GAME 1-2
Cal State Fullerton vs. Caltech
Friday, Nov. 11 | 7 p.m.
Fullerton, Calif. | Titan Gym
TV/Live Stream: BigWest.TV
Live Stats: FullertonTitans.com
Audio: FullertonTitans.com
Series Record: Fullerton leads 1-0
Cal State Fullerton vs. Portland State
Sunday, Nov. 13 | 4 p.m.
Fullerton, Calif. | Titan Gym
TV/Live Stream: BigWest.TV
Live Stats: FullertonTitans.com
Audio: FullertonTitans.com
Series Record: Fullerton leads 5-4
FULLERTON, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton Titans open up the 2016-17 regular season this weekend as they host Caltech on Friday night followed by the Portland State Vikings making a trek to Titan Gym on Sunday afternoon.
TICKETS & PROMOTIONS | BUY TICKETS HERE
Cal State Fullerton students receive free admission to Titan home games with their Titan I.D. card.
PARKING FOR HOME GAMES
Parking for games played Mon-Thurs. is $8. Permit machines located in lots A, D, G, S and on the ground level of the parking structures accept Discover, MasterCard, and Visa, only. The machines located in surface lots accept $1 & $5 bills only. Parking can also be purchased online by visiting the Cal State Fullerton Parking and Transportation website. Daily permits are valid in student lots and parking structures, unless restricted. After 4pm daily permits are valid in College Park Faculty/Staff. After 6pm daily permits are valid in Lots A Faculty/Staff, E Faculty/Staff, C-West, and C-East. Parking for Fullerton games played on weekends (Fri.-Sun) is free after 5 p.m. Friday through the weekend. Please plan accordingly when attending an athletic event at Cal State Fullerton.
OPPONENTS & HISTORY
Caltech | 7:00 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 11 | Titian Gym
The Caltech Beavers are a NCAA Division III program that plays in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Last year, the Beavers were 9-16 overall and posted a 7-9 conference record. This will be an exhibition game for the Beavers while the Titans are officially opening up the 2016-17 season with Friday's matchup.
Head-To-Head:
The Titans and Beavers have only met once during Fullerton's regular season and that came back in 1961 when the Titans scored a 95-64 victory in Pasadena.
Last Meeting:
The Titans and Beavers met in an exhibition game at Titan Gym back on Nov. 8, 2014 as Fullerton pulled out a 84-53 victory, outscoring the Beavers 45-27 in the second half to expand on a 13-point halftime lead.
Portland State | 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 13 | Titian Gym
The Vikings will wrap up a two-game road trip to begin the season when they face the Titans on Sunday. Portland State opens the season at Arizona State on Friday night.
Head-To-Head:
The Titans and Vikings will meet for the 10th time all-time on Sunday with Fullerton holding a 5-4 edge in the series. However, the Vikings have taking three of the last four meetings against the Titans, including last year's meeting in Portland. The Titans do hold a 4-0 edge over the Vikings at Titan Gym.
Last Meeting:
The Vikings defeated Fullerton, 89-82, on Dec. 29 in Portland. The Vikings shot 69 percent in the second half and hit 16-of-20 from the free throw line in the last 2:32 of the game to secure the win. Fullerton shot 47.7 percent for the game but committed 18 turnovers in the loss. Tre' Coggins led all scorers with 23 points to go along with five boards and Khalil Ahmad added 15 points and six assists for Fullerton in the loss.
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 and Instagram presence: @FullertonHoops.
LAST TIME OUT - CAL STATE FULLERTON 70, SAINT MARTIN'S 67
Tre' Coggins scored 18 points to lead all scorers as Cal State Fullerton defeated Saint Martin's, 70-67, Saturday night in an exhibition game at Titan Gym.
The Titans had three players in double figures as 12 players logged minutes for Fullerton with 10 of them scoring. Coggins was 5-for-11 from the field, hitting three 3-pointers and also went 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
Jamal Smith scored 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc while freshman Jackson Rowe had a solid game, scoring 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting in 20 minutes of action. He also had two blocks, two assists and four rebounds.
Rhett Baerlocher led the Saints with 16 points on 4-for-9 shooting while Tyler Copp scored 14 and Fred Jorg and Brandon Kenilvort added 13 apiece.
2015-16 SEASON RECAP
The 2015-16 Cal State Fullerton men's basketball season started the year with an impressive 6-1 (.857) record, but the Titans struggled to find that success beyond the month of December, finishing the rest of the way with a 4-19 (.174) mark, as Fullerton ended its season with an overall record of 10-20 and a Big West Conference record of 3-13.
For the fifth consecutive time, Cal State Fullerton could not move past its first game at the Big West Tournament, as the Titans' season ended in the quarterfinals with a 75-44 loss to No. 1 seed Hawai'i at Honda Center. The 'Bows would eventually move on to win the Big West Tournament and upset Cal, 77-66, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Titans finished ninth in the Big West Conference standings, but were the eighth seed at the Big West Tournament as CSUN was ineligible for postseason play.
Cal State Fullerton guard Khalil Ahmad was named the 2015-16 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Year, as voted on by the league's nine coaches.
In addition, Ahmad received all-Big West honorable mention recognition along with teammate Tre' Coggins.
Ahmad is the third Cal State Fullerton student-athlete, and first since Bobby Brown in 2003-04, to be bestowed with the Freshman of the Year honor. The 6-foot-4 guard broke Brown's single-season freshman scoring record of 369, and scored 429 points for the Titans.
Ahmad's 14.3 points per game average ranked second on the squad this season and seventh in the Big West Conference as the league's top scoring freshman.
Coggins, named Big West honorable mention, was the Titans' leading scorer averaging 15.6 points per game, which ranked fifth in the Big West Conference.
The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native, also ranked in the league's top 10 for free-throw percentage (3rd, .853) and three-pointers made per game (2nd, 2.6).
RECORDS SET IN 2015-16
• Tre' Coggins' 75 made three-pointers tied for ninth in the Cal State Fullerton single-season top-10.
• Coggins' .853 free throw percentage ranks fourth in the CSF single-season top-10.
• With a career-best performance against CSUN on Jan. 9, 2016, Coggins etched his names in several top-10 CSF categories. Coggins was the first Titan to reach 41 points since Josh Akognon did it against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 13, 2008. With 41 points, Coggins tied for second for most points scored in a single-game. 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. In addition, his 17 made free throws vs. CSUN tie for first in single-game history with Leon Wood (vs. Texas-Arlington, 12.19.81) and his perfect 17-for-17 effort at the free-throw line against the Matadors is the best all-time.
• Fullerton's 743 free throw attempts rank third in single-season history, while the team's 515 made free throws rate fourth.
• The Titans' 1,116 rebounds rate eighth in the single-season record book.
AHMAD AND DEARRING STATUS
Sophomore Khalil Ahmad (academics) and junior Riley Dearring (transfer rules) are both inelgible for the fall semester.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
Khalil Ahmad and Tre' Coggins were both named to the Big West Media Preseason All-Conference Team. The Titans' guard combo matched the most player on the team by one school along with Long Beach State. Overall, the seven players selected by the media included one sophomore (Ahmad), four juniors and two seniors including Coggins.
In addition, the Titans were picked to finish sixth in the conference this year, receiving 83 total points in the Big West Conference Media Preseason Poll. Long Beach State received 19 first-place votes and 203 points overall as the favorite to win the conference.
SEASON OPENERS
For the first time in Dedrique Taylor's four years as head coach at Cal State Fullerton, the Titans will open the regular season at home when they face Caltech on Friday. The Titans have played four straight openers on the road, going 1-3 in those contests. Fullerton's last home opener to start the season came in the 2012-13 season as the Titans defeated Redlands 118-68. As for home openers, the Titans have won 12 straight dating back to the 2004-05 season. Last year, the Titans defeated San Diego, 67-55, in the home opener at Titan Gym on Nov. 21.
NEW SEASON, NEW FACES
The 2016-17 Cal State Fullerton squad features 12 newcomers. The only returners are Kyle Allman Jr., Tre' Coggins, Lionheart Leslie and Khalil Ahmad while Jamal Smith is a returning redshirt.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
Fox Sports Prime Ticket will televise Cal State Fullerton's men's basketball game at Long Beach State on Thursday, Jan. 26. The 7:30 p.m., contest will be played at the Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of nine television appearances during the 2016-17 season with a more games possibly selected as "wild-card" games.
The breakdown includes six appearances via ESPN3, one on the Pac-12 Network, one on Fox Sports Prime Ticket and one on the Mountain West Network.
ROCKETMAN - BOBBY BROWN IN NBA
Cal State Fullerton great Bobby Brown made the Houston Rockets 15-man roster for the 2016-17 NBA season.
Brown is playing for the fifth NBA team of his career this season and first since the 2009-10 season when he was a member of the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Clippers. Brown made his NBA debut on Oct. 31, 2008 after being signed as a free agent by the Sacramento Kings. He played in 47 games for the Kings that season, before playing 21 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While at Cal State Fullerton, Brown averaged 16.9 points and 4.4 assists per game. He led the Titans in scoring for his final two years in a Titan uniform, while leading Cal State Fullerton in assists throughout his career.
Brown holds CSF career records for points scored (1,961), field goals made (692), and three-point field goals made (307). He was a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District selection in 2006 and 2007, and was named Big West Freshman of the Year in 2004, while earning first-team honors in 2006 and 2007.
Brown also holds the record for most points in a single game for a Titan, scoring 47 against Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 16, 2006 in a 94-65 victory.
ON DECK FOR THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton hits the road following this weekend's games as the Titans travel to Washington on Thursday, Nov. 17 and then to Las Vegas Nov. 19 to face UNLV in the preliminary rounds of the Global Sports Classic.
