The Chicago State men's basketball team will have a quick turnaround, playing their second game in three days, welcoming Northern Illinois to the JCC on Monday, Dec. 13 at noon.
Chicago State just hosted Illinois State Saturday and Monday's game will be the third and final game of CSU's current three-game home stand. The Redbirds snapped the Cougars modest three-game home streak, which marked the first time since the 2018-19 season when CSU won consecutive home games against East-West, Eastern Illinois and Trinity Christian, that CSU had won three straight at home.
The Huskies enter Monday's game with a 2-6 record but hold a 26-0 all-time record over the Cougars, including a 65-54 win last season in DeKalb. The last time the two teams played in Chicago was Dec. 2, 2017, a 95-77 NIU victory.
Following Monday's game, CSU will close out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a five-game road streak, with games at IUPUI (12/16), 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).
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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 three 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 continues to fill up the stat sheet for CSU, leading the team in offensive boards (21) and second in overall rebounds (64, 7.1 rpg). 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).
Scouting the Huskies...
Following a nine-day break for finals, the Huskies resume their series with Chicago State, as the two teams have met in each of the past five seasons. The contest will be just the second in the State of Illinois for NIU this season, as the Huskies defeated Eastern Illinois at home, 55-45, in their only in-state game in the first eight (Dec. 1).
Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) is averaging 16.0 points per game over the last three contests, which includes a 24-point performance in that matchup against Eastern Illinois. Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) is shooting 41.4 percent from three-point range over the last five games for the Huskies.
NIU is holding its opponents to just 29.6 percent shooting from three-point range, second-best in the Mid-American Conference and 67th nationally. The Huskies also rank second in the MAC in blocks (4.3 per game) and turnovers forced (15.0 per contest).
