The Cal State Stanislaus men's basketball team will begin the new year this week with two California Collegiate Athletic Association contests on the road. Friday the Warriors face Cal State San Bernardino at Cossoulis Arena. Saturday features a game between the Warriors and Cal Poly Pomona in Pomona.

THIS WEEK'S GAMES                                                                  LAST WEEK'S GAMES
Fri. vs. Cal State San Bernardino, San Bernardino, 7:30 p.m.       NONE
Sat. vs. Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona, 7:30 p.m.

NEW YEAR BEGINS QUICK
Just one day after ringing in the new year, the Warriors will have to get back to business Friday on the road in San Bernardino to face the preseason CCAA-favorite Coyotes of Cal State San Bernardino. The Warriors will jump on the freeway and head over to Pomona Saturday for a game against the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos. The Warriors have not had great success in their first game of a new year after beginning the season in November. The team is 4-6 in their first game after New Year's Day since joining the CCAA for the 1998-99 season. The Warriors have lost their last two games that followed New Year's Day and three of the last four.

TEEVAN TEARS IT UP
Junior Chris Teevan (pictured right) moved up to second on the CCAA assist leaders list this week after the Warriors were idle over the weekend. Teevan is averaging 4.9 assists per game, one whole assist per game behind Cal State Monterey Bay's Steve Monreal, who is averaging 5.9 helpers per contest. If Teevan continues on his pace, he will finish the season with 122 assists, good enough for ninth all-time on the Warriors' single-season list. The mark will also top last season's assist leader, Duane Jones, who had 114 assists and is 10th on the single-season list. Teevan continues to lead the CCAA this week in assist/turnover ratio as well, with a +2.8 mark.

NERVES OF “STEAL”
Turnovers have not been a serious problem for the Warriors so far this season. They have had just one game where they had more turnovers than their opponent, and entering this week are the California Collegiate Athletic Association's leading team in the steals category, averaging 10.6 a game. The Warriors have a +4.3 turnover margin, third-best in the CCAA behind Humboldt State's +5.3 mark and Cal State L.A.'s +5.2. The Warriors have only had one positive turnover margin since 2002-03. The team finished with a +3.9 turnover margin in 2004-05, thanks in large part to Joel Stallworth's 74 steals that season, third-best ever in a single season at Cal State Stanislaus.

SHAKE OFF THE COBWEBS
The Warriors will play their first game in 20 days Friday at San Bernardino, no thanks to unusually strong winter weather in Las Vegas two weeks ago that led to the cancelling of the Warriors' trip to the Great Western Shootout. In addition to not playing a competitive basketball game in nearly three weeks, the team will have to try and pick up where it left off in December against preseason CCAA favorite Cal State San Bernardino. The Warriors have only had one break between games this season longer than one week. The Warriors defeated Cal Maritime 81-59 on Nov. 28 in the first game of the County Bank Classic after an eight-day layoff.

FROM DOWNTOWN!
Senior Benny Koochoie is a force to be reckoned with beyond the 3-point line, as he leads the CCAA in 3-pointers made per game with a 2.7 average. Koochoie shoots at will from deep and has knocked down 19 treys this season. He's only tied for 15th in the CCAA for 3-point shooting percentage, however, making 40.4 percent of his shots. Casey Cutts and Brandon Curtis are fifth and seventh, respectively, with 47.1 and 45 percent 3-point conversion ratings. Chris Hayes is tied for 13th, making 42.1 percent of his shots from downtown. As a team the Warriors are third in the CCAA with a 39.7 3-point percentage.

SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE
A tale of two teams will be featured Saturday in Pomona when the CCAA's highest-scoring offense (Cal State Stanislaus) meets with the conference's second-best scoring defense (Cal Poly Pomona). The Warriors are averaging 82.1 points per game as a team, but the Broncos only allow 64.2. On the flip side, the Broncos have only managed 65.8 points a game, but the Warriors have allowed an average of 73.4 points a game. The Warriors have scored at least 80 points in all of their non-conference games, but they averaged 67.5 points in their two CCAA games in December.

MAN AMONG MEN
Redshirt freshman Brandon Curtis (pictured right) is the only underclassman in the top 15 for field goal percentage in the CCAA. Curtis' 55.3 percent shooting average puts him fifth behind four seniors. Only two juniors made the list populated by players with four years of experience, which is led by Cal State Dominguez Hills senior Michael Hernandez, who is shooting 61.4 percent on the year.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
A couple of Warriors are leading the conference in some of the statistical categories. Chris Teevan is No. 1 in assist/turnover ratio with a 2.8 mark. He's second in assists per game with 4.9 … Benny Koochoie leads the CCAA with 2.7 3-pointers made per contest … as a team, Stanislaus is first in scoring offense (82.1), third in 3-point FG percentage (.397) and first in steals (10.6). The team is also third in turnover margin (+4.3), field goal percentage (.465), fourth in free throw percentage (.702) and fourth in blocked shots (3.0).

HEAD COACH KEITH LARSEN
Keith Larsen is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Warriors. He is the ninth head coach in the history of CSUS men's basketball. Since 2003, Larsen has posted a record of 52-92, including a 14-13 season in 2005-06, the program's first winning season since 2002-03. The 2005-06 team finished as one of the hottest teams in the region, posting a 9-2 record (with nine wins out of 10 during the stretch) to finish the season … Prior to joining CSUS, Larsen was the head coach at Menlo College where he posted a 81-68 record in six seasons and led the Oaks to two conference championships … He has also worked under Mike Montgomery as an assistant at Stanford (1992-97) and Bob Williams at Menlo (1987-98) … Larsen is a 1985 graduate of San Francisco State.

WARRIOR SPORTS NETWORK
Paul Scheet returns for another season as the Warriors' play-by-play announcer and will cover all home games as well as selected road games this season. The broadcasts are available on the Internet on WarriorAthletics.com and Network1Sports.com. In addition, many games will be simulcast on Cal State Stanislaus' student radio station, KCSS 91.9 FM with student Mike Maddox assisting Scheet with play-by-play and analysis duties. Check WarriorAthletics.com for more information and for a broadcast schedule.

WARRIORS ON THE WEB
Check out the Warriors men's basketball team on the web at WarriorAthletics.com — the official website of Warrior Athletics. Visitors can browse player profiles, read game results and statistics, as well as subscribe to the Warriors SMS text messaging updates. The website was newly redesigned this summer through a partnership with Internet Consulting Services.