Game 25
UC Irvine at Cal State Fullerton
Date: Wednesday
Time: 7:00 p.m. (PT)
Location: Fullerton, Calif.
Venue: Titan Gym
TV: ESPN3
Video: fullertontitans.com
Live Stats: fullertontitans.com
Audio: fullertontitans.com
Series Record: CSF leads 52-50
Weekly Release (.pdf)
THIS WEEK
Cal State Fullerton returns home from its three-game road swing to host UC Irvine at Titan Gym at 7 p.m. Wednesday with the broadcast on ESPN3. The Titans will return to the road on Saturday, with a 7:30 p.m. tip against Long Beach State at Walter Pyramid as the game will air on Prime Ticket.
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 Irvine | 7:00 p.m. (PT) | Wednesday, Feb. 17 | Titan Gym
UC Irvine (19-7, 8-2 BWC) split a pair of games last weekend, suffering a 74-52 loss in front of nearly 10,000 at Hawai'i with first place in the Big West Conference standings on the line. The Anteaters returned to Irvine on Saturday, as senior guard Alex Young erupted for a career-high 36 points to lead UC Irvine past CSUN, 93-84.
Currently second in the Big West standings, UCI, is led by Luke Nelson's 12.8 points per game while Mamadou Ndiaye averages 12.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and a league-leading 2.5 blocks per game.
Head-To-Head: In a series that has spanned 102 games, Cal State Fullerton holds a slight edge in the all-time series with a 52-50 advantage. The Anteaters have won the last eight match ups with the Titans. Cal State Fullerton is looking for its first win over UC Irvine since February 2012 when the Titans defeated the Anteaters 100-94 in Fullerton.
Last Meeting: Khalil Ahmad turned in his third 20-point performance of the season, but Cal State Fullerton could not contain UC Irvine's offensive attack as the Titans fell to the Anteaters 72-59 at Bren Events Center on Jan. 20.
The Anteaters held the Titans to 36 percent shooting and just 22.2 percent from beyond the arc. Fullerton did out-shoot Irvine from the free throw line as the Titans shot 73.1 percent to the Anteaters' 64.3 percent. However, UC Irvine's 45.8 percent shooting from the field was enough to earn the hosts the win.
Ahmad finished the game with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds. He also added one assist and one steal in another solid outing by the freshman. Kyle Allman Jr., notched a career-high 16 points for the Titans, while Kennedy Esume grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
UC Irvine had four double-figure scorers in Jaron Martin (22 points), Mamadou Ndiaye (13 points), Luke Nelson (12 points) and Mike Best (11 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
Cal State Fullerton trailed by 17 points early in the first half and nearly erased that deficit, but the Titans could not keep pace with league-leading Hawai'i and suffered a 76-59 loss at Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday night as Big West Conference Player of the Week Stefan Jankovic led the 'Bows with a near double-double of 16 points and nine rebounds.
In front of 8,401 in attendance, Hawai'i notched its 20th win of the season and had five players reach double figures while knocking down eight buckets from long distance as a team.
UH's (20-3, 9-1 BWC) Aaron Valdes poured in 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and off the bench, Sai Tummala scored 11 points and grabbed 10 boards.
Tre' Coggins scored a game-high 18 points for the Titans (9-15, 2-9 BWC), who have now lost three in a row and nine of their last 10.
Off the bench, Malcolm Brooks knocked down two three-pointers on his way to a 13-point effort, while Lionheart Leslie was the third Titan in double figures with 10 points shooting 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. Malcolm Henderson set a new career best with eight rebounds while Tim Myles matched his career high snarling nine boards.
Fullerton shot just 31.7 percent (19-of-60) from the floor, committed 13 turnovers and was outrebounded 48-42.
The 'Bows totaled 15 assists on 24 made baskets and shot 39.3 percent (24-of-61) from the floor.
AHMAD ON FIRE
Freshman Khalil Ahmad has started in all 11 Big West Conference games for Cal State Fullerton and during that time he has averaged 17.3 points per game to lead the Titans. The Corona, Calif., native has led Fullerton in scoring in six of its last nine games and is shooting 40.4 percent from the field in league action. He is the top scoring freshman in the Big West Conference averaging 14.8 ppg.
ROAD WARRIORS
Cal State Fullerton closes out the final month of the regular season playing five of its last eight games on the road. This season the Titans are 4-9 in away games. Three of the Titans' five road games have taken place in the last week: UCSB (Feb. 6), CSUN (Feb. 10), Hawaii (Feb. 13) before returning to Titan Gym on Wednesday, to host UC Irvine.
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. Lionheart Leslie notched his first double-double as a Titan against Hawai'i with 17 points and 10 rebounds - both career-highs for Leslie. Most recently, Jamar Akoh made his way into the group with a double-double at UC Davis with a career-high 14 points to go along with 10 boards. The sophomore forward recorded his second double-double of the year scoring 12 points and adding 11 rebounds in a 75-67 loss at CSUN.
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
The Titans' post players did a soild job of cleaning up the glass against UC Davis on Feb. 4. The trio of Kennedy Esume, Jamar Akoh and Tim Myles combined for 32 rebounds as they helped Cal State Fullerton out-rebound Davis 51-33 in a contest in which the Titan defense held the Aggies to just 22 percent shooting in the second half. On the year, Akoh is leading the Titans with an average of 6.6 rebounds per game.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• 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). The pair have combined for 487 points on the year.
• 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.
• The Titans have suffered through a pair of losing streaks this season after having dropped five games in a row from Dec. 6 - Dec. 29, then falling in six straight games from Jan. 9 - Jan. 30. With the 61-57 win against UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton put an end to its most recent streak.
• 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.
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.
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.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
Prime Ticket has selected Cal State Fullerton's men's basketball game at Long Beach State on Saturday, Feb. 20, as a wild card selection for a live television broadcast. The 7:30 p.m., contest will be played at Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State.
Most recently, ESPN selected the Titans home game against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 27 to be televised on ESPN3. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 11 television appearances during the 2015-16 season.
The breakdown includes seven appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network and two 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 is back on the road Saturday, at Long Beach State for a 7:30 p.m. tip that will be aired on Prime Ticket.