Chico State senior guard Kevin Warren—the Wildcat of the Week—reached a big individual milestone last weekend while helping lead the Chico State men's basketball team to a pair of important season-opening victories. Warren averaged 19 points and 2.5 steals per game while knocking down 65 percent of his shots (15-of-23) to lead the Wildcats to a pair of promising wins at the Conference Crossover Classic on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.
Warren scored 25 points and swiped four steals in Saturday's 70-65 win against 21st-ranked Seattle Pacific, favorite to claim the Great Northwest Athletic Conference crown. A day prior, in a 59-51 win against Azusa Pacific (picked to finish third in the Pacific West Conference), Warren finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
Warren's 14th point against Seattle Pacific, which came on an uncontested layup after he blew past two defenders on the perimeter, gave him 1,000 collegiate points. He spent his first year at Cal State Monterey Bay before transferring to Chico State prior to the 2017 campaign.
Warren didn't just score a bunch of points this weekend, he also hit some of the team's biggest buckets. He scored 20 points in his first 14 minutes of court time against Seattle Pacific before a 12-minute scoring drought. The Wildcats never trailed again following the driving basket that ended that skid. His triple a minute later gave Chico State the lead for keeps with 3:27 to play.
Warren and the Wildcats will play their 2021-22 home opener Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Academy of Art.
