SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (3-14, 3-8 CCAA) will conclude its four-game road trip with visits to Cal State LA (7-11, 5-7 CCAA) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and (RV) Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-4, 11-1 CCAA) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
LAST WEEK

• CSUSM won back-to-back road contests at Cal State Monterey Bay and Stanislaus State.
• The Cougars earned a 71-64 victory over the Otters on Thursday behind Dexter Stratton's 20 points, while the team made a season-best 27 free throws on 30 attempts.
• CSUSM then earned its seventh consecutive win against the Warriors since Jan. 30, 2020. Stratton once again led CSUSM as he earned his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM leads the CCAA with 11.82 offensive rebounds per game and has the second-best rebound margin in the conference at 3.9. The Cougars are fifth in rebounds per game at 34.35.
• The Cougars making the second-most free throws per game in the conference at 16.1 on the second-most attempts at 22.6.
• CSUSM is scoring the third-most bench points in the CCAA at 23.12.
• Keavie Love has the third-best free throw percentage in the conference at 82.8 and has made the third-most free throws at 82.
• Dexter Stratton ranks seventh in the CCAA with 6.6 rebounds per game. He ranks seventh in offensive boards (2.18) and eighth in defensive rebounds (4.47).

THURSDAY AT LA

• The Golden Eagles enter the week on a two-game losing streak after falling 84-78 at Cal Poly Humboldt and 95-86 at Chico State this past weekend.
• This will be the second meeting of the year between CSUSM and LA as the Golden Eagles won 87-67 in The Sports Center on Jan. 11.
• LA's lone win since facing CSUSM was an 87-81 victory against Cal State East Bay on Jan. 18.
• The Golden Eagles are currently in a five-way tie for fifth in the CCAA standings.
• LA has the sixth-best scoring offense in the conference at 73.2 points while having the seventh-best scoring offense at 72.6 points.
• The Golden Eagles lead the league in steals per game (10.9), turnover margin (6.1) and turnovers forced per game (6.1).
• LA is the worst rebounding team in the CCAA at 26.78 per game.
• While the Golden Eagles have the third-best field-goal percentage in the conference (46.5), it has the second-worst defensive field-goal percentage (47.5).
• Corey Cofield II is scoring the fourth-most points in the CCAA at 18.5 per game while coming down with the eighth-most rebounds per game at 6.4.
• CSUSM has won the past three meetings in Los Angeles since Jan. 2, 2022 with its last loss occurring on Nov. 30, 2019.
• The Cougars hold a 4-3 record when playing the Golden Eagles on the road and are 9-7 in the all-time series.

SATURDAY AGAINST THE TOROS

• The Toros enter the week tied for the top spot in the CCAA standings with Chico State at 11-1 in conference play.
• Dominguez Hills received votes in this week's NABC Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
• The Toros won their 12th consecutive game at Chico State by a score of 79-58 last Thursday before seeing its streak end with its first conference loss at Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday, falling 90-80.
• CSUDH has the best scoring margin in the league, outscoring opponents by 7.2 points per game.
• The Toros are the top rebounding team in the conference at 38.00 per game.
• Jeremy Dent-Smith is the CCAA's third-best scorer at 18.7 points per game. He's also made the most 3-pointers (45) while having the second-best 3-point percentage (34.6).
• CSUDH claimed the first game of the season series against CSUSM on Jan. 9 at The Sports Center, winning 80-62.
• The Toros have won the past three meetings against the Cougars.
• When playing in Carson, CSUSM and CSUDH are tied at 3-3 all-time.

 
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 13-32 (.289).