It should surprise no one that Max Walters’ virtually encyclopedic knowledge of basketball is his defining characteristic on the court.

The Soquel High graduate has been around the game for much of his life, after all.

Now a guard for a Chico State University squad that is unbeaten (10-0) in NCAA Division II’s California Collegiate Athletic Association and 14-2 overall, Walters is the son of Soquel athletic director Stu Walters, who coached both boys’ and girls’ basketball for the Knights for various stretches over a span of nearly four decades. His older brother Sam, formerly the head coach for UC Santa Cruz’s men’s team, is now an assistant for the men’s squad at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Walters started tagging along to his father’s practices when he was about five or six and naturally absorbed everything his dad imparted to his players.

“I was always around the game because I was always around him,” the younger Walters said. “I learned a lot being around him from such a young age.”Despite his wealth of knowledge, Walters didn’t see much action at Chico State last year. Now that he’s seeing regular minutes, however, everything Walters knows is starting to shine through at both ends of the floor.

“On defense, he talks to all the other four guys and gets them all to the correct spots,” said Cevin Meador, the Wildcats’ interim head coach. “He knows where they’re all supposed to be.

“He’s not the biggest, most athletic guy, but he’s good at rebounding because he knows where the ball is going to come off (the rim). He’s got a nose for the ball — his ability to anticipate where the ball is going to go when people miss shots is really good.”

Walters had the biggest game of his college career against Chico State’s archrival, Cal Poly Humboldt, back in late November: Playing in the Lumberjacks’ gymnasium, Walters entered with the Wildcats barely clinging to a 13-11 lead and several of his teammates in foul trouble.

“Our offense was faltering,” Meador recalled. “Max came in and made three 3-pointers in a row. We needed every one of those baskets.

“It really gave us a great spark as a team.”

Walters’ first 3-pointer gave Chico State a 16-13 lead with 11:23 left in the first half. His second tied the score at 19, and his third put the Wildcats ahead 24-22 with less than eight minutes remaining in the half.

For good measure, Walters added another 3-pointer before the end of the half, helping stake the Wildcats to a 43-36 advantage at the intermission. He finished the game with 12 points — two short of the career-high 14 he scored in one game as a redshirt freshman.

“My teammates found me for open shots,” Walters said. “Then coach ran a set play for me, and I hit another before halftime.

“I was feeling super confident in that game.”

Though Walters has not scored in double digits in any game since then, he did score eight in his first career start, sinking two 3-pointers and going 2-for-2 from the foul line in Chico State’s 83-58 win over Pacific Union on Dec. 19. Entering this week’s home game against Cal State Dominguez Hills, Walters was averaging 3.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per contest.

A senior academically but a junior eligibility-wise, Walters is close to earning his bachelor’s degree in business finance. He’s unsure what he wants to do with that degree — or whether he’ll play anywhere as a grad student even though he has that option.

Walters did, however, express an interest in following his dad and brother into the coaching profession. Should he choose to go that route, Meador believes he can inspire his troops as well as he does his current teammates.

“He’s one of the best competitors we have in our program,” the Wildcats coach said. “He’s forced everyone to compete at a higher level because of the way he competes.

“He’s someone everyone has to listen to because he does everything the right way — he shows up early, puts the work in and does everything right. That trickles down to everyone because it forces everyone to hold themselves to a higher standard.”