Game 19
Cal State Fullerton at UC Davis
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 27
Time: 7:00 p.m. (PT)
Location: Davis, Calif.
Venue: The Pavilion
Live Stats: UCDavisAggies.com
Audio: UCDavisAggies.com
Series Record: CSF leads 13-11
THIS WEEK
Cal State Fullerton heads north to take on UC Davis on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., before returning to Titan Gym to host UC Riverside on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., in the Titans' homecoming game. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN3.
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 HERE.
OPPONENTS & HISTORY
UC Davis | 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 27 | The Pavilion
UC Davis comes into the game against Cal State Fullerton with a 7-11 overall record and the Aggies are 2-3 in Big West Conference action. They are coming off a 78-62 loss to Hawai'i which is undefeated in league play. The Aggies are 2-0 when playing in conference home games.
Josh Fox leads UC Davis in scoring with 14.3 points per game to go along with 107 rebounds to average 6.7 per game, which ranks second on the team behind Neal Monson's 8.6 boards per game.
Head-To-Head: The Titans and Aggies meet for just the 25th time in program history and Cal State Fullerton holds the edge 13-11 in the all-time series. However, UC Davis has won the last two meetings as Fullerton looks for its first victory over the Aggies since February 2014.
Last Meeting: Josh Fox scored 18 points and four UC Davis teammates also were in double figures as the Aggies held off Cal State Fullerton for a 75-69 Big West Conference victory. Josh Gentry, Alex Harris and Lanerryl Johnson each scored 11 points to lead the Titans. Jordan Mason and Steve McClellan each added eight points.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
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.
LAST TIME OUT
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team took an early 2-0 lead and spent the rest of the game trying to come back from trailing Cal Poly, but the Titans' rally came up short as they fell 83-75 Saturday evening at Titan Gym.
Fullerton (8-10, 1-4 BWC) was led offensively by freshman Khalil Ahmad and redshirt junior Tre' Coggins as the pair each recorded a 20-point performance. Ahamd registered 23 points on 8-for-20 shooting, while Coggins logged 21 points as he was 5-for-16 from the field.
Additionally, Cal State Fullerton out-shot Cal Poly (8-10, 2-3 BWC) as well as out-rebounded the Mustangs (42-29) and held the edge in points in the paint (26-20). However, Cal Poly capitalized on its three-point game as it out-shot Fullerton 41.7 percent to 29.4 percent from long distance and took advantage of the Titans' 12 turnover as they out-scored the hosts 13-2 in points off of turnovers.
Cal Poly finished the game with four double-figure scorers which were led by Reese Morgan who had 17 points in the contest. Luke Meikle and David Nwaba each posted 13 points, while Ridge Shipley recorded 12.
The Titans got on the board first courtesy of a jumper from Kennedy Esume to give Fullerton an early 2-0 lead. That would be the Titans' only lead of the contest as the Mustangs countered 30 seconds later with a three from Shipley and never looked back.
Despite the Mustangs' lead in the game, the Titans stayed within striking distance as they went into halftime down by just two (37-35).
The second half began much like the first – a close game which Cal Poly held a slight edge. However, by 14:20, the Mustangs opened up an eight-point advantage (49-41) forcing Cal State Fullerton to take a timeout.
Fullerton began chipping away at Cal Poly's lead and managed to make it a five-point game (55-50) at the 11-minute mark after Ahmad hit a jumper. The Titans made it an even closer contest at 6:32 after Coggins sunk a pair of free throws.
But that was as close as the Titans would get. The Mustangs took a 70-63 lead with just two minutes left to play forcing Cal State Fullerton to being playing the foul game. In that final stretch, Cal Poly led by as many as 11 (77-66) before defeating Cal State Fullerton by eight.
ENTERING THE RECORD BOOKS
Redshirt junior guard Tre' Coggins etched his name into the Cal State Fullerton record books with a career-best performance against CSUN in which he poured in 41 points to rank second all-time in the single-game annals. He also went 17-for-17 from the free throw line to set a Big West Conference record. Coggins is the first Titan to reach 41 points since Josh Akognon did it against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 13, 2008. With 41 points, Coggins now ties for second for most points scored in the CSF record single-game record book. He is tied with Akognon, who reached the feat twice in 2008, and sits behind Bobby Brown who tallied 47 points in 2006 against Bethune-Cookman.
DOUBLE VISION
Freshman guard Khalil Ahmad recorded his first double-double of his collegiate career in an 88-56 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills. Ahmad tallied 15 points as he shot 60-percent overall (6-of-10) and led the squad with a career-high 12 rebounds. Senior center Kennedy Esume notched a double-double of his own as he registered a season-high 11 points to go along with 14 rebounds against Cal State East Bay. Most recently, Lionheart Leslie joined the double-double group notching his first double-double as a Titan against Hawai'i with 17 points and 10 rebounds - both career-highs for Leslie.
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
The Titans have had a pair of post players who have done their job cleaning up the glass. Senior Kennedy Esume and sophomore Jamar Akoh are leading the team in rebounding. Esume has grabbed 107 boards to average 5.9 per game, while Akoh has pulled down 103 rebounds for an average of 6.1. The duo have combined for four of the Titans' six games with double-figure rebounds.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• Tre' Coggins leads the Big West Conference with a free throw percentage of 86.1 percent after connecting on 62-of-72 free throws this season.
• Kennedy Esume leads the conference in offensive rebounds as the 6-10 center has grabbed 42 in 18 games to average 2.4 per game.
• The freshmen duo of Khalil Ahmad and Kyle Allman Jr., led the Titans at UC Irvine combining for 37 of the team's 59 points (nearly 63 percent).
• Lionheart Leslie recorded the first double-double of his Titan career with 17 points and 10 rebounds against Hawai'i - both of which are new career-highs.
• In conference play, Tre' Coggins leads the league in scoring averaging 20.8 points per game. His conference free throw percentage (.947) is also tops in the league.
• Junior forward Rashard Todd has decided to leave the team.
• Redshirt senior guard Lanerryl Johnson has decided to leave the team.
BWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK - TIMES TWO
Tre' Coggins has been named Big West Player of the Week on two occasions this season. He and Hawai'i's Roderick Bobbitt are the only two players in the league who have earned the honor more than once this season.
Coggins collected his second honor after posting a career-best 41 points against CSUN to rank second in the Cal State Fullerton single-game record book, while becoming the first Titan in eight years to reach the 40-point plateau.
His performance was the first 40-point effort by a Big West player since Corey Hawkins of UC Davis in January 2013. Additionally, he is the first Titan to reach 41 points since Josh Akognon did it against CSU Bakersfield on December 13, 2008.
Coggins is now tied with Akognan for second for most points scored in the CSF single-game record book and sits behind Bobby Brown, who tallied 47 points in 2006 against Bethune-Cookman.
Additionally, Coggins tied a Big West single-game free throw percentage record as he connected on all 17 attempts. He is just the second player in league history to accomplish such a feat. He finished the week shooting 95.7 percent (22-of-23) from the free throw line.
HELPING HANDS
The Titans have done a soild job this season of playing as a team and sharing the assist duties. Leading the way for Cal State Fullerton is Lionheart Leslie with 39 assists on the year, while Tre' Coggins is second on the team with 31 helpers. As a team, the Titans have accumulated 191 assists for an average of 10.6 per game.
ADDITIONAL TV GAME
ESPN has selected Cal State Fullerton's men's basketball game against UC Riverside on Saturday, Jan. 30, as a wild card selection for broadcast. The 7 p.m., contest will be played at Titan Gym and broadcast live on ESPN3. The game is also the Titans' homecoming game.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 10 television appearances during the 2015-16 season.
The breakdown includes seven appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network and one on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
BIG WEST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ALL-SESSION TICKETS ON SALE
All-session school reserved tickets will be available for $69.00. These seats will be 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 will be 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.
Fans can call the Cal State Fullerton ticket office to purchase all-session tickets as well at: 657-279-CSUF.
The 2016 Big West Tournament will be hosted for the sixth straight year at Honda Center in Anaheim. The men's tournament begins on Thursday, March 10 at Honda Center with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals and championship games for both the men and women will take place Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at Honda Center.
Additional ticket information for the 2016 Big West Basketball Tournament is available at HondaCenter.com. For up to date team schedules and general information regarding the 2016 Big West Basketball Tournament, please visit BigWestTournament.com.
ON DECK FOR THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton returns home for its annual homecoming game on Saturday, Jan. 30 against UC Riverside at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.