GAME 32 || Riley Wallace Classic
COLLEGE INSIDER.COM POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT
Weber State at Cal State Fullerton
Thursday, March 16 | 7:00 p.m.
Fullerton, Calif. | Titan Gym
Live Stream: Cal State Fullerton Athletics Facebook Page
Live Stats: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Series Record: Weber State leads 4-1
Game Notes (PDF)
THIS WEEK
The Titans (17-14, 10-6) enter Thursday's game participating in the postseason for the first time since 2012 and the seventh time overall. Thursday's game will mark the second time the Titans have competed in the College Insider.com Postseason Tournament (2012, 2017) and the first time they have played Weber State in the postseason. It is also the first time the Titans have played a postseason game at Titan Gym.
TICKETS
General admission tickets are currently on sale, please CLICK HERE to purchase. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday. All Cal State Fullerton students and season ticket holders will receive FREE entry to the game.
OPPONENT & HISTORY
Weber State | 7 p.m. | FB Live
Thursday, March 16 |Titan Gym
Broadcaster: Brandon Marcus
Head-To-Head: Weber State leads the all-time series 4-1, including the last three games.
At Titan Gym: The Titans and Weber State are tied 1-1 in games played in Fullerton.
Last Meeting: Damian Lillard scored 20 points and Lindsey Hughey and Franklin Session had 14 each to lead Weber State to an 82-71 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the opening game of the Basketball Travelers' Invitational Basketball Tournament in Logan, Utah on Dec. 21, 2009. Titans fell despite 21 points and five assists from point guard Jacques Streeter. Gerard Anderson had 14 points and Jer'Vaughn Johnson had 13 for the Titans.
MORE INFORMATION
Thursday's game will be the Riley Wallace Classic and will also be the first round ofthe 2017 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. It will be seen on the Cal State Fullerton's Athletics Facebook page. Live stats available at FullertonTitans.com. The Riley Wallace Classic is named after the longtime Hawaii coach. Wallace was head coach at Hawaii for 30 years. Thursday's winner will receive a trophy as part of the Classic.
LOOKING FOR 300
Cal State Fullerton is in its 43rd season as a member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association/Big West Conference. The team landed its 300th conference victory all-time on March 4. The Titans currently hold an overall record of 300-392 all-time. The PCAA changed its name to the Big West Conference in the 1988-89 season and since then, the Titans hold a 197-289 record. Fullerton won regular season titles in 1975-76 (PCAA) and 2007-08 (Big West) and conference tournament championships in 1977-78 (PCAA) and 2007-08 (Big West). From 1967-74, CSF played in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and posted a 24-36 mark.
POSTSEASON HISTORY
• Cal State Fullerton has an overall record of 4-6 in the postseason, posting a 2-2 record in two NCAA Tournament appearances (1978, 2008), a 2-3 record in three NIT appearances (1983, 1987, 2005) and 0-1 record in one previous CIT appearance in 2012.
• Fullerton's last postseason appearance was an 88-79 loss at Loyola Marymount in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament on March 14, 2012.
• Fullerton's last postseason win was an 85-69 victory over San Francisco in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament at War Memorial Gym on March 18, 2005.
BIG WEST ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
Senior Lionheart Leslie became the first Titan named to the Big West All-Tournament Team since Josh Akognon in 2009, when the Houma, La., earned the honor on Saturday after averaging 18.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.5 steals per game while shooting 10-of-21 from the floor and 16-of-18 from the free-throw line.
AVOIDING THE BROOM CLOSET
Cal State Fullerton accomplished something on March 4 that it had not done since the 2011-12 season; avoid a season-sweep in conference play. Fullerton split six of its season series with conference opponents (CSUN, UC Irvine, UC Davis, Long Beach State, Hawai'i and UC Riverside) and swept two (UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly) series.
PROTECT THIS HOUSE
Cal State Fullerton wrapped up the 2016-17 regular-season home schedule on March 2 with a victory and thus finished the year with a 12-3 record at Titan Gym, Fullerton's best home record since the Titans went 13-1 in 2011-12. It's also the 13th time since the 1974-75 season that the Titans have recorded double-digit home victories in a season. The Titans have won 12 games two times (2006-07 the last) and 13 games twice (2011-12, 1982-83).
NEWS ON THE BBC: BUCKING THE TREND
Fullerton recorded it's 17th victory of the season on Thursday. It is the most wins by a Titans team since the 2011-12 season when they went 21-10 and finished as the No. 2 seed in the conference. Furthermore, Fullerton recorded it's 10th win in conference on March 4, locking up a winning record in the Big West for the first time since the 2011-12 season and just the second time since the 2008-09 season. In fact, it's just the fifth time since the 1999-2000 season that Fullerton has logged a winning record in conference.
MOST IMPROVED
According to an NCAA stats report, the Titans are currently ranked as the 39th most improved team in the nation. Fullerton has seven more victories than last season and six fewer losses than 2015-16.
DON'T FEED THE LIONS
Senior Lionheart Leslie had a memorable performance vs. CSUN on Thursday in the Big West Tournament quarterfinals. The Houma, La. native set several career highs, scoring 24 points, knocking down 12 free throws and grabbing six steals. He's now recorded 35 steals in his last nine games and has upped his season average to 1.8 steals a game, which along with his 55 total steals ranks second in the Big West Conference.
TRE' X 300 = EXCELLENCE
Senior Tre' Coggins logged his 23rd career 20-point game as a Titan on Friday. He also surpassed the 900-point mark on March 2, and has now reached 968 points in 58 career games at Fullerton. His 17.8 season average leads the conference, and his 16.7 career average currently ranks him No. 15 on the Cal State Fullerton all-time scoring list. Including his time at Air Force, Coggins has scored 1,474 points in his NCAA Division I career and that mark would place him seventh on the Fullerton all-time points list had they all come with the Titans.
INJURY REPORT
Freshman Jackson Rowe has missed Fullerton's last four games with a foot injury. He is currently listed as day-to-day. In his first season with Fullerton, Rowe is averaging 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He is ranked third in the Big West in rebounding average and leads the conference in field goal percentage (.546).
THIS IS A HOLDUP!
The Titans have turned up the pressure on the passing lanes of late and that trend continued on Friday against the Aggies. Fullerton recorded 10 more steals on Friday and have now tallied 101 steals in its last 11 games, an 9.2 per game average. They've recorded double-digit steals in a game six times this season. Overall, Fullerton is now averaging 7.0 steals per game this season, which ranks first in the Big West.
NEW SEASON LOW
Cal State Fullerton recorded a season-low seven turnovers in Friday's overtime loss to UC Davis. It was only the third time this season that Fullerton has recorded single-digit turnovers.
WORKING OVERTIME
The Titans are 2-4 in overtime games this season, with both wins coming at home. While the Titans won a double overtime game against Portland State, the win over Portland on Dec. 22 marked Fullerton's first win in a single-OT game since Jan. 8, 2011 when the Titans defeated UC Riverside, 83-77, on the road. Under head coach Dedrique Taylor, the Titans are currently 2-9 in games that go into overtime. The six overtime games this year mark the most overtime games in a season in Taylor's tenure. This season also marks the second time a Fullerton team has played multiple overtime games in a season under Taylor. The Titans played three overtime games during the 2014-15 campaign.
TITANS TEAM RANKS
The Titans are second in the Big West Conference in scoring margin (+2.4), field goal percentage (.445), rebounding offense (37.3), rebounding margin (+3.1), blocked shots (3.6), and defensive rebounds (26.5). Fullerton ranks third in points per game (73.4), field goal percentage defense (.424), three-point field goal percentage defense (.334), and rebounding offense (34.1).
PAINT BY NUMBERS
Cal State Fullerton has outscored its opponents 990-811 in the paint this season. The Titans have been outscored in the paint six times this season after UC Davis outscored them 38-26 on Friday. It has happened twice in the last four games with Jackson Rowe out of the lineup.
SNAPPING STREAKS
Cal State Fullerton has eliminated a pair of long and dubious losing streaks this season. Earlier this year, Fullerton defeated Hawai'i to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Rainbow Warriors. On Feb. 22, the Titans eliminated another streak with a 56-54 win over UC Irvine, putting a halt to their 10-game losing streak to the Anteaters. On March 4, Fullerton snapped a four-game losing streak to CSUN. Fullerton's Big West Tournament quarterfinal victory against the Matadors on Thursday snapped a six-game losing skid at the conference tournament.
20/20/20 VISION
When Lionheart Leslie (24), Kyle Allman (24) and Tre' Coggins (21) each scored at least 20 points in Thursday's victory over CSUN, the trio became the first Titan trio to each score 20 points in the same game since Sammy Yeager, D.J. Seeley and Kwame Vaughn also did so on Jan. 31, 2013 vs. CSUN.
THUNDER UPThe Titans victory over UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 2 snapped a five-game losing streak to the Gauchos and marked the first time Fullerton has won in The Thunderdome since Jan. 10, 2009. It also tied for Fullerton's biggest victory over UCSB in program history. The Titans beat UCSB 84-58 on Feb. 12, 1983 in Santa Barbara. Thursday also marked the Titans biggest win over the Gauchos since March 1, 1997, a 74-60 win at Titan Gym. It was also the biggest win in Santa Barbara since Feb. 18, 1984 when Fullerton scored a 77-57 win.
BACK-TO-BACK BIG WEST ALL-CONFERENCE
Freshman forward Jackson Rowe was named the 2016-17 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Year, while senior guards Tre' Coggins and Lionheart Leslie were named Big West First Team and Honorable Mention, respectively, as voted on by the league's nine coaches, it was announced on March 6.
Rowe is the fourth Cal State Fullerton player to be voted Big West Freshman of the Year and the second in a row for fourth-year head coach Dedrique Taylor, as sophomore Khalil Ahmad took home the honor last season.
In his first year with Fullerton, Rowe is averaging 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He is ranked third in the Big West in rebounding average and leads the conference in field goal percentage (.546).
The native of Toronto has totaled 17 double-figure scoring games, two 20-point games, six double-figure rebounding games, five double-doubles, and has led the team in rebounding on 14 occasions.
For the second straight season, Coggins received all-conference honors, named to the Big West First Team in his senior year after leading Cal State Fullerton and the Big West Conference averaging 17.5 points per game.
Furthermore the San Juan Capistrano, Calif, native has totaled 23 double-figure scoring games, including 12 20-point games and two 30-point efforts. He has also led the team in scoring 17 times this season.Coggins logged his 21st career 20-point game as a Titan on Saturday night. He also has surpassed the 900-point mark, giving him 925 points in 56 career games at Fullerton.
Leslie was named honorable mention after averaging 10.1 points per game and leading the Titans in both assists (67) and steals (44) as well as getting to 4.0 rebounds per game.
This season the native of Houma, La., totaled 11 double-figure scoring games, including four 20-point efforts. He led the team in scoring on six occasions, led the Titans in rebounding seven times, and led Fullerton in assists 11 times.
Entering the Big West Tournament, Leslie has recorded 24 steals in his last seven games.
The Titans have received 68 Big West all-conference honors, including first team, second team and honorable mention, dating back to 1976. Coggins is the first Titan since D.J. Seeley in 2012 to be named to the Big West First Team.
SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitans.com/Tickets. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.
FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans) and Snapchat (FullertonTitans). In addition, the basketball team has established its own Twitter (@FullertonHoops) and Instagram accounts (@FullerotonHoops).