LOS ANGELES -After a grueling season against one of the toughest conferences in the country, the Chico State men's basketball team will travel to Cal State LA for the first round of the NCAA West Regional tournament. The Wildcats will begin the journey to the National tournament with a first-round matchup against Great Northwestern Athletic Conference member Montana State University, Billings.

Finishing the 2022-23 with a record of 13-16, the program has bounced back with Coach Greg Clink at the helm. His defense-first mentality has seen his team limit their opponents throughout the season to 69.9 points per game—the 5th best defense in the conference.

Three current 'Cats on the squad are no strangers to the NCAA West Regional: Joshua Hamilton, Kelvin Wright Jr., and Evan Oliver. These three upperclassmen were active members of the 2021-22 NCAA DII West Region Champion Wildcats.

On the same side of the bracket is fellow CCAA competitor No.2 Cal State San Bernardino; the Coyotes are one of two teams in the conference that the 'Cats could not take a win from this season. They will face off against No.7 Alaska Anchorage, the GNAC regular season champions, a team familiar to the regional stage.

On the top side of the bracket, the hosts, No.1 Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles, will take on the No. 8 Azusa Pacific from the PacWest. APU earned the automatic qualifier after besting the Point Loma Sea Lions in the conference tournament.

Below on the bracket is fellow CCAA member No.4 seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills, facing off against No.5 Central Washington, a team that reaches the West Regional after winning the GNAC tournament—their first West Regional appearance after over a decade-long drought.

The Humble Chase

Head coach Greg Clink has been at the helm of the Chico State men's basketball program for over 15 years and has found immense success at every level of the collegiate game. In his 16th season, he has amassed over 284 wins, just three games shy of Puck Smith's ('87-'08) second-most wins as the headman of Wildcat basketball. Clink creates a culture of competition and brotherhood among his squad with a mentality embedded in never backing down from a challenge. 
 
A few bits of information to know before tomorrow's regional:

• These two programs last met in 2015 at a non-conference crossover hosted by Cal State East Bay; the 'Cats took the win 96-66.
• This is the Wildcats' 16th appearance in the NCAA DII West Regional, dating back to 1958. 
• This will be the Wildcats fifth time in the NCAA DII West Regional tournament in the last decade, going the distance and winning three of the previous four they've participated in. The most recent time the Wildcats advanced to the Elite Eight was 2022, besting Alaska Fairbanks by an eighteen-point margin, traveling to Evansville to take on Augusta University.
• Joshua Hamilton, a 2022 NCAA DII West Regional Championship squad member, has found immense success in his final season with the Wildcats. Hamilton recorded his 1,000th career point with the program in January and, with 93 assists in the season, has jumped into the sixth spot on career assist leaders in Chico State men's basketball history with 305 career assists.
• In his final season with the Wildcats, Kelvin Wright Jr. has been a centerpiece of Chico State basketball, recording the program's sixth most career blocks with 68 across his career. 
• Evan Oliver has recorded his best season as a Wildcat, tallying 359 points and averaging 12.8 ppg. Oliver, playing in all 28 games off the bench this season, leads the team in scoring, steals and free throw's made, with the impressive ability to draw fouls in the paint. With one more season under his belt, he can continue edging close to the 1,000-point milestone, amassing 782 points in just three seasons.
• The 2023-24 season was coach Greg Clink's 9th 20-win season with the Chico State men's basketball program.
• Chico State averages 76.9 ppg while the Yellowjackets average 77 ppg throughout the 2023-24 season.
• MUSB's Jalen Tot was named the GNAC Player of the Year after averaging 17.5 points and shooting 52.5 percent from the field.