Men's Basketball

A Historic Season for Men’s Basketball

Team huddled up before the game
Credit Emarie Espinosa
Posted: Apr 06, 2018

FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton men's basketball had a memorable 2017-18 campaign. It was full of ups and downs but in the end, history was made and the squad became just the third team in program history to play in the NCAA Tournament.

For the year, CSF went 20-12 overall and 10-6 in Big West Conference play. It marked just the seventh time in CSF history that a team recorded 20 wins in a season and it was the most by a squad since the 2011-12 team won 21 games.

To reach the 20-win mark, the Titans won three games in three nights at the Honda Center in Anaheim to capture the third-ever conference tournament title in program history. Junior guard Kyle Allman, Jr. was named tournament MVP and was a member of the all-tournament team along with junior guard Khalil Ahmad and sophomore forward Jackson Rowe. That trio of Titans also garnered Big West All-Conference accolades as Allman was first-team honoree, Ahmad second-team and Rowe honorable mention.

As the four seed, the Titans opened up against LBSU (March 8) in the quarterfinal round, who they had not beaten in the postseason since 1978 and had just a 1-8 record against the 49ers in conference tournament history. No matter, CSF gutted out a 76-74 win after trailing for the first 12 minutes of the second half. Allman led the way with 24 points while Rowe had 18 points and eight rebounds. 

In the semifinal round, CSF had a rematch against UC Davis (March 9), the team that defeated the Titans in the 2017 Big West Tournament semifinal on a buzzer beater. In another close game, CSF prevailed by a score of 55-52, recording another comeback victory after trailing by 13 at the 17:05 mark of the second half. Allman was dealing with foul trouble and an off-shooting night so Rowe stepped up with his fourth double-double of the season, recording 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Just like 10 years ago, the last time CSF made the NCAA Tournament, CSF met UC Irvine in the final of the Big West Tournament and just like 10 years ago, the Titans were victorious (March 10). The prior two games were close but the Titans handled the Anteaters as they led for 36 of the game's 40 minutes to win 71-55. Allman led the team in scoring with 26 points and Ahmad scored 23.

The Titans earned the No. 15 seed in the East region of the NCAA Tournament and faced No. 2 seed Purdue on March 16 and fell to the Boilermakers by a score of 74-48.

For the first time since joining the Big West, CSF won 10 conference games in back-to-back seasons (2016-17, 2017-18) as they went 10-6 on the year. The team started off 4-0 in the league for the first time since 1983-84, with wins against UC Riverside (Jan. 3), at Cal Poly (Jan. 6), at then-defending league champion UC Irvine (Jan. 11) and at home against then-defending Big West Tournament champion UC Davis (Jan. 13).

After winning the first four, the Titans had a three-game skid before the game at Hawai'i on Jan. 27. CSF picked up a nice win against the then-first place Rainbow Warriors by a score of 69-66 with Allman scoring a career-high 40 points. He made a career-high 16 field goals on just 19 attempts.

Sitting at 5-3 at the halfway point, the Titans also finished the second half of Big West play with a 5-3 record. The Titans earned a season sweep over Cal Poly (Feb. 8) before a tough road test at UC Davis (Feb. 10). The Titans pulled out a hard-fought 68-66 victory and saw Ahmad become the 24th member of the school's 1K Career Point Club.

CSF handled Cal State Northridge (Feb. 17) and then had a comfortable win at home against Long Beach State (Feb. 24) with the game broadcast live on ESPN2. The Titans then played at CSUN (Feb. 17) and blew out the Matadors, 102-76, and Allman became the 25th member of the 1K Club. 

In non-conference play, CSF won seven games before league play began in January. After starting the year on the road against two top-25 opponents in USC (Nov. 10) and St. Mary's (Nov. 15), CSF rattled off six wins in their next seven games including five straight wins. The Titans went 2-1 in the Wooden Legacy, securing wins over Sacramento State (Nov. 24) and Harvard (Nov. 26). CSF then beat Cal Lutheran (Dec. 2), won at Portland (Dec. 6) and won at home against Utah Valley (Dec. 9). Right before Christmas on Dec. 22, the Titans won at Loyola Marymount for its final non-conference victory.

NOTES
- For the first time since 2008-09 and 2009-10, CSF had first-team All-Conference honorees in back-to-back seasons (2016-17 - Tre Coggins, 2017-18 - Kyle Allman Jr.).

- At 19.5 points per game for the season, Allman posted the highest single-season scoring average for a Titan since Josh Akognon scored 23.9 in 2008-09. He had one of the best scoring seasons in Titan history. Total PTS - 623 (No. 7 all-time for a single season), PPG - 19.5 (No. 10), FTM - 182 (No. 3), FTA - 244 (No. 2).

- At the charity stripe, Ahmad shot 82.9 percent (87-105) for the year. That is tied for the ninth-best single-season total in program history.

- In each of the last two years, the program has had a winning percentage higher than .700 in games played at Titan Gym. In 2016-17 we went 12-4 (.750) and in 2017-18 we went 10-4 (.714).

- The Titans garnered four (Allman - 2, Ahmad - 2) Big West Player of the Week honors on the year, marking the first time since 2012 we have earned more than one in a season. 

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