Cal State Fullerton at UC Davis
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015 | 7 PM
The Pavilion • Davis, Calif.
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
Cal State Fullerton at Hawai'i
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 | 9 PM PST
Stan Sheriff Center • Honolulu, HI
Video: www.FullertonTitans.com
Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
THIS WEEK
The Titans (9-14, 1-7) begin the second half of Big West Conference play with a difficult road trip to face front-running UC Davis and Hawai'i, a team they haven't beaten in two years of Big West play either home or on Oahu. The Titans are coming off a 1-2 homestand that was bracketed by a pair of overtime losses.
QUICK NOTES
Fullerton avoided its worst start in conference play in its history by beating CSUN handily 69-53, on Thursday. The 1987-88 team opened 0-7 but rallied to finish 7-11 in league play. The worst final conference record is the 2-16 mark posted by the 2001-02 team. The Titans are 0-3 in overtime games this year, all coming in conference play.
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. Additional ticket information can be found by clicking http://bit.ly/1wl9y6t. Fullerton is 6-5 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 snapped a 6-game losing streak with a 69-53 win over CSUN on Thursday. Four players scored in double figures with Josh Gentry getting a career-high 19 and Steve McClellan posting an impressive double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. On Saturday before a loud Homecoming crowd, the Titans overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to lead UC Riverside by 4 only to surrender the advantage and lose in overtime, 71-66, despite career highs of 31 points from Alex Harris and 12 for Jamar Akoh.
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at UC Davis
Thurs., Feb. 12, 7:05 p.m. | The Pavilion
The Aggies
UC Davis (18-4, 8-1) is having a dream season, easily its best at the Div. I level. The Aggies are a full game atop the Big West Conference standings with only one loss -- at Hawai'i. They are coming off a road trip to UC Irvine (75-56) and CSUN (68-55) which they handily swept despite the absence due to injury of Corey Hawkins, the Big West's leading scorer at 21.3 points per game. Senior Josh Ritchart 913.2 ppg) picked up most of the slack and earned BWC player of the week honors. Davis has been at or near the top of the NCAA 3-point shooting categories all season, currently making 9.05 per game while shooting 46.2 percent after making 18 of 32 (56.3 percent) on the road trip.
Head-to-Head
The Titans hold an all-time 13-10 edge over the Aggies, 10-9 in conference games. The teams split the series in each of the previous four seasons with each team winning twice on the road. Davis won again in Titan Gym on Jan. 17 of this season, 79-68.
Last Meeting
Corey Hawkins scored 26 points and Josh Fox came off the bench for 20 as UC Davis rolled to its fifth consecutive victory, 79-68, on Jan. 17, 2015, in Titan Gym.
Alex Harris had 20 points for Fullerton, which lost its third in a row after a 5-game winning streak. Jordan Mason came off the bench for a season-high with 16 points. Davis made 9 of 19 (47.4) 3-point field goals including 4 of 7 by Hawkins, who led all rebounders with 10. Overall, the Aggies made 53 percent of their shots to 35 percent by Fullerton, which cut a Davis lead as large as 16 points down to 5 on a couple of occasions and as late as the 2-minute mark.
at Hawai'i
Sat., Feb. 14, 9 p.m. PST | Stan Sheriff Center
The Rainbow Warriors
Hawai'i (16-9, 4-5) is coming off a heart-breaking loss at UC Santa Barbara which was preceded by a 3-point win at Cal Poly. UCSB went on a late 13-0 to erase a big UH lead. Isaac Fleming hit what appeared to be a 3-point basket at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. But after review, the bucket became a 2-pointer and Hawai'i had a 75-74 loss. Hawai'i leads the Big West at 72.4 ppg and is easily No. 1 in steals at 10.44 per game. Aaron Valdes leads a balanced attack at 14.5 ppg.
Head-to-Head
Hawai'i has won all four Big West Conference meetings to take a 6-2 lead in the series. Fullerton's last win was in Honolulu on Nov. 16, 2008, by a 90-76 count behind in an arena-record 41 points by Josh Akognon in a season-opening tournament.
Last Meeting
The Rainbow Warriors' most recent win was by a score of 81-77 in Honolulu on March 8, 2014. Hawai'I had five players in double figures led by Isaac Fotu with 18. The Titans had four in double figures led by Marquis Horne with 18. Mike Williams and Josh Gentry each had 17.
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OVERTIME BLUES
Fullerton has lost three overtime games this year and Coach Dedrique Taylor is 0-4 in his brief Titan tenure. All-time, Fullerton is 44-55 in extra time games.
CLOSE IN SIX OF SEVEN LOSSES
Fullerton has been very competitive despite the results in Big West play with the exception of a bad second half at UCSB. The 7 losses 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
• vs. UC Riverside they overcame a 13-point second-half deficit, took a 4-point lead with 4:17 to play, twice in the last minute of regulation came from 2 down to tie only to lose in OT after scoring first.
BIG WEST STATS
(in All games)
• the Titans rank 3rd in rebound margin at +1.7
• individually, Josh Gentry ranks 1st in free-throw percentage (.921)
• Steve McClellan ranks 2nd in rebounding (8.5)
• Alex Harris ranks 5th in scoring (16.3 ppg), 8th in assists (3.30 apg) and 4th in steals (1.48)
• Lanerryl Johnson ranks 4th in free-throw percentage (.841), 14th in scoring (11.7), 9th in made 3-pointers (1.78) and 6th in 3-pt percentage (.418)
(in Big West games only)
• Steve McClellan is 1st in rebounding (11.0)
• Lanerryl Johnson is 14th in scoring (11.8) and 3rd in free-throw percentage (.895)
• Alex Harris is 3rd in scoring (17.9), 4th in steals (1.63), and T10th in assists (3.00)
WELL EXPOSED
With this week's addition of the game at Long Beach State on Feb. 28 as an ESPN3 contest, the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 11 television appearances during the 2014-15 season. The breakdown includes six appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network, two on Prime Ticket and one on ROOT Sports.
HARRIS CLIMBING IN CLUB 1,000
Senior guard Alex Harris begins the week with 1,130 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. Next up at No. 16 is Pape Sow with 1,135. Within conceivable range on this road trip are No. 15, Bruce Bowen at 1,155; No. 14, Frank Robinson at 1,161; No. 13, Kevin Heenan at 1,164; and No. 12, Gary Davis at 1,165. At his current pace, Harris could approach the Top Ten (Cedric Ceballos is No. 10 with 1,284).
MORE ON ALEX HARRIS
Alex Harris is averaging a team-leading 16.3 points per game. But "average" is a deceiving number. Over the last five games his point totals have been 8, 4, 28, 10 and a career high of 31. His non-start (coach's decision) vs. CSUN snapped a streak of 44 consecutive starts.
ALSO FROM THE PERIMETER
Fullerton's top three scorers are all guards. Behind only Harris' 16.3 points per game are junior Lanerryl Johnson (11.7 ppg) and senior Moses Morgan (9.3 ppg).
SPEAKING OF THE ARC
Fullerton has made at least one 3-point field goal in each of its last 564 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 nine different starting lineups this season including six different ones in the past seven 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.
McCLELLAN CLEANING THE GLASS
Senior forward Steve McClellan leads the Titans averaging 8.5 rebounds per game followed by sophomore forward Joe Boyd (4.6 rpg). The redshirt senior, who missed his career high by one with 14 rebounds on Jan. 8 at UCR and on Feb. 5 vs. CSUN, also tops the Titans shooting 55 percent (66-of-120) from the floor. He has produced all five Titan double-doubles this season. He matched his season-high with 15 points vs. CSUN Thursday but was scoreless vs. UCR on Saturday.
JOHNSON SPARK OFF THE BENCH DIMS
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. Since then he has started 3 times and averaged 11.7 points and come off the bench 3 times and averaged 5.3 points. He was scoreless last week on 0-for-4 shooting in 8 total minutes.
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 and 11 vs. CSUN but had only 3 vs. UCR.
IT'S IN THE GENES
Nine players on the Titans' roster have relatives who are competing or have competed in college, international and/or pro 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.
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.
