Preview: Chicago State Men's Basketball at UTRGV Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.

The Chicago State men's basketball team is scheduled to travel to Texas for a pair of games during the week, the first of which at UTRGV on Thursday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.

The Cougars enter the contest at UTRGV having won their first Western Athletic Conference game since March 2018 (vs. UMKC, W 96-82) when they beat California Baptist 58-56 at home last Saturday. CSU will be seeking its first road conference win since Jan. 12, 2017 when the Cougars beat Utah Valley in Orem, 70-61.

UTRGV has lost three in a row and are currently 5-11 overall and 0-4 in the WAC. Former Cougars standout Xavier Johnson plays for the Vaqueros and has played in every game to date with one start, averaging 6.7 points and 1.1 rebounds per game.

This will be the 29th meeting between the two schools with UTRGV holding a 19-9 advantage, including winners of 10 straight. The last Cougars win was in Chicago on Feb. 7, 2015 while the last time Chicago State beat UTRGV on the road dates back to Feb. 5, 2011, a 70-64 Cougars victory.

Information on how to follow the Cougars below:

Last time out...vs. California Baptist
Dominique Alexander played a career high 34 minutes and made his first start in a conference game. He tied a season high with four made field goals.

Brandon Betson scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including driving the length of the floor and making the winning shot with 1.5 seconds remaining in the game.

Noah Bigirumwami played a season high 20 minutes and tied season highs with one three-point field goal and five rebounds.

Jahsean Corbett was the leading scorer (13) and rebounder (9) and has 12 double-figure scoring games and has five games with nine or more rebounds.

Ali Dibba made his first start and scored in double figures (11) for the third time in four games.

Bryce Johnson played his second consecutive game after missing nine games due to injury.

Previously...
Brandon Betson has scored 10 or more points in 14 of 17 games this season.

Ali Dibba scored a team-high 24, leading the team in scoring against Seattle U. He established career highs in field goals made (8) and attempted (12), three-point field goals made (2) and attempted (5), assists (1) and blocks (2).

Bryce Johnson returned to the court after missing nine games due to injury. He played a season-high 29 minutes and had a season-high six rebounds to go with 10 points against Seattle U.

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 vs. 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. 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 returned to action against Seattle U, had not played since Nov. 28 due to injury and had 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.

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.

Players of the Week...
Chicago State freshman Ali Dibba was named TicketSmarter WAC Men's Basketball Freshman of the Week for December 27 through January 2, following games at Grand Canyon University and New Mexico State University. Dibba, who made his collegiate basketball debut at GCU, scored 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 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.

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) ... the Cougars earned their first Western Athletic Conference victory since March 2018 (vs. UMKC, W 96-82) when the Cougars beat California Baptist 58-56 at home on Jan. 8.

New Face on the Floor...
Freshman Ali 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.