WAC Leading Cougars Welcome UTPA To The JCC On Saturday

Complete Game Notes (click for entire PDF)

ALL TIME SERIES - Chicago State leads the all-time series with UTPA 8-6. Both clubs were members of the Great West Conference before joining the WAC. The Cougars lost to UTPA twice in the regular season last year but won when it mattered most. Chicago State's 63-55 in the GWC Tournament Semifinals vaulted the Cougars to the GWC Tournament Championship game. 

LAST TIME OUT - In the biggest win for the Cougars under head coach Tracy Dildy, Chicago State defeated WAC favorite New Mexico State on Thursday (Jan. 16) 86-81. The Cougars were clutch down the stretch, scoring points on each of their final seven possessions. CSU made 7-of-8 3-point attempts in the second half and shot 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the floor for the game. New Mexico State entered the game with an RPI of 54. 

UP NEXT - The Cougars continue WAC play next week with their first two-game WAC road trip of the year. First up is a visit to Bakersfield on Thursday (Jan. 18) and then to Utah Valley on Saturday (Jan. 20). Utah Valley and Chicago State are the only two WAC unbeatens. 

BEST START EVER - Chicago State's 3-0 start to conference play is their best in program history since joining NCAA Division I in 1984-85.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE - Chicago State opened the season 5-0 at home. It matched CSU's best ever start to a season at home. The 2008-09 club also opened 5-0 at home. 

DOUBLE DARE - Clarke Rosenberg (Skokie, Ill./Evanston Township) has scored in double-digits in 14 of the Cougars' 17 games this season. 

CHICAGO'S FINEST - Chicago State has the most conference wins (3) of any NCAA Division I team in Chicago. 

FROM WAY DOWNTOWN - Eight different Cougars have made a 3-pointer this season.

BLOCK PARTY - Matt Ross (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) has 57 career blocks. He is tied with Terrell Ingram (1994-96) for ninth place in school history. He needs to reach 70 blocks to catch eighth place Jeremy Robinson (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) (2011-13). Robinson and Ross were teammates last season. 

QP FOR THREE - Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) owns 109 career 3-pointers, sixth all-time in Chicago State NCAA Division I history. Kevin Jones (2004-08) sits in fifth place with 111. Pippen will definitely not catch Chicago State's all-time leader in 3-pointers, David Holston (2005-09). Holston made 450 3-pointers, second in NCAA history in career treys. Only Duke's J.J. Redick (457) made more 3-pointers than Holston. 

FRESH LEGS - Chicago State's freshmen have played 373 minutes this season. Last season a freshman didn't play a single minute.\

DOUBLE TROUBLE - Six Cougars finished in double-digits in Chicago State's victory over Southern Illinois on Nov. 30 at the JCC. The last time the Cougars accomplished this task was Nov. 20, 2008 in an 84-74 win over Central Michigan. 

STARTING FIVE - The Cougars have settled into a starting lineup of Gray, Rosenberg, Pippen, Denard and Ross. It is a vast contrast to last season when the Cougars used 15 different starting combinations.

LINEUP CORNERSTONES - Matt Ross (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) and Eddie Denard (Chicago, Ill./Foreman) are the only two  Cougars to start each game this season. Since arriving last season as a junior college transfer, Ross has started in 49 of 50 Chicago State games. The only game he didn't start was Senior Night last season against Eastern Illinois when then senior Quincy Ukaigwe (Matteson, Ill./Rich Central) started for him instead.

YEAR-BY-YEAR - Clarke Rosenberg (Skokie, Ill./Evanston Township) is shooting 49.4 percent (82-of-166) this season. Up from his 41.6 percent performance last season after his 34.6 percent shooting as a freshman. Additionally, he has 11 games this season where he finished with a 50.0 percent or better shooting percentage.

TRYING FOR THREE - 10 times this season the Cougars have attempted 20 or more 3-pointers in a game.

CSU 500 - Matt Ross (Dixon, Ill./Dixon), Clarke Rosenberg (Skokie, Ill./Evanston Township) and Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) have each passed the 500 career points mark this year. Nate Duhon (Lansing, Mich./Sexton) (435) will likely reach 500 this year also. 

FORCING MISTAKES - Dating back to last season, the Cougars have forced double-digit turnovers in 40 straight games. The stretch includes 10 games of forcing 20 or more turnovers. This year the Cougars are averaging 8.0 steals per game, ranking 40th in the nation. 

ON THE PLUS SIDE - The Cougars' +3.0 turnover margin is the best in the WAC. The total ranks 32nd in the nation. 

JUST TWICE - Only two times this season the Cougars have committed more turnovers than they have forced. (Alabama State and Illinois)

SENIOR LEADERSHIP X8 - The Cougars have a WAC-high eight seniors on the squad.

REJECTED - The six blocks Matt Ross (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) recorded Nov. 8 at Indiana are the most for a Cougar in a single game during the Tracy Dildy era (2010-11 to present). 

20/20 VISION - The Cougars have already had seven 20-point performances this season. The Cougars only had five 20-point performances all of last season. 

QP IS A PRESEASON PICK - Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) was named to the 2013-14 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.
 
RELATIVE GREATNESS X2 - Chicago State assistant Dexter Young is the uncle to professional tennis player Donald Young.

RELATIVE GREATNESS X3 - Corey Gray (Houston, Texas/Hightower) is the grandson of Chicago basketball legend Paxton Lumpkin. Lumpkin played at DuSable High School where his 1954 team was the first all-black team with a black head coach to play in an Illinois High School State Association State Championship game. Lumpkin went on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters after playing collegiately at Indiana and Indiana State. Lumpkin is a member of the IHSA Hall of Fame. 

PRESEASON POLL - The Cougars were picked to finish sixth in the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Poll by a vote of the league's coaches. 
 
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 High School. He attended UIC his freshman year of college.

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).

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. 

THE FIRST SINCE - Chicago State's Great West Conference 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.

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).