CHICAGO -Â
OPENING TIP: The Chicago State men's basketball team heads to the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Wednesday night for a non-conference showdown against BIG EAST Conference member Marquette in a live broadcast on Fox Sports Two and the Chicago State Radio Network with the opening tip slated for 8 p.m.
SCOUTING CSU: CSU heads to the Marquette contest with a record of 2-7 on the season following last Sunday's 79-67 loss at Drake with junior guard Fred Sims, Jr. scoring 25 points to lead three Cougars in double figures. Sims, Jr. is averaging 15.3 points per game while shooting a team-best 86 percent (24-of-28) from the free throw line. Senior forward/center Deionte Simmons leads the Cougars with 5,3 rebounds a game and a .576 field-goal percentage in addition to ranking second in scoring at 10.3 points per contest. Senior guard Glen Burns paces the Green and White in assists with an average of 4.0 per game to go along with scoring 7.8 points a game, and junior guard/forward Anthony Harris has tallied a team-leading 1.6 steals per game.
SCOUTING MU: Marquette, sporting a 4-2 season record heading into Wednesday's contest, opened a four-game homestand on Monday night with a tight 86-63 overtime victory over Eastern Illinois with sophomore guard/forward Sam Hauser producing a game-high 30 points on 10-15 shooting from the field and also connected on 6-of-10 from three-point range. Three players are averaging double figure scoring for the Golden Eagles, led by redshirt senior guard Andrew Rowsey's 23.3 points and 4.0 assists per game. Sophomore guard Markus Howard ranks second in scoring at 17.7 points a game, while Hauser is averaging 14.8 points and a team-leading 5.8 rebounds a game in addition to 92 percent from the line and 50 percent from the field.
SERIES HISTORY: Marquette has posted a 7-0 all-time record over Chicago State with Wednesday's game being the eighth lifetime meeting between the two schools. The Golden Eagles recorded a 91-74 win over the Cougars in the teams' last contest on Dec. 22, 2015 in Milwaukee with Sims leading CSU with 26 points that included shooting 6-of-9 from three-point range.
SIMS JOINS CSU'S 1,000-POINT CLUB: Sims, Jr. joined CSU's prestigious 1,000-point club as the 18th member in last Tuesday's East-West contest after scoring 15 points to hike his career scoring total to 1,001 points. He sits in ninth place on CSU's Division I career scoring list with 1,035 points.
TOP-10 THREE-POINT SHOOTER IN THE WAC: Senior guard Montana Byrd currently ranks second in the Western Athletic Conference's three-point field goal percentage leaders by connecting on 48 percent (13-of-27) of his shots.
SUCH THIEVERY: Harris proved to be a defensive force for CSU in its Nov. 14 game against Silver Lake as he recorded a WAC-best seven steals. He is sitting third among the league leaders in steals per game.
UP NEXT: The Cougars return to the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon for a non-conference battle against Northern Illinois in a live broadcast on the WAC Digital Network with the opening tip set for 2:05 p.m.
