Opportunity is the key word third-year Chicago State Head Men's Basketball Coach Gerald Gillion used in describing the Cougars 2023-24 schedule. CSU will open the season at Bowling Green on November 6 before welcoming fans to the Jones Convocation Center on November 9 to host Mercer in the home opener, a place where the Cougars carry a nine-game home win streak.
"I'm really, really excited to get the community, the university and people in the surrounding area out to the JCC, where we were undefeated last year," Gillion said. "I'm excited to get the crowd out, get everyone pumped up, juiced up and excited about basketball. Winter's coming, so when that weather changes it means basketball is around the corner."
The Cougars will face regional foe Southern Illinois in Carbondale as part of the 2023 Men's Cancun Challenge before traveling to the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya to play a pair of games, starting with a matchup against Northern Colorado.
"This year's schedule is a great opportunity to showcase our talents and compete against some of the best programs in the nation," Gillion said. "We're excited to play different conferences, different teams, in different parts of the year. When you're playing inside a conference you're locked in to teams in that conference and we have the freedom to play in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Florida in January so that's a great opportunity for our team."
Chicago State is scheduled to play 12 home games November through February but Cougars fans will have additional opportunities to support the team in the city, with away games at Loyola, Northwestern and DePaul.
"Anytime you get a chance to compete against teams inside the city it's a great opportunity," Gillion said. I'm really looking forward to our matchups against Loyola, Northwestern and DePaul."
Chicago State returns their top two returning scorers from a year ago with Wesley Cardet, who participated in last year's NBA Draft Camp and is projected to be a 2024 second-round pick, leading the way, averaging 16.6 points per game and
Jahsean Corbett, who was selected to compete with Team Virgin Islands in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, was second, averaging 14.2 ppg. The Cougars also made news this offseason with the signing of former 5-star twins Matt and
Ryan Bewley, Matt was ranked as the No. 2 overall player in the 2023 recruiting rankings and Ryan was rated as high as No. 12.
"This is year three for our staff," Gillion continued. "We're continuing to build a foundation of excellence, both on and off the court. We were able to bring in some really good recruits and we were able to maintain what we have, especially in this era of the transfer portal. We have some experience coming back added with some phenomenal talent and it looks to be a great season if we can keep everyone healthy. We're moving in the right direction."
2023-24 Chicago State Men's Basketball Schedule
Home games listed in
Bold
All homes game scheduled to be played at the Jones Convocation Center
Times released at a later date
11/06/23 at Bowling Green
11/09/23 vs. Mercer
11/12/23 at Southern Indiana
11/14/23 vs. Cal State Northridge
11/16/23 at Southern Illinois*
11/21/23 vs. Northern Colorado*
11/22/23 vs. TBD*
11/25/23 vs. UT Martin
11/28/23 at Loyola Chicago
11/30/23 vs. Delaware State
12/03/23 vs. Stetson
12/10/23 vs. St. Thomas
12/13/23 at Northwestern
12/16/23 at Valparaiso
12/18/23 vs. UTRGV
12/20/23 vs. Bethune-Cookman
12/22/23 at Wisconsin
12/27/23 at California Baptist
12/30/23 at DePaul
01/02/24 at Kansas State
01/03/24 at Oklahoma State
01/07/24 at UTEP
01/10/24 at Fairleigh Dickinson
01/15/24 at Stetson
01/19/24 vs. East-West
01/21/24 vs. Saint Xavier
01/31/24 at Duquesne
02/10/24 at South Carolina State
02/14/24 vs. Eastern Kentucky
02/19/24 vs. Indiana University Northwest
*Neutral Site Game at Cancun Challenge at Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
About Chicago State Athletics
Chicago State University Athletics is composed of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994.
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