Men's Basketball 12/8/2017 4:30:00 PM Corey Miggins, Sports Information Director

Chicago State Kicks Off Two-Game Road Swing Saturday at Oakland

The Cougars travel to Oakland on Saturday to begin a two-game road swing

Chicago State (2-9) at Oakland (5-4)
Date	Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017
Time	2 p.m.
Location	The Blacktop at O'Rena - Rochester, Mich.
Video	ESPN 3
Radio	CSU Radio Network
Live Stats	Oakland Live Stats
Social Media	@GoldenGrizzlies (Twitter)

CHICAGO -

OPENING TIP: The Chicago State men's basketball team hits the road again for a two-game road swing which begins Saturday afternoon at Oakland in Rochester, Mich. The non-conference contest from the O'Rena will have a live online broadcast on ESPN 3 with the opening tip set for 2 p.m.

SCOUTING CSU: CSU brings a 2-9 record into Saturday's contest in Rochester after taking the week off for final exams. Last Saturday, the Green and White fell to Northern Illinois at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center by a score of 95-77 despite having three players score in double figures with junior guard Fred Sims, Jr. (Chicago, Ill./North Lawndale) leading the team with 19 points. Sims is averaging a team-high 16.1 points a game to rank fourth in the Western Athletic Conference and is second in the league in free throw percentage as he has connected on 87 percent of his chances at the line (27-of-31). Senior forward/center Deionte Simmons (Detroit, Mich./Lewisville (Texas)) is grabbing a team-high 5.2 rebounds a game while ranking second on the team in scoring (9.5 ppg), and senior guard Glen Burns (West Memphis, Ark./West Memphis Christian) leads CSU in assists at 3.8 per game and is scoring 8.1 points per contest.

SCOUTING OU: Oakland, ranked 13th in this week's College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll, heads into the weekend with a 5-4 season record and has claimed wins in three of its last four contests. The Golden Grizzlies closed out a short two-game, in-state road swing on Wednesday night with a close 95-89 loss to host Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti. Redshirt senior guard Martez Walker leads OU in scoring at 22.6 points a game to go along with shooting 52 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line. Walker earned Horizon League Player of the Week honors after producing a scoring average of 28.7 points a game in leading the team to three wins last week. Redshirt senior guard Kendrick Nunn, a Chicago native, is second on the team with a scoring average of 21.7 points per game and leads the team in steals at 1.7 a game. Redshirt senior forward Jalen Hayes is grabbing a team-leading 9.2 rebounds a game in addition to his scoring average of 17.2 points per game.

SERIES HISTORY: OU has tallied a 16-5 record all-time against CSU which includes winning the last three games in the series in Rochester. The Golden Grizzlies posted a 107-79 win over the Cougars at the O'Rena in the team's last battle on Nov. 19, 2016 with Walker scoring 24 points to lead four players in double figures. Three players scored in double digits for the Green and White with Sims scoring 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

CSU TO HOST 150TH ANNIVERSARY GAME: The Cougars will host the CSU 150th Anniversary Throwback Game on Dec. 16 against Bradley at the Jacoby Dickens Center and plan to recognize all former players and coaches at halftime of the contest. CSU called the Dickens Center home for 35 years from 1972 to 2007.

TOP THREE-POINT SHOOTER IN THE WAC: Senior guard Montana Byrd (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) leads the Western Athletic Conference for three-point field goal percentage as he has connected on 46 percent (16-of-33) of his shots from downtown.

SIMS JOINS CSU'S 1,000-POINT CLUB: Sims, Jr. became as the 18th member of CSU's prestigious 1,000-Point Club after scoring 15 points against East-West on Nov. 21. He just surpassed former Cougar Craig Franklin (2002-05) to rank eighth on the school's D-I career scoring list with 1,099 points.

UP NEXT: The Cougars conclude their short road swing on Monday evening with a trip to Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. to face Big Ten Conference foe Northwestern live on Fox Sports One with a start time of 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

#0 Glen Burns: G; 6' 3"; Senior

#32 Montana Byrd: G; 6' 4"; Senior

#3 Deionte Simmons: F/C; 6' 8"; Senior

#14 Fred Sims, Jr.: G; 6' 4"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#0 Glen Burns
: 6' 3"; Senior
: G

#32 Montana Byrd
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G

#3 Deionte Simmons
: 6' 8"; Senior
: F/C

#14 Fred Sims, Jr.
: 6' 4"; Junior
: G

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned