Weekly Release (PDF)

San José State at Cal State Fullerton
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014 | 2:00 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.

THIS WEEK
Cal State Fullerton returns to Titan Gym for its home opener on Saturday to host San José State with a 2 p.m. tip-off. Following their first home game of the season, the Titans will travel to USC for the second-straight year to play the Trojans at 8 p.m., Tuesday at the Galen Center.

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Cal State Fullerton will return to Titan Gym for its home opener on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. Fans can stay after the game and have a free poster signed by the team.
Cal State Fullerton students receive free admission to Titan home games with their Titan I.D. card.
Additional ticket information can be found by clicking HERE.

OPPONENTS & HISTORY
San José State | 2 p.m. | Saturday, Nov. 22 | Titan Gym
In a return game from a year ago, Cal State Fullerton will host San José State at 2 p.m., Saturday at Titan Gym. The Spartans opened the season with a 1-2 record, defeating Bethesda, 67-44, before falling to Portland, 73-68, in overtime. The Spartans most recently suffered a 63-44 loss to Pepperdine on Wednesday. After Saturday's game, San José State will return to Titan Gym on Thursday, Nov. 27, to compete in the 2014 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy.
Head-To-Head: Cal State Fullerton holds the slight edge, 26-25, in the all-time series between the Spartans and Titans. On Fullerton's home floor, CSF holds a 17-7 advantage.  In SJSU's last visit to Fullerton, the Titans were victorious by the score of 104-77 on Dec. 23, 2006.Last Meeting: Early turnovers and poor shooting plagued Cal State Fullerton as the Titans suffered an 81-59 loss at San José State on Nov. 23, 2013.

USC | 8 p.m. | Tuesday, Nov. 25 | Galen Center
USC is one of two Pac-12 opponents that Cal State Fullerton is scheduled to play this season. Tuesday will mark the second-straight year the two teams are meeting. USC opened the season with a 76-68 loss to Portland State, before  defeating Tennessee Tech, 70-58. Most recently, the Trojans suffered a 66-46 loss to Akron on Thursday competing in the Gildan Charleston Classic.
Head-To-Head: USC and Cal State Fullerton have played one another four times dating back to 2002, with the Trojans winning all four meetings. 
Last Meeting: An impressive showing in the second half could not erase a sluggish start as Cal State Fullerton fell 76-62 to USC on Nov. 19, 2013 at the Galen Center.

BE A FOLLOWER
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and Instagram (FullertonTitans). In addition, the men's basketball team has established its own Twitter presence @FullertonHoops.

HOME OPENERS
The Titans return to Cal State Fullerton on Saturday to host San Jose State in the team's 2014-15 home opener. The Titans boast a record of 28-14 in home openers as Fullerton has won 10-straight. Saturday will mark Fullerton's first home opener against San Jose State despite the teams playing one another 51 times. The Titans have a 1-1 record against current teams in the Mountain West Conference in home openers.
Reminder: Last season, The Titans shot 53.8 percent (35-of-65) from the floor, and were led by guard Alex Harris as he knocked down three 3-pointers en route to a 19-point performance as Cal State Fullerton defeated Santa Clara, 86-73, at Titan Gym in Fullerton's home opener on Nov. 16, 2013. Michael Williams added 15 points, and led the Titans with five assists while finding his way to six rebounds.

A TALE OF TWO HALVES
Cal State Fullerton opened the 2014-15 season with back-to-back losses for the first time since the 2012-13 season. In both games, an 89-72 season-opening loss at Santa Clara on Friday, and a 67-59 loss at New Mexico on Sunday, the Titans failed to overcome early deficits .
• In the first half of games this season, Cal State Fullerton is averaging 22.5 points per period, while allowing 35.5 points per half. The Titans have shot just 29.8 percent (14-of-47) from the floor and 25.0 percent (5-of-20) from three-point range, while being outrebounded 42-30.
• In the second half of games this season, the Titans hold an 86-85 edge in total points. Fullerton has shot 48.5 percent (32-of-66) from the floor and 52.0 percent (13-of-25) from three-point range in the second half while holding a 32-29 edge in rebounds.

A NEW LOOK
Second-year head coach Dedrique Taylor has five returning lettermen - including three starters - and three returning redshirts on his roster for 2014-15. In addition, the Titans have eight newcomers. Of the 16 players on Cal State Fullerton's roster, 11 have not played in a game for the Titans.

SCORING ASSISTANCE
The Titan offense averaged 67.5 points per game last season, the lowest average for a Titan team since the 2002-03 season (62.9 ppg).
Similar to the post position, the Titans have added depth in the back court to push the tempo in 2014-15.
• In two games, the newcomers have already had an impact in scoring, as senior transfer Moses Morgan leads the Titans averaging 18.5 points per game, scoring 21 at New Mexico on Sunday night.
• Lanerryl Johnson, a junior transfer from Central Arizona Junior College, is averaging 16.5 points per game, while senior guard Alex Harris leads CSF with eight assists. 
• Johnson led the Titans with 19 points at Santa Clara on Friday night, while Morgan, Johnson and Harris (12.5 ppg) are each averaging double figures.

DISCREPANCIES
After its first two games, Cal State Fullerton has made 35 trips to the free-throw line, converting 21 (.600). Titan opponents have made 67 trips to the charity stripe, making 48 (.716).

DEBUTS
Five student-athletes made their official Cal State Fullerton debuts last week: Moses Morgan, Lanerryl Johnson, Jamar Akoh, Kennedy Esume and Temjae Singleton.

AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 10 television appearances during the 2014-15 season, with the option of three additional "wild card" productions. 
The breakdown includes five appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network, two on Prime Ticket and one on ROOT Sports.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team was selected to finish eighth in the Big West Conference Preseason Media Poll, despite tying for a sixth-place finish a year ago. Defending regular season champion UC Irvine was selected to defend its title successfully, followed by UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State.

2013-14 RECAP
• Cal State Fullerton's 2013-14 campaign came to a close on March 13, 2014, when the Titans suffered a 66-56 to Long Beach State in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament held at Honda Center. Fullerton completed the year with a record of 11-20 overall as well as a 6-10 mark in Big West play, which secured CSF the No. 6 seed at the Tournament. 
• The Titans completed the 2014 season with a winning record of 8-6 at Titan Gym, but a struggling mark of 3-12 on the road and a record of 0-2 at neutral site games. 
• Cal State Fullerton completed the first half of its Big West Conference schedule with a record of 2-6, although the Titans played UC Riverside twice during the first leg, and played Hawai'i twice during the second leg. Fullerton finished the second half of conference play with a record of 4-4.
• The Titans split season series with UC Davis, UC Riverside, Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, CSUN and Long Beach State, but were swept by UC Irvine and Hawai'i .
• Cal State Fullerton used 11 different starting lineups during the season…the Titans were 7-0 when scoring over 74 points and shooting 50 percent or more from the floor. 
• Fullerton completed the second half of Big West action with a record of 4-4. During that stretch, the Titans averaged 71.6 points per game and shot 44.7 percent from the floor while knocking 53 three-pointers. Michael Williams led the Titans averaging 20.8 points per game during that stretch followed by Alex Harris (18.0 ppg).

BY THE NUMBERS
Cal State Fullerton totaled 2,092 points last season, an average 67.5 points per game. Fifty percent of the Titans' scoring from a year ago will return led by Alex Harris (420, 15.6  ppg), Josh Gentry (232, 7.5 ppg) and Steve McClellan (190, 6.1 ppg).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Cal State Fullerton completed the 2014 season with a winning record of 8-6 at Titan Gym, but a struggling mark of 3-12 on the road and a record of 0-2 at neutral site games. 
Fullerton's seven-game road losing streak from Dec. 28, 2013-Feb. 8, 2014 was its longest since a 13-game road losing streak during the 2001-02 season from Nov. 7, 2001-Feb. 28, 2002.
Fullerton averaged 70.1 points per game at home and 67.1 points per game on the road.

2013-14 TEAM NOTES
Cal State Fullerton used 11 different starting lineups during the 2013-14 season. Fullerton did not lead in a game 10 times during the year...on Feb. 15, 2014 vs. Hawai'i, the Titans lost their fourth halftime lead of the year....CSF completed non-conference action with a record of 5-9...the Titans were 7-0 when scoring over 74 points and shooting 50 percent or more from the floor...Fullerton came back three times during the season from halftime deficits to win: at Pepperdine (Dec. 4), vs. Sacramento State (Dec. 21) and vs. Long Beach State (March 1).

SHARP SHOOTER RETURNS
A Big West Conference honorable mention pick, Alex Harris appeared in 27 games making 26 starts as one of Fullerton's main offensive options a year ago. Harris finished second on the team in points per game (15.6), which also ranked ninth in the Big West. His 1.26 steals per game led the Titans while ranking seventh in the league. He recorded 22 double-figure scoring games, including eight 20-point efforts. 

2013-14 WIN-LOSS COMPARISONS
In 11 wins, the Titans shot 50.3 percent from the floor while averaging 77.5 points per game. Also, Fullerton held opponents to a shooting percentage of .407 and an average of 68.0 points per game.
In 20 losses last season, Fullerton shot a field goal percentage of .384 while averaging just 62.0 points per game. Opponents averaged 73.3 ppg and shot at a clip of .489. In addition, opponents outrebounded CSF 35.8-33.2.

Big West Basketball Tournament All-Session Tickets On Sale
Honda Center and the Big West Conference have announced that all-session tickets for the 2015 Big West Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament are now on sale.
All-session school reserved tickets are available for $69.00. These seats are located within a school's section and can be purchased through each institution's box office.
Premium all-session tickets located in the first four rows of seating are available for $149.00.  General admission all-session tickets are also available for $69.00.  These seats can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster retail outlets, or by calling 800-745-3000.
The 2015 Big West Tournament will be hosted for the fifth-straight year at Honda Center in Anaheim.  The women's tournament first round and quarterfinal games will be played at Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, March 10 and Wednesday, March 11. The men's tournament begins on Thursday, March 12 at Honda Center with four quarterfinal games.  The semifinals and championship games for both the men and women will take place Friday and Saturday at Honda Center.

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.

NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE DRAFT
Four former members of the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball program were selected in the 2014 NBA Development League Draft on Nov. 1. 
D.J. Seeley (2012-13) was the first Titan selected as the first pick of the second round by the Delaware 87ers and he has made the final roster.
Omondi Amoke (2012) was selected as the fifth pick of the second round by the Grand Rapids Drive. Michael Williams (2014), the 2014 Big West Newcomer of the Year, was selected as the 15th pick of the second round by the Sioux Fall Skyforce and he is listed on the final roster.
Sammy Yeager (2013) was chosen as the ninth pick of the seventh round by the Los Angeles D-Fenders.