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ALL TIME SERIES - Thursday is the first ever meeting between Chicago State and Grand Canyon.
ROADKILL - Before falling at Utah Valley last Saturday, the Cougars opened WAC road play 3-0. It was the second time in school history the Cougars started 3-0 on the road in conference play. The 1999-00 team opened Mid-Continent Conference play with victories at Western Illinois, IUPUI and Oakland before losing at Southern Utah.
DOUBLE-DIGITS WINS - The Cougars' next victory will put them at 10 on the season. It will be the 10th time the Cougars record 10 victories in a season since Chicago State joined NCAA Division I in 1984-85. It will also be the third time in Division I school history the Cougars earn 10 or more wins in a year in back-to-back seasons.
MATCHING LAST YEAR - With nine wins the Cougars have already matched last year's regular season win total. The Cougars finished last season 11-22 with a pair of victories coming in the Great West Conference Tournament.
LAST TIME OUT - The Cougars shrunk a 16-point second half deficit to just two points at first place Utah Valley on Saturday (Jan. 25) before falling to the Wolverines 62-55 in Orem, Utah.
UP NEXT - Chicago State takes more than a week off before returning to the court on Saturday, Feb. 8 against Kansas City. The home WAC doubleheader will see the women play at 2 p.m. and the men follow at 4:30 p.m.
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE - Chicago State opened the season 5-0 at home. The start 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 a team-high 16 of the Cougars' 20 games this season.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN - Eight different Cougars have made a 3-pointer this season.
BLOCK PARTY -
Matt Ross (Dixon, Ill./Dixon)' 61 career blocks ranks ninth all-time in blocks at Chicago State. He needs to reach 70 blocks to catch eighth place
Jeremy Robinson (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) (2011-13). Robinson and Ross were teammates last season.
FRESH LEGS - Chicago State's freshmen have played 426 minutes this season. Last season a freshman didn't play a single minute.
QP FOR THREE -
Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) owns 120 career 3-pointers, fourth all-time in Chicago State NCAA Division I history. Third place is held by Jermaine Hicks (1997-00) and his 151 3-pointers. Royce Parran (2003-07) sits in second with 165 3-pointers. 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.
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 every game this season. Since arriving last season as a junior college transfer, Ross has started in 51 of 52 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 47.8 percent (97-of-203) 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 - 12 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) (452) will likely reach 500 this year also.
FORCING MISTAKES - Dating back to last season, the Cougars have forced double-digit turnovers in 43 straight games. The stretch includes 10 games of forcing 20 or more turnovers. This year the Cougars are averaging 8.2 steals per game, ranking 31st in the nation.
ON THE PLUS SIDE - The Cougars' +2.5 turnover margin is the best in the WAC. The total ranks 47th in the nation.
TURN, TURN, TURN - Only three times this season the Cougars have committed more turnovers than they have forced. (Alabama State, Illinois and UTPA)
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 nine 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.
GRADUATION IS A FAMILY AFFAIR - Senior
Aaron Williams (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Vocational) and his mother Tonya will both graduate this May from Chicago State.
RELATIVE GREATNESS -
Quinton Pippen (Hamburg, Ark./Hamburg) is the nephew of former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen. Not surprising, Quinton wears No. 33.
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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.
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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).
