay is committing the most fouls per game in the conference at 19.6.
• CSUSM has a 10-6 record in the all-time series against CSUEB despite dropping the past three games to the Pioneers.
• The Cougars will be looking for their first win in Hayward since 2017-18 when they earned a 79-71 victory.

SATURDAY IN THE SWAMP

• As previously mentioned, SF State concluded the 2024 calendar year with a 69-65 loss at Cal State East Bay on Dec. 22, extending its losing streak to three games.
• Before facing CSUSM, the Gators will host Sonoma State on Thursday night.
• The Gators are currently tied for ninth in the CCAA standings.
• SF State has the second-worst scoring offense in the CCAA at 67.2 points per game while having the third-worst scoring defense at 74.2 points allowed per game.
• The Gators rank last in the conference in both free throw percentage (63.8%) and 3-point field-goal percentage (30.3%).
• SF State has two double-digit scorers in Tyjean Burrell (14.1) and John Bakke (10.6) while Bakke leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
• Pearse Uniacke is the CCAA's top shot blocker at 2.20 per game.
• The Gators have a 9-6 lead in the all-time series against the Cougars and have won the past three meetings.
• CSUSM's last win in San Francisco came on Dec. 11, 2021, in an 89-55 blowout.

2024-25 OUTLOOK

• CSUSM will have a new look this season as 10 of its 13 student-athletes are newcomers to the program.
• Four of CSUSM's 11 newcomers are freshmen while the other six are four-year/community college transfers.
• The Cougars return three student-athletes from last year's roster in senior Uriah Foster, sophomore Max Tengan and redshirt junior Donovan Watkins.
• Tengan is CSUSM's leading scorer among returners at 9.0 points per game while dishing out 2.2 assists per game and shooting 35.8% from beyond the arc.
• CSUSM was picked to finish 10th in the 2024-25 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.

THE BOOKER FILE

• Nick Booker enters his second season at the helm of CSUSM men's basketball after he became the Cougars' third head coach in program history on June 5, 2023.
• In his first season in 2023-24, Booker's Cougars tied for eighth in the CCAA standings and earned statement wins over No. 10 Chico State and No. 22 and eventual semifinalist Cal State San Bernardino.
• Booker came to CSUSM from UC San Diego where he 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 2004 and 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.
• Booker has a career record of 10-27 (.270).