CSUN at Cal State Fullerton
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015 | 7:05 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
UC Riverside at Cal State Fullerton
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015 | 6:05 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
THIS WEEK - Homecoming vs UCR
The Titans (8-13, 0-6) conclude the first half of the Big West Conference schedule with a pair of home games including the annual Homecoming Game Saturday evening vs. UC Riverside. The week begins with CSUN visiting on Thursday night in what shapes up as a critical battle for a post-season tournament berth.
NEW TITAN/HIGHLANDER FAN
Speaking of "berths" -- Fullerton Sports Media Director Andria Wenzel gave birth to Christian Raphael LeBlanc on Jan. 28. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces and is more than 20 inches long. Andria's husband, Bryson LeBlanc, is an assistant baseball coach at UC Riverside.
QUICK NOTES
Fullerton will be trying to snap a 6-game losing streak that opened Big West play and has it off to its worst conference start since the 2001-02 team opened 0-6 before getting a win. The 1987-88 team opened 0-7 but rallied to finish 7-11 in league play. The current losing streak came on the heels of a 5-game winning streak.
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.
TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Cal State Fullerton students receive free admission to Titan home games with their Titan I.D. card. A feature of Thursday's game will be a performance as mascot "Tuffy" by Demian Brown, the Big West Conference women's soccer coach of the year, who is paying off a "challenge" for students who supported his BWC championship team this season. The first 600 students will receive a free Raly Buff.
Saturday's game will be preceded by a Homecoming festival that begins at 3 p.m. in front of Titan Gym. For pre-registered guests there will be a meal from Hollywood's legendary hot dog eatery, Pink's. The Titan bookstore will have special Saturday hours of noon to 5 p.m. At halftime, President Mildred Garcia willl honor the Titans' Dance Team for their 14th national championship.
Additional ticket information can be found by clicking here. Fullerton is 5-4 in Titan Gym this season. Last season the Titans were 8-6 at home and 5-3 in home Big West contests.
LAST WEEK
The Titans played their best Big West game yet for 36 minutes before letting an 11-point lead escape their grasps and losing in overtime to first-place Long Beach State, 91-85. Alex Harris was a point shy of his career best with 28 points, Lanerryl Johnson added 16 points, Josh Gentry had 12 and Moses Morgan had 10 with Steve McClellan grabbing 12 rebounds. Mike Caffey fueled the 49ers' rally and finished with a career high of 34 points.
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vs. CSUN
Thurs., Feb. 5, 7:05 p.m. | Titan Gym
The Matadors
CSUN sits in eighth place in the Big West standings after a pair of losses last week, 84-73 at home to Hawai'i and 66-62 at UC Riverside on Saturday. The Matadors have lost four in a row. Stephan Hicks (16.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and Stephen Maxwell (15.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg) dominate the CSUN statistical page for Coach Reggie Theus. The Matadors lead the Big West in free-throw percentage at 76.0 but are a distant ninth in 3-point field goals at 2.78 made per game. CSUN is 1-10 on the road.
Head-to-Head
The Titans lead the all-time series, 39-31, and have won four of the last six. But CSUN has won 5 of the last 7 in Titan Gym.
Last Meeting
Josh Greene's shot at the buzzer didn't go and the Titans held on for an 82-81 win in Titan Gym on Feb. 27, 2014. Fullerton missed 6 of 10 free throws in the final 2:46 to squander most of a 78-68 lead. Mike Williams led Fullerton with 23 points while Stephen Maxwell paced CSUN with 25 plus 12 rebounds.
vs. UC Riverside
Sat., Feb. 7, 6:05 p.m. | Titan Gym
The Highlanders
UC Riverside travels to Long Beach State Thursday night before tangling with the Titans in a rematch of the teams' Big West opener on Jan. 8. Taylor Johns is the UCR leader with 16.5 ppg and 7.9 rpg. Jaylen Bland (15.0 ppg) and Steven Thornton (10.2 ppg) also average double figures in scoring. UCR is 1-9 on the road but leads the Big West in rebounding margin at +2.3 per game.
Head-to-Head
The Titans lead the series, 27-19, including a 16-7 edge in Titan Gym. UCR has won the last 2 meetings since Fullerton won five in a row.
Last Meeting
UCR won 84-78 in overtime on Jan. 8 of this season in Riverside. The Highlanders jumped out to an 18-point first-half lead and still were ahead by 13 at the half behind 18 points by Taylor Johns. But Fullerton fought back behind Lanerryl Johnson (16 points in the second half) and took a 3-point lead with 90 seconds to play. UCR tied the game with 10 seconds left in regulation when Steve McClellan fouled out and Nick Gruninger hit two free throws. UCR never trailed in overtime despite Johnson's 11 points on his way to a total of 29. Alex Harris had 25 and Johns finished with 29.
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CLOSE... BUT STILL SEEKING A "W"
Fullerton has been very competitive despite the results in Big West play with the exception of a bad second half at UCSB. In a sentence:
• at UCR, they rallied from 18 points down to lead by 3 at 1:30 of regulation only to lose in OT.
• vs. UCI they rallied from 17 down to close within 3 points as late as the 0:15 mark
• vs. UC Davis they rallied from 16 down to close within 5 points as late as 2:08
• at Cal Poly they rallied from 15 down to close within 5 as late as 4:42
• at UCSB they led by 5 at the half but were outscored 21-4 in the first 10 minutes of the second period
• vs. Long Beach State, the Titans let an 11-point lead with 4 minutes to play get away and lost in overtime.
BIG WEST STATS
(in All games)
• the Titans rank 3rd in rebound margin at +1.8
• individually, Josh Gentry ranks 1st in free-throw percentage (.911)
• Steve McClellan ranks 2nd in rebounding (8.2)
• Alex Harris ranks 6th in scoring (15.9 ppg), 8th in assists (3.33 apg) and 5th in steals (1.48)
• Lanerryl Johnson ranks 4th in free-throw percentage (.841), 11th in scoring (12.9), 8th in made 3-pointers (1.95) and 7th in 3-pt percentage (.423)
(in Big West games only)
• Steve McClellan is 1st in rebounding (11.0)
• Lanerryl Johnson is 6th in scoring (15.7), T5th in 3-pt FGs made (2.17) and 4th in free-throw percentage (.895)
• Alex Harris is 3rd in scoring (17.0), 5th in steals (1.67), and 8th in assists (3.00)
HARRIS CLIMBING IN CLUB 1,000
Alex Harris begins the week with 1,089 career points. He became the 23rd Titan to score 1,000 with a late first-half jumper at UC Riverside on Jan. 8. Later in the game he moved up to the No. 22 spot ahead of Joe Small (at 1,011). Against UCI on Jan. 15 he passed Mike Niles (at 1,014) and Agee Ward (at 1,017). Against UC Davis on Jan. 17 he passed D. J. Seeley (at 1,037) and Mark Hill (at 1,040) to move into the No. 18 spot. And against Long Beach State he moved up to No. 17, passing Kwame Vaughn at 1,072. At No. 16 is Pape Sow with 1,135. At his current pace, Harris could approach the Top Ten (Cedric Ceballos is No. 10 with 1,284).
MORE ON ALEX HARRIS
Senior guard Alex Harris is averaging a team-leading 15.9 points per game. He bounced back from a cold road trip to the Central Coast (a 2-game total of 12 points on 4-of-22 shooting) to score 28 points against Long Beach State, making 10 of 19 shots including 5 of 10 from the 3-point line. He has scored in double figures in 16 games this season, including eight 20-point efforts.
ALSO FROM THE PERIMETER
Fullerton's top three scorers are all guards. Behind only Harris' 15.9 points per game are junior Lanerryl Johnson (12.9 ppg) and senior Moses Morgan (9.5 ppg).
SPEAKING OF THE ARC
Fullerton has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 562 games, a streak dating to Feb. 1, 1996. That night the Titans went 0-for-13 from behind the arc in a loss to Long Beach State. That zero snapped a previous string of 105 consecutive games.
THE STARTING FIVES
Cal State Fullerton has used seven different starting lineups this season including four different ones in the past five games. The most common (8 games, consecutively Dec. 11 thru Jan. 15) put senior Alex Harris at the point guard position with Moses Morgan, Josh Gentry, Joe Boyd and Steve McClellan completing the starting five. The Titans are 5-3 with this lineup. The lineup changed on Jan. 17 vs. UC Davis with Harris and McClellan being joined by Lanerryl Johnson (9th start), Kennedy Esume (4th start) and Sheldon Blackwell (2nd start). The lineup changed again at UCSB and again vs. Long Beach State.
McCLELLAN CLEANING THE GLASS
Senior forward Steve McClellan leads the Titans averaging 8.2 rebounds per game followed by sophomore forward Joe Boyd (4.8 rpg). The redshirt senior, who missed his career high by one with 14 rebounds on Jan. 8 at UCR, also tops the Titans shooting 58.3 percent (60-of-103) from the floor. In Fullerton's last 13 games, McClellan is averaging 8.7 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 64.0 percent (48-of-75) from the floor. In addition, during that stretch, he has produced all four Titan double-doubles this season.
JOHNSON SPARK OFF THE BENCH
Lanerryl Johnson came off the bench to average 17.0 points over 4 games (Dec. 30-Jan. 15) while shooting 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from three-point range. He got a start vs. UC Davis on Jan. 24 and scored only 7 points but then averaged 15.0 in 2 starts before again coming off the bench last week to score 16 vs. Long Beach State.
MORGAN RE-HEATING
Moses Morgan scored 10 points at UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 24 for his first double-digit game since Jan. 3 vs. Seattle when he netted 17 points. He scored 10 again vs. Long Beach State on Thursday.
IT'S IN THE GENES
Nine players on the Titans' roster have relatives who are competing or have competed in college, international and/or professional athletics:
Sheldon Blackwell's brother, Perris, played basketball at San Francisco (3 yrs.) and Washington (1 yr.); his sister, Jada, played two years at Arizona State and is now a senior at Cal Poly Pomona where she was a finalist for NCAA Div. II player of the year in 2013-14; and his father, Henry, played defensive end at East Carolina.
Tre' Coggins' father, Sanford, played quarterback and wide receiver at Texas (1977-80) and his uncle, Rich, was a major league outfielder for Baltimore (1972-74), Montreal (1975), New York AL (1975-76) and Chicago AL (1976).
Josh Gentry's parents, Derrick & Gretchen Gentry, both competed in track and field at Illinois in the early 1980s.
Lanerryl Johnson's great grandfather is former ABA and NBA star and Naismith Hall of Famer Gus Johnson. Lanerryl's cousin, Ricky, is a third-year starting point guard at Bethune Cookman.
Jordan Mason's father, Jerry, played basketball at Texas Tech.
Steve McClellan's brother, Darshawn, played in 95 games (2008-2011) of basketball at Vanderbilt.
Moses Morgan's father, Winston, played four seasons (1981-86) of basketball at Indiana.
Temjae Singleton's father, Eldridge Hudson, played four seasons (1982-83; 84-87) of basketball at UNLV after being selected the L.A. City's 4A Player of the Year in 1982 at Carson High School.
Corey Walker's brother, Taylor, played two seasons (2011-13) of basketball at LMU.
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 one additional "wild card" production. The breakdown includes five appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network, two on Prime Ticket and one on ROOT Sports.
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 loss 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 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).
• The Titans completed the 2013-14 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.
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT TICKETS
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 guard 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 in 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.
Out of uniform, the Titans are represented in the NBA by former manager Wes Wilcox, now assistant general manager of the Atlanta Hawks; former administrative assistant Eric Glass, video coordinator for the Miami Heat; and former assistant coach Mark Warkentien, director of player personnel for the New York Knicks. Former guard Leon Wood is a veteran NBA official and former Daily Titan reporter Marc Stein is ESPN's NBA reporter.
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.
