The Chicago State men's basketball team will play its second road Western Athletic Conference game in as many days, traveling to Las Cruces, NM to take on the WAC preseason favorite in both the coaches' and media polls New Mexico State on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 at 5 p.m. The Aggies were scheduled to face Seattle Dec. 30 but that game will be rescheduled due to COVID protocols so the game against Chicago State will be the conference opener for the Aggies.
Saturday's game will be the 22nd meeting between the two school with the Aggies holding a 20-1 advantage. The lone Cougars victory was on Jan. 16, 2014 in Chicago by a score of 86-81. New Mexico State is 9-0 at home all-time against the Cougars.
The game also marks the conclusion of CSU's second five-game road trip of the season, starting with a victory at IUPUI and concluding against the Aggies. The Cougars are scheduled to return home for a two-game stint Jan. 6-8, hosting Seattle and California Baptist, respectively.
Information on how to follow the Cougars below:
| Chicago State Cougars at New Mexico State Aggies |
| Date | Time |
Saturday, January 1 | 5:00 p.m. CT |
| Location |
Pan American Center | Las Cruces, NM |
| Television |
ESPN+ |
| Live Stats |
Live Stats |
| Game Notes |
Chicago State Game Notes |
|
Last time out...at Grand Canyon University
Ali Dibba made his collegiate debut with a team-high 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting (1-of-2 three-point field goals), 8-of-11 free throws, with seven rebounds and two steals. The 21 points in his Cougars debut were the most since...Brandon Betson scored 22 in CSU's season-opening win vs. St. Thomas.
Brandon Betson was held to single-digit scoring for the third consecutive game after scoring in double figures in the first 11 games of the season.
J.J. Harris played a season-high 22 minutes and tied a season high with eight field goal attempts.
Coreyoun Rushin tied a season high with six field goal attempts and scored a season high 16 points.
Previously...
Dominique Alexander made his first career start at Iowa State and tied a season high with 33 minutes played. Dating back to the second half at Illinois State, he has attempted and made 16 consecutive free throws (5-5 vs. UNI, 6-6 at IUPUI and 4-4 at Iowa State, no attempts at Drake). He leads the Cougars in free throw percentage (22-24, .917) and would be tops in the WAC but is shy of qualifying based on needing two made free throws per game.
Jahsean Corbett has started every game as a freshman and had his third double-double against the Cyclones, with 14 points and 11 rebounds, leading CSU in both categories (tying Coreyoun Rushin with 11 rebounds). He established new season highs in free throws made (8) and attempted (13) and tied season highs in assists (2) and steals (3).
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.
After not playing in the previous three games, Carlo Marble came off the bench at IUPUI 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).
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 since Nov. 28 due to injury, 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.
Pierce Blount and Jincho Rivera each made their collegiate debut at Drake. Blount logged four minutes and grabbed two rebounds while Rivera played four minutes, attempting two three-point field goals and picking up one steal.
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).
New Face on the Floor...
Freshman Ali Abdou Dibba made his Cougars debut at GCU. He joined the team in Chicago Dec. 15 after missing the first month of the season. The Stockholm, Bredang, Sweden native was recently cleared to travel to the United States and made an immediate impact against the Antelopes.
Scouting New Mexico State...
Following an 11-day break between games, the NM State men's basketball team begins its quest for the program's fourth Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular-season crown in the Chris Jans coaching era when it welcomes Chicago State to the Pan American Center.
NM State was scheduled to begin its 18-game WAC schedule Thursday, Dec. 30, at Seattle U, but COVID-19 protocols within the Redhawks' program forced a postponement of that contest. The two teams have rescheduled that tilt for Monday, Feb. 21 at the Redhawk Center in Seattle, Wash.
For the second time under head coach Chris Jans and for the seventh time in the history of the program, NM State has won 11 of its first 13 games to start the season.
NM State is playing a WAC home game for the first time in 667 days Saturday. The Aggies' last WAC game inside the Pan American Center came on March 5, 2020 - an 83-60 victory over California Baptist.
NM State owns a 13-3 (.813) all-time record in WAC openers. Aggie head coach Chris Jans is 2-2 (.500) in WAC openers during his tenure in Las Cruces.
NM State has won its last 25 home games against WAC opponents dating back 2017. The Aggies' last loss to a WAC team in the Pan American Center came on Feb. 23, 2017, when they dropped an 84-72 decision to Utah Valley.
Since the start of the 2009-10 campaign, NM State owns an 80-4 (.952) record in WAC home games. Those four losses came by a combined 34 points (an average of 8.4 per game).
