The Chicago State men's basketball team returns to the road for their final non-conference games of the season, traveling to Indianapolis to take on IUPUI on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The game is the first of five consecutive road games, the first three of which will close out non-conference play (at IUPUI 12/16, at Drake 12/19 and Iowa State 12/21) before opening Western Athletic Conference play at Grand Canyon (12/30) followed by a trip to New Mexico State (1/1/2022).
The Jaguars enter Thursday's game with a 1-8 record and have lost three consecutive games, last winning at home, 61-41, over Spalding University Nov. 23. IUPUI is 1-2 at home this season. This will be the 24th meeting between the two schools, with IUPUI holding a 12-11 advantage in the all-time series, including wins in the last three contests. The two teams last played Feb. 27, 2008 with the Jaguars earning an 89-75 victory in Chicago. The last Cougars win in the series dates back to 2006 when CSU won 57-53 in March on a neutral floor (Tulsa, OK) while earning a 74-66 win at home a week earlier (2/23/06). The last time the Cougars left Indianapolis with a victory dates back to Feb. 8, 2001, when Chicago State topped IUPUI 68-58.
Information on how to follow the Cougars below:
| Chicago State Cougars at IUPUI Jaguars |
| Date | Time |
Thursday, December 16 | 7:00 p.m. CT |
| Location |
Indiana Farmers Coliseum | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Television |
ESPN+ |
| Live Stats |
Live Stats |
| Game Notes |
Chicago State Game Notes |
|
Previously...
Favour Chukwukelu came off the bench and established several season highs at Loyola Maryland. He played a season-high 29 minutes (previous high was 14) and, after converting only one three-point field goal in the previous six games, was 4-of-8 from beyond the arc for a season-high 12 points. Chukwukelu also had a season high two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Freshman Bryce Johnson who has not played in the last four games, put together a pair of impressive scoring efforts earlier this season. After not scoring in the first game against St. Thomas extending into the first half against SIUE, Johnson scored 17 second-half points to key the win. In a span of one minute, he nailed a three-point field goal (13:58), converted a traditional three-point play with a put back, foul and free throw and nailed another three pointer (12:57) to turn a one-point deficit into a seven-point Cougars lead. A little over a minute later, after SIUE cut the lead to five, he hit another three to account for 12 of CSU's 13 points in a two-minute span. Then, after being held scoreless in the first half at Pacific, he scored a game-high 24 second-half points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-9 three-point field goals.
Brandon Betson was named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for November 8-14. A junior guard from Hercules, California, he earned the honor leading the Cougars in scoring in their two season-opening wins. He opened the season with 22 points and four assists in a 77-72 win over St. Thomas, then added 18 points and three assists in a 67-56 win over visiting SIUE. On the week, he averaged 20.0 points per game on 14-of-27 shooting (.519).
Betson was an all-conference performer at each of his two previous stops, earning first-team All-Central Conference at Daytona State as a sophomore where he had seven 20+-point scoring performances with a season-high 30 and was named first-team IEAC at San Bernardino College as a freshman where he averaged 19.5 points per game with 12 20+-point scoring performances with a season-high 45 points. He also averaged 45.2 percent from the field, including 41.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
Senior Coreyoun Rushin is the only Chicago native on the Cougars roster. Rushin, a 2017 Chicago Sun-Times All-State, Chicago Public League All-City and Red-West All-Conference performer, transferred to Chicago State from Idaho State. He played in just two games last season as a transfer for the Cougars, gaining immediate eligibility based on an NCAA Division I Council vote which granted a blanket waiver to allow all Division I transfers to play immediately in 2020-21. After just two games, CSU suspended the season.
Chicago State's season-opening win over St. Thomas was head coach Gerald Gillion's first as a collegiate head coach ... That win also snapped a 28-game Cougars losing streak, dating back to December 2019, an 89-81 win over SIUE in Edwardsville, Illinois ... The game against St. Thomas was the Cougars first action in nearly a year, last playing Dec. 20, 2020, in what turned out to be a nine-game, COVID-shortened 2020-21 season ... The Cougars win over SIUE (67-56) marked the Cougars first two-game win streak over Division I opponents since the 2014-15 season (Feb. 26 vs. GCU, W, 74-70; Feb. 28 vs. Utah Valley, 65-44) ... Chicago State won three straight home games for the first time since 2018-19 after winning the first three home games of the 2021-22 season.
New Face on the Floor...
Freshman Ali Abdou Dibba is set to make his Cougars debut, joining the team in Chicago Dec. 15. The Stockholm, Bredang, Sweden native was recently cleared to travel to the United States and is expected to join his teammates on the floor at some point during the current five-game road trip.
Scouting the Jaguars...
The Jags will open a four-game homestand against Chicago State and are looking to snap a three-game skid and get the offense on track on its home floor. While IUPUI (1-8) has been stingy defensively, leading the Horizon League and ranking 65th in the country in scoring defense, the offense has struggled to make shots and take care of the ball. IUPUI comes in shooting 37.4 percent from the floor and 25.5 percent from beyond the arc while turning the ball over 18.6 times per game.
The Jaguars B.J. Maxwell and Mike DePersia are the only two players to have played significant Division I minutes at this point and have inserted two freshmen in the starting five all season long in KJ Pruitt and Boston Stanton III.
Graduate transfer and former Detroit Titan B.J. Maxwell has been IUPUI's top weapon thus far, leading the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg) and easily pacing the squad in field goal attempts (101), three-point attempts (41) and free throw attempts (28), despite missing a full game due to injury. His 101 shot attempts are more than 23 percent of the team's tries as Boston Stanton III is second on the team with 53 attempts.
