SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Beginning a four-game homestand at The Sports Center, the Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (1-10, 1-4 CCAA) will face Cal State Dominguez Hills (9-3, 6-0 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before taking on Cal State LA (5-7, 3-3 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
LAST WEEKEND

• CSUSM captured its first win of the season on Thursday at Cal State East Bay with a 68-66 victory.
• This was CSUSM's first win at CSUEB since Jan. 11, 2018, snapping a five-game road skid against the Pioneers.
• The Cougars closed out the weekend with an 80-72 loss at San Francisco State on Saturday despite Keavie Love leading all scorers with 22 points, scoring 20 in the second half alone.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• Dexter Stratton and Keavie Love rank fourth and fifth in the CCAA for free throw percentage at 85.7 and 84.4, respectively.
• Stratton's 6.5 rebounds per game rank seventh in the conference.
• The Cougars are scoring the second-most bench points in the CCAA at 23.82 per game.
• CSUSM is making the second-most free throws per game in the conference at 16.0 while taking the second-most attempts at 21.7.
• The Cougars' 73.6 free throw percentage ranks fifth in the league.

THURSDAY AGAINST THE TOROS

• CSUDH enters Thursday on a seven-game winning streak after a 67-50 win against then-No. 25 Cal Poly Pomona and a 65-62 win over then-No. 23 Cal State San Bernardino.
• The Toros are 6-2 on the road this season.
• CSUDH is tied atop the CCAA standings with Chico State at 6-0.
• The Toros' scoring offense (76.5) and scoring defense (69.5) both rank third in the conference while their scoring margin (7.1) also ranks third.
• CSUDH has the worst 3-point percentage in the CCAA at 30.4 while its overall field-goal percentage of 43.5 ranks eighth.
• Leading scorer Jeremy Dent-Smith (18.3) ranks fourth in the conference while leading the league with 29 made 3-pointers this season.
• The Cougars and Toros are tied at 7-7 in the all-time series and are 4-4 when playing in San Marcos. CSUDH swept last season's series.

SATURDAY AGAINST LA

• Before traveling to San Marcos on Saturday, the Golden Eagles will visit Sonoma State on Thursday night.
• LA is 1-3 in its last four games after falling 79-63 at Cal State San Bernardino last Thursday before earning a 67-58 win at Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.
• The Golden Eagles enter the week in a four-way tie for fourth in the CCAA standings at 3-3.
• LA has the fourth-best scoring defense in the conference at 69.5 points allowed per game while maintaining the seventh-best scoring offense at 70.4 points per game.
• The Golden Eagles lead the CCAA in assists per game (14.3), steals per game (11.1), turnover margin (7.2) and turnovers forced per game (19.58).
• Rebounding has been the Toros' bugaboo this season as they rank last in boards per game (28.25) and rebound margin (-10.1).
• Corey Cofield II ranks second in the CCAA for scoring at 18.6 points per game while coming down with the fifth-most rebounds per game at 6.9.
• Jaden Lazo and Cofield ranks first and second in the CCAA with 2.50 and 2.42 steals per game, respectively.
• CSUSM is 9-6 in the all-time series against LA and is 5-3 when playing at home.
• The Cougars and Golden Eagles split last season's series as each won on the other's home floor.

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 11-28 (.282).