Cal State Fullerton (7-12, 2-3) at Long Beach State (7-12, 3-2)
Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 | 4:00 PM
Walter Pyramid • Long Beach, Calif.
Game Coverage: Live Stats |Audio | CSF Release
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Webcast: ESPN3
PXP: Trent Schlom
Analyst: Richie Schueler
Sideline: Sanaz Tavassol
Streaming Audio:
Live Stats: Live in-game stats are available at www.fullertontitans.com
ON TAP: Cal State Fullerton begins a three-game road stretch on Saturday as the Titans travel to Long Beach State. The game will be aired on ESPN3. Fullerton will remain on the road and travel to UC Riverside on Thursday, Feb. 6 followed by a trip to Cal State Northridge on Saturday, Feb. 8.
THE CHALLENGE: Long Beach State's Prospector Pete and Cal State Fullerton's Tuffy have accepted a challenge for this Saturday's game at Walter Pyramid - the mascot of the losing team will have to wear the winner's jersey and tweet a photo. #TusksUp #BeatTheBeach
PROMOTIONS: When the Titans return to Titan Gym on Thursday, Feb. 13, to host UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton will be holding a mini titans basketball giveaway while supplies last.
TICKETS: Single-game tickets for all home games can be purchased online at www.FullertonTitans.com as well as in person or by calling the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Ticket Office at (657) 278-2783 from the hours of 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. On gamedays, tickets can be purchased one hour prior to tip-off at the Titan Gym ticket box office.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow @FullertonHoops for updates during the 2013-14 season.
SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE: Long Beach State (7-12, 3-2) plays at Hawai'i on Thursday before returning to Long Beach to host the Titans on Saturday. The 49ers have won two in a row including three of their last four, recording wins over UC Davis, Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge. LBSU averages 66.7 points per game.
HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. LONG BEACH STATE: Long Beach State leads the all-time series against Fullerton, 63-43, and the 49ers hold a 35-14 advantage over the Titans in Long Beach. Long Beach State has won the last three meetings against Fullerton - each last season which included a first round game at the Big West Tournament. The Titans last recorded a win at Walter Pyramid on Feb. 4, 2010 in an 81-75 overtime victory.
LAST TIME OUT VS. LONG BEACH STATE: Eighth-seeded Cal State Fullerton closed to within just four points with 6:33 remaining in the game, but a 9-1 run by top-seeded Long Beach State enabled the 49ers to pull away late, lifting them to a, 75-66, victory over the Titans on March 14, 2013 in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
ROSTER STATUS: Cal State Fullerton currently has 16 student-athletes listed on its roster, with 12 players having seen game action thus far in 2013-14. Corey Walker and Moses Morgan must redshirt the season due to NCAA transfer rules. Freshman guard Hidde Vos and junior guard James Douglas are expected to redshirt the season.
EARLY SEASON NOTES: Head coach Dedrique Taylor earned his first win as a head coach after the Titans defeated Montana State, 84-55, in Bozeman, Mont., on Nov. 9...Taylor is the fifth Titan head coach to win his first game at Cal State Fullerton...Cal State Fullerton won its season opener against a Division I opponent for the first time since a 75-67 win at BYU on Nov. 22, 1996 (the 2007-08 season opener was played against CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners as the program was in transition to Div. I status)...Cal State Fullerton's 29-point victory at Montana State was its largest margin of victory on the road since an 81-50 win at Utah on Dec. 7, 2011.
NOTES FROM UC SANTA BARBARA: Cal State Fullerton defeated UC Santa Barbara, 74-72, last Saturday, marking the first time this season that the Titans have won a game that was decided by four points or less...Fullerton holds a record of 6-1 when scoring 70 points or more and a record of 1-11 when scoring less than 70 points...the Titans remain undefeated at 7-0 when their shooting percentage is higher than their opponents' clip...Fullerton's nine made three-point field goals against the Gauchos matched a season best, while Fullerton's 19 assists set a new season high...Alex Harris scored a season-high 22 points in the win including 19 in the second half - the largest scoring total for a Titan in a single half this year...Michael Williams' eight assists in the game against UCSB set a new Fullerton season high as well as career best for the senior.
CURRENT NOTES: Cal State Fullerton has utilized seven different starting lineups during the season...Fullerton completed non-conference action with a record of 5-9......Fullerton overcame a 10-point deficit against Sacramento State on Dec. 21 – the largest deficit the Titans have overcome this year...Fullerton's 59-point total against Sacramento State marked its lowest in a win this year...the Titans are 5-0 when scoring over 74 points and shooting 50 percent or more from the floor, and in the win over Sacramento State, for the first time Fullerton won a game this year scoring less than 60 points and having less than three scorers reach double figures...Fullerton has also come back twice this season from halftime deficits to win: at Pepperdine (Dec. 4) and vs. Sacramento State (Dec. 21)...the Titans have not held a lead in a game six times this season...Cal State Fullerton won its third straight Big West Conference season opener following a 78-73 win over UC Riverside on Jan. 9. Against the Highlanders, five Titans scored in double figures - a first for Fullerton during the 2013-14 season.
INDIVIDUAL MARKERS: Michael Williams has scored in double figures in a team-leading 19 consecutive games. He has led the Titans in scoring in 11 of Fullerton's last 15 games...Williams scored a game-high 24 points against Texas Southern (Dec. 15), which also marked a Titan season high. Williams has scored at least 20 points on five occasions this year. His eight assists against UC Santa Barbara last Saturday also set a Titan season high.
Alex Harris scored a season-high 22 points in last Saturday's win over the Gauchos. He scored 19 of his 22 in the second half, the most points a Titan has scored in a single half this year. Harris' 10 made free throws against UCR on Jan. 9 also marked a Titan season best as well as career high...Steve McClellan's 13-point, 12-rebound performance against UCR marked the second Titan double-double of the season. McClellan's 13 rebounds at UC Davis last Saturday marked a Titan season best as well as career high.
IN THE BIG WEST: Entering the week, Michael Williams' average of 16.0 points per game ranks seventh in the league, and his 2.0 three-pointers per game tie for fifth...Steve McClellan's 2.37 offensive rebounds per game tie for eighth in the Big West Conference.
WIN-LOSS COMPARISONS: Cal State Fullerton has shot a higher percentage than opponents in each of its seven wins, while shooting a percentage lower than opponents in each of its 12 losses...in seven wins, the Titans have shot 50.1 percent from the floor while averaging 78.0 points per game. Also in those wins, Fullerton holds a 36.0-33.1 rebounding advantage and holds opponents to a shooting percentage of .388 and an average of 66.9 points per game.
In 12 losses this season, Fullerton is shooting a field goal percentage of .384 while averaging just 59.1 points per game while opponents average 71.3 ppg and shoot at a clip of .477. In addition, opponents outrebound CSF 35.2-33.7.
MORE COMPARISONS: The Titans have outscored opponents 558-502 in the paint this year as well as holding an advantage in bench points (376-354), but trail opponents in second chance points (181-196) and points off turnovers (257-284). In losses, the Titans have made just 218 trips to the free-throw line, compared to 297 opportunities for opponents.
ROOKIES: On Nov. 29 at the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy, Fullerton suffered a 48-46 heartbreaking loss to Miami, which saw the Titans nearly erase a 17-point deficit. In that game, head coach Dedrique Taylor inserted freshmen Sheldon Blackwell and Joe Boyd into the starting lineup. Blackwell, a 6-foot-5 guard from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is second on the team totaling 45 assists while averaging 5.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Blackwell scored a career high 14 points at USC on Nov. 19 and dished a career-best six assists vs. Miami on Nov. 29. Boyd, a 6-foot-9 forward from Scottsdale, Ariz., is averaging 3.1 ppg while adding 3.4 rpg. Boyd scored a career-high 10 points in Fullerton's 87-80 win over Texas Southern on Dec. 15, and recorded 10 rebounds at USC on Nov. 19.
NEWCOMERS: Cal State Fullerton senior Michael Williams is playing in his first year as a Titan after redshirting the 2012-13 season following a transfer from San Francisco.Williams has experienced immediate success, averaging a team-leading 16.0 points per game, scoring in double figures in 19 straight games and leading the Titans in scoring in 11 of their last 15. Williams has also scored at least 20 points on five occasions this season. Junior Steve McClellan, in his first year at Fullerton after transferring from Louisiana-Monroe, is averaging a team-leading 5.9 rebounds per game, and has recorded three games with at least 10 rebounds.
AIR TIME: Currently, Cal State Fullerton has 12 men's basketball games scheduled to be broadcast this season. Still ahead, the Titans visit to Long Beach State on Saturday will be aired on ESPN3 as well as Fullerton's Homecoming Game against Hawai'i on Saturday, Feb. 15. And also just added to the schedule, the Titans game at UCR on Thursday, Feb. 6, will be aired on ESPN3.
A NEW ERA BEGINS: Former Arizona State associate head men's basketball coach and long-time college assistant Dedrique Taylor was appointed the 11th men's basketball head coach in Cal State Fullerton history, Athletic Director Jim Donovan announced on April 3, 2013.
A NEW LOOK: Of the 16 players on Cal State Fullerton's roster, 10 had not suited up in a Cal State Fullerton uniform before the 2013-14 season.
REPLACING OFFENSE: Cal State Fullerton lost 60 percent of its scoring from last season with the departure of seniors Sammy Yeager (15.8 ppg), Kwame Vaughn (18.4 ppg) and D.J. Seeley (17.9 ppg).
TITANS IN THE NBA: Former Cal State Fullerton men's basketball player Josh Akognon became the 12th former Titan to appear in the NBA on April 10, 2013 playing four minutes and scoring two points to go with an assist for the Dallas Mavericks in their 102-91 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center. Akognon, who played two seasons for Fullerton from 2007-09, became the first Titan to appear in an NBA game since Bobby Brown (2003-07) competed for the New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009-10 season.
2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy Attracts Record Crowds: With the attendance for the final four games of the 2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy being 6,007 for the competition at Honda Center on Dec. 1, the three-day event over Thanksgiving weekend attracted a record 14,982 fans for the in-season college basketball tournament near Disneyland. The Dec. 1 total of 6,007 was a single-day record The 2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy featured a Marquette vs. San Diego State championship game at Honda Center. Other schools in the event were Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, College of Charleston, Creighton, George Washington and Miami. With the first four sessions of the 2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy being played November 28 and 29 at Titan Gym on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, the final four games were combined into one session at Honda Center. The two days of action at Titan Gym drew 3,831 on Thanksgiving Day and 5,144 on Nov. 29.The previous tournament attendance record for the three days of competition at the Anaheim Convention was 14,212 set in November 2009.