Chicago State Men's Basketball Opens Season At #24 Indiana

Chicago State (0-0) at No. 24 Indiana (0-0)
Date	Friday, Nov. 8, 2013
Time	7 p.m. ET
Location	Bloomington, Ind. - Assembly Hall (17,472)
Television	BTN.com $ (will air tape delay on BTN at 10:30 PM ET on Sunday, Nov. 10)
Radio	WVON 1690 AM - Emil Williams Jr. (Listen)
Live Stats	www.IUHoosiers.com
Social Media	@ChicagoStateMBB

Complete Game Notes

SERIES RECORD - The Hoosiers and Cougars have two previous meetings. Indiana won 90-69 on Nov. 19, 2006 and 97-59 on Dec. 29, 2007.

AGAINST BIG TEN TEAMS - Chicago State head coach Tracy Dildy is looking for his first victory over a Big Ten team. Previous B1G matchups included:
Nov. 11, 2011 - at Iowa (L, 96-53)
Nov. 27, 2011 - at Illinois (L, 90-43)
Dec. 29, 2012 - at Ohio State (L, 87-44)

QP IS A PRESEASON PICK - Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) was named to the Preseason All-WAC Second Team by a vote of the league's coaches.

RELATIVE GREATNESS - Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) is the nephew of former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen. Not surprising, Quinton wears No. 33.

PRESEASON POLL - The Cougars were picked to finish sixth in the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Poll by a vote of the league's coaches.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP X8 - The Cougars have eight seniors on the 2013-14 squad.

EDDIE IS READY - The final addition to the 2013-14 roster was senior Eddie Denard (Chicago, Ill./Foreman). The 6-6 forward played last year at New Orleans University but was allowed to transfer without sitting out a season due to New Orleans' APR penalties barring them from postseason play this year. Denard started all 26 games last season at UNO, averaging 5.4 points and 3.8 rebounds. Denard is from Chicago, Ill. and played high school basketball at Foreman HS. He attended UIC his freshman year of college.

THE WAC IS WHERE IT'S AT - Chicago State became an all-sport member of the WAC on July 1, 2013. The WAC is Chicago State's first conference with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2006 as a member of the Mid-Continent (now Summit League).

DEFENSE! - Chicago State limited opponents to just 69.0 points per game last season. It was the best defensive performance for a Chicago State team during the NCAA Division I era (1984-85 - present).

TIME FOR MORE FIRSTS - Chicago State earned the program's first ever conference tournament championship and first ever postseason tournament berth last season by winning the Great West Conference Tournament and earning a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Cougars fell to crosstown rival UIC in the CIT first round 80-69.

THE FIRST SINCE - Chicago State's GWC title last season was the first men's basketball championship for one of Chicago's Division I teams since UIC won the Horizon League Tournament in 2004.

WHAT ARE PROBABLE STARTERS? - Chicago State used 15 different starting lineups last season.

TAKING IT AWAY - The Cougars ranked seventh in the nation in steals per game last season by averaging 9.4 swipes a contest. The last time the Cougars finished a season ranking in the top 10 in the nation in a category was in 2008-09 when CSU ranked third in both scoring (84.2) and steals per game (10.0).

KEEPING IT -  The Cougars made a late postseason run last year by holding on to the ball. They committed 12 or less turnovers in seven of their final 10 games. In the GWC Tournament Semifinals against UTPA on March 15 they committed just seven turnovers. In the Cougars' CIT game at UIC, Chicago State turned the ball over only six times. It was the fewest turnovers since the Cougars turned it over five times at Samford on Dec. 28, 2009.

GIVE IT AWAY, GIVE IT AWAY NOW  - The Cougars were able to force turnovers down the stretch of last year also. The Cougars forced 15 or more turnovers in 16 of 2012-13's final 17 games.

AWARDS FOR NEWCOMERS  - Chicago State head coach Tracy Dildy made a name for himself as an accomplished recruiter during his time as an assistant coach. He's continued that success at Chicago State. Dildy's recruits took home Great West Conference Newcomer of the Year Awards in each of the final two seasons of the GWC. Jeremy Robinson (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) picked up GWC Newcomer of the Year honors in 2011-12 and Nate Duhon (Lansing, Mich./Sexton) earned the award last year.

FOREIGN TOUR - The Cougars traveled to Costa Rica August 10-16 to play three exhibitions against international clubs. As per NCAA rules the team earned 10 extra practices to prepare for the trip. In between basketball the team went rafting, ziplined and volunteered at a local school.

IU ROOTS - The Chicago State Athletic department is full of Indiana graduates. Assistant men's basketball coach Matt Raidbard, Associate AD for Academic Services/Senior Woman Administrator Karen Schiferl, Sports Information Director Derrick Sloboda and track and field head coach Craig Collins all earned their undergraduate degree from Indiana University.