Weekly Release (PDF)

Cal State Dominguez Hills at Cal State Fullerton
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014 | 7:00 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.

THIS WEEK
After playing nine of its first 11 games away from home, Cal State Fullerton returns to Titan Gym for a four-game home stand that begins this week. The Titans host Cal State Dominguez Hills at 7 p.m., Thursday, followed by a 7 p.m., contest vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Monday.

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Cal State Fullerton will return to Titan Gym at 7 p.m., Thursday to host Cal State Dominguez Hills. The game is the first of a four-game home stand for the Titans which also includes Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Monday, Cal State East Bay on Tuesday, Dec. 30 and Seattle on Saturday, Jan. 3.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.

TOYS FOR TOTS
Cal State Fullerton is asking fans and students to bring an unused, unwrapped toy to Thursday's game in support of the Toys for Tots/Stuff-A-Bus campaign. Cal State Fullerton will deliver the toys between 3:30-4:30pm at Honda Center on Friday.
 
QUICK NOTES
• Cal State Fullerton snapped a three-game losing streak with a 65-55 victory at Nevada on Saturday. For the Titans, the victory was their first on the road this year and also halted an 11-game losing streak to the Wolf Pack.
• The Titans have eight newcomers this year. Of the 16 players on Cal State Fullerton's roster, 11 had not played in a game for the Titans prior to the 2014-15 season.
• For the first time since an 84-76 win over Long Beach State on Mar. 1, 2014, the Titans erased a halftime deficit in a 67-62 victory  against Wright State on Nov. 27. Fullerton trailed 33-28 at halftime and by as many as 13 in the first half. 

Cal State Dominguez Hills | 7:00 p.m. | Thursday, Dec. 18 | Titan Gym
Cal State Dominguez Hills enters Thursday's game with a record of 3-6. Ivan Dooley leads the Toros averaging 12.6 points per game, and as a team, Cal State Dominguez Hills averages 58.6 points per game. Thursday's game will count as an exhibition for the Toros, although for the Titans, it will count in the W/L column. Cal State Dominguez Hills opened the season with a 79-76 exhibition loss to CSUN, and the Toros have lost four straight in California Collegiate Athletic Association action.
Head-To-Head/Last Meeting: Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Dominguez Hills have played one another just once, a 107-90, victory for the Titans on Feb. 29, 1972 in Fullerton, Calif. The Titans hold a record of 55-41 against Division II programs.
Connections: Former Cal State Fullerton Titan Chris Collins is currently averaging  3.3 points per game for the Toros. Collins earned his bachelor's degree at Fullerton in spring of 2014 after playing three seasons for the Titans. He was able to use his fourth year of eligibility when transferring to
CSUDH.

Texas A&M Corpus Christi | 7:00 p.m. |Monday, Dec. 22 | Titan Gym
Texas A&M Corpus Christi (3-4) will play two games before visiting Cal State Fullerton on Monday. The Islanders will travel to Denver on Wednesday, before making their way to Southern California for games at CSUN (Saturday) and Cal State Fullerton (Monday). Texas A&M Corpus Christi averages 57.7 points per game with three players scoring in double figures: John Jordan (12.7 ppg), Bryce Douvier (10.4 ppg), and Rashawn Thomas (10. 3 ppg.)
Head-To-Head: Monday will mark the third meeting between the Titans and Islanders. The series is even at 1-1, with Texas A&M winning in Honolulu in 2002, while Fullerton scored the most recent win in Texas in 2013. The Titans are 4-7 against teams currently in the Southland Conference. 
Last Meeting: Cal State Fullerton senior Kwame Vaughn led all scorers with 18 points while grabbing six rebounds and three Titans finished in double figures Saturday afternoon as they escaped with a 63-57 victory over host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Dugan Wellness Center.

LAST WEEK
Cal State Fullerton won its first road game of the season last week behind a 22-point, five-assist effort from Alex Harris in a 65-55 victory at Nevada on Saturday. Moses Morgan also poured in 16 points in the victory.The Titans finished the week 1-1 after beginning the road trip with a 79-53 loss at Sacramento State on Thursday as the team was troubled by 15 turnovers.Harris averaged 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game last week, while Morgan contributed 15.5 points, 3.0 three-pointers and 2.5 rebounds per game.

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.

HARRIS NOTCHES FIRST CAREER PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Senior guard Alex Harris helped Cal State Fullerton to its first road win of the year as he captured his first career Big West Men's Basketball Player of the Week honor on Monday.Harris averaged a team-leading 17.0 points and 6.0 assists per game to help the Titans split a pair of road games.  He shot 42.9% (12-of-28) from the field.The 6-1 guard poured in game-highs of 22 points and five assists in CSF's 65-55 win at Nevada on Saturday, snapping a six-game road losing streak this season.  It was the fourth time this year that he eclipsed the 20-point mark, and the ninth time overall that he has recorded double-digit points. Harris also chipped in seven rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals in the win over the Wolf Pack. 

BIG WEST STATS
• Alex Harris' 14.5 points per game rank seventh in the Big West Conference. In addition, Harris is averaging 3.18 assists per game to rank 10th in the league. His 1.64 steals per game rate sixth.
• Steve McClellan's average of 6.8 rebounds per game ranks fifth in the Big West Conference, followed by Joe Boyd's average of 5.9 rpg, which rates ninth in the league.
• Josh Gentry's .917 free throw percentage currently ranks second in the Big West. 
• Lanerryl Johnson's .800 free throw percentage ranks ninth in the Big West, while his .385 three-point field goal percentage also rates ninth. In addition, Johnson's 1.82 three-point field goals per game rank eighth.
• Moses Morgan's 2.27 three-pointers per game rank third in the Big West Conference.


HITTING HIS STRIDE
Cal State Fullerton's top returning scorer, senior guard Alex Harris, is averaging a team-leading 14.5 points per game as he continues to strive toward the 1,000-point threshold in his career. He has scored double figures in nine games this season, including four 20-point efforts, but in the Titans' last five games,  Harris is averaging 19.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the floor.

COUNTING DOWN
Redshirt senior guard Alex Harris has scored 915 career points as he is just 85 short of reaching the 1,000-point threshold for his three-year career as a Titan. 

THE STARTING FIVE
Cal State Fullerton has used four different lineups this season, but last week Cal State Fullerton used senior guard Alex Harris at the point guard position with Moses Morgan, Josh Gentry, Joe Boyd and Steve McClellan. The Titans are 1-1 with their latest lineup.

OFFENSE ON THE PERIMETER
Cal State Fullerton's top three scorers are all guards. Redshirt senior Alex Harris leads the Titans averaging 14.5 points per game followed by junior guard Lanerryl Johnson (12.1 ppg) and senior guard Moses Morgan (11.1 ppg).

ON THE GLASS
Senior forward Steve McClellan leads the Titans averaging 6.8 rebounds per game followed closely by sophomore forward Joe Boyd (5.9 rpg).  In addition, McClellan averages 2.3 offensive boards per game. The redshirt senior leads the Titans shooting 53.3 percent (24-of-45) from the floor.McClellan recently posted his first double-double of the year and the fourth of his career scoring a season-high 12 points and grabbing a season-best 10 rebounds in a 74-62 loss to Pepperdine on Dec. 6.

HOW TO GET A W
Cal State Fullerton is 4-1 when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponent. The Titans are averaging 66.5 points per game and shooting 42.4 percent from the floor in their four victories, while averaging 58.6 ppg and shooting 37.7 percent from the floor in their seven losses.

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.

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).

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.