The Chicago State men's basketball team is scheduled to travel to Ames, Iowa to face Iowa State on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.
The Cyclones are currently 11-0 and ranked No. 9 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. To date, ISU has wins over two top 25 teams (No. 25 Xavier, W 82-70 and No. 9 Memphis, W 78-59) and in-state rival Iowa (W, 73-53) and is scheduled to open the Big 12 at home against No. 1 Baylor (Jan. 1).
The Chicago State men's basketball team will play their second consecutive road game and would have been coming off a road game at Drake on Sunday, Dec. 19 but that contest was postponed due to health and safety protocols within the Cougars program.
The Cougars are seeking their second consecutive road win for the first time since the 2013-14 season when the Cougars beat Idaho in Moscow, Idaho on Jan. 4, 2014 (57-55), then beat Kansas City on the road on Jan. 11 (68-66). It will be a difficult challenge as CSU is 0-8 all-time against Iowa State and are 0-15 in games against teams ranked in the AP top 25 dating back to 2003-04. The streak includes a matchup in Ames against then No. 7 Iowa State on Nov. 16, 2015, a 106-64 Cyclones win.
Scouting Iowa State...
Iowa State is currently 11-0, which is the second-best start in school history (14-0, 2013-14) while the current 11-game win streak stands alone as the third-best in school history. Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger is tied for the second-best start in Big 12 history by a first-year coach (Frank Haith, Missouri, 14-0, 2011-12; Sean Sutton, Oklahoma State, 11-0, 2006-07; Billy Gillispie, Texas A&M, 11-0, 2004-05).
Iowa State is 8-0 at Hilton Coliseum this season and shot 76.9 percent from the field in the second half of their last game (vs. Southeatern Louisiana) which was its best shooting half of the season. The Cyclones have held their last six opponents to 64 points or less and no opponent, this season, has shot better than 44 percent.
Information on how to follow the Cougars below:
| Chicago State Cougars at Iowa State Cyclones |
| Date | Time |
Tuesday, December 21 | 6:00 p.m. CT |
| Location |
Hilton Coliseum | Ames, Iowa |
| Television |
ESPN+ |
| Live Stats |
Live Stats |
| Game Notes |
Chicago State Game Notes |
|
Last time out...at IUPUI...
Dominique Alexander played a season high 33 minutes which translated into a season- and game-high 17 points. He established new season highs in field goal attempts (10), three pointers made (3) and attempted (8), free throws made (6) and attempted (6), rebounds (7). Alexander also tied a season high with four field goals made.
Coreyoun Rushin led the team in rebounds with nine at IUPUI. He also had two blocks and set a season high with three assists.
Teddy Bayi Ba Mendeng has started the last six games in a row and during that time he has averaged 6.3 rebounds per game. Coming off the bench during the first five games of the season he averaged 2.0 rebounds per game. He also had a career- and season-high four blocks against the Jaguars.
Brandon Betson scored 15 of the Cougars 27 first-half points in the win at IUPUI, helping CSU through a cold-shooting start. Betson made 5-of-10 first half shots (50 percent) as the rest of the team connected on just 4-of-21 (19 percent). Betson attempted (and missed) just one second-half shot, a three pointer and his 15 points ranked second on the team and he also pulled down a season-high six rebounds.
Jahsean Corbett struggled shooting from the field against IUPUI, making just 1-of-5 three-point attempts and 4-of-12 overall from the field. He did get to the free throw line where he converted 5-of-7 attempts (71.4 percent) and was one of just three Cougars in double figures scoring against IUPUI with 14. Corbett has scored in doubles figures in eight of 11 games this season.
After not playing in the previous three games, Carlo Marble came off the bench and established season highs in minutes played (12), field goals made (2) and attempted (4), three-point field goals made (2) and attempted (4) and points (6).
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 five 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.
Milestones...
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 ... The road win over IUPUI win was the Cougars first on the road this season and first road win since Dec. 4, 2019 at SIUE (89-81), a span of 24 games away from the Jones Convocation Center (includes two neutral site games).
