It has been a rocky road so far for the Chico State men's basketball team in 2018-19. The Wildcats have played seven of their first nine games away from home while compiling a record of 4-5, including 3-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
 
Thursday and Saturday night, the Wildcats are finally back home for the first time in over a month. That starts a stretch in which they'll play seven of their next 10 and nine of their final 14 regular season games in Acker Gym. That isn't to say the freshman and sophomore-heavy Wildcats expect those home games to be all peaches and cream.
 
After all, the season has thus far been fairly bananas. Six of the Wildcats' first nine games have been blowouts (three wins and three losses decided by 13 points or more). They erased a 17-point deficit in one of the other games, and lost a 16-point lead in another.
 
Meanwhile, Cal State Dominguez Hills (the Wildcats' opponent Thursday), and Cal State LA (Saturday's challenger), are two CCAA sides off to very strong starts.
 
Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Mike Baca will be courtside to provide the play-by-play, broadcast locally on Newstalk 1290-AM and 102.9 FM KPAY, and simulcast on the Internet via www.chicowildcats.com. Live stats and live streaming video will also be available online.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills is 7-5 overall and 5-2 in the CCAA. The Toros had won four in a row before falling at nationally-ranked UC San Diego Saturday.
 
Cal State LA is 9-5 overall and 5-3 in the CCAA.
 
For the Wildcats, the season has been sweet at times, and nutty at others. After opening the campaign with three canceled games and two road losses, they bounced back nicely with two blowout home victories against Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay.
 
Back on the road, the 'Cats dropped a heartbreaker to Humboldt State before winning at Dominican and then-8^th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona.
 
After those wins, the Wildcats ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense and seemed to be riding high.
 
Any momentum those wins created was lost somewhere on the road back to Southern California. Chico State lost 88-72 at Cal State San Bernardino (matching the most points they have allowed in nearly six years) last Thursday and let a 16-point lead slip away in a 67-61 loss at Cal State San Marcos Saturday night.
 
There has been nothing vanilla about the Wildcats' season thus far. But they are hoping that playing in front of the home fans will help them lick their fight with inconsistency.