Cal State Fullerton (2-6) at Pepperdine (5-3)
Wednesday, December 4, 2013 | 7:00 PM
Firestone Fieldhouse • Malibu, Calif.

Game Coverage: Live Stats | Video | CSF Release   | Pepperdine 

SERIES RECORDS
Pepperdine leads 11-10
in Malibu: Pepperdine leads 7-4 

CATCH ALL THE ACTION

Television: None

Streaming Video: www.PepperdineSports.com

Streaming Audio: None

Live Stats: Live in-game stats are available at www.fullertontitans.com

TICKETS: Single-game tickets for all home games can be purchased online at www.FullertonTitans.com as well as in person or by calling the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Ticket Office at (657) 278-2783 from the hours of 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. On gamedays, tickets can be purchased one hour prior to tip-off at the Titan Gym ticket box office.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow @FullertonHoops for updates during the 2013-14 season.

SCOUTING THE WAVES:  Pepperdine is off to a 5-3 start, and holds a .500 mark (2-2) in its last four games. The Waves recently competed at the Great Alaska Shootout last weekend, sandwiching losses to Green Bay and Indiana State around a 68-56 win against  Denver.

Pepperdine has played one Big West opponent this season, registering a 69-66 win at UC Riverside. The Waves have also played one like Fullerton opponent, falling at home to San Jose State, 83-77.

HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. PEPPERDINE: Wednesday's game at Pepperdine will mark the 22nd meeting between the two programs, dating back to 1978. Pepperdine holds a slight advantage in the series, 11-10, including a 7-4 lead in games played at Pepperdine. Wednesday's game is the first contest between the Waves and Titans since 2006, when Bobby Brown scored 22 points and Scott Cutley had a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds as Cal State Fullerton escaped with an 83-81 victory at Pepperdine on Dec. 9.

HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Pepperdine is one of two West Coast Conference opponents the Titans will play this year. Back on Nov. 16, the Titans shot 53.8 percent (35-of-65) from the floor, and were led by junior guard Alex Harris as he knocked down three 3-pointers en route to an 86-73 win over Santa Clara at Titan Gym. All-time, the Titans hold a 98-102 record against current teams in the WCC.

INJURY UPDATE: Cal State Fullerton junior guard Alex Harris missed four games with a right ankle sprain before returning to action against the College of Charleston last Sunday.

ROSTER STATUS: Cal State Fullerton currently has 16 student-athletes listed on its roster, with 12 players having seen game action thus far in 2013-14. Corey Walker and Moses Morgan must redshirt the season due to NCAA transfer rules. Freshman guard Hidde Vos and junior guard James Douglas are expected to redshirt the season.

EARLY SEASON NOTES: Head coach Dedrique Taylor earned his first win as a head coach after the Titans defeated Montana State, 84-55, in Bozeman, Mont., on Nov. 9…Taylor is the fifth Titan head coach to win his first game at Cal State Fullerton…Cal State Fullerton won its season opener against a Division I opponent for the first time since a 75-67 win at BYU on Nov. 22, 1996 (the 2007-08 season opener was played against CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners as the program was in transition to Div. I status)…Cal State Fullerton's 29-point victory at Montana State was its largest margin of victory on the road since an 81-50 win at Utah on Dec. 7, 2011... Fullerton has eclipsed 80 points two times this season.

CURRENT NOTES: Michael Williams has scored in double figures for a team-leading eight consecutive games, and has led the Titans in scoring for four straight games…freshman Sheldon Blackwell has led the Titans in assists for three consecutive games... the Titans' current five-game losing streak is the longest for the program since dropping the final five games of the 2012-13 season (Feb. 28-March 14)…the Titans have lost by double figures four times this year. 

NOTES FROM THE DIRECTV WOODEN LEGACY: Cal State Fullerton was held under 50 points for the second consecutive game after suffering a 61-48 loss to College of Charleston last Sunday...the Titans set a season low in field goal percentage (.310) against the Cougars...Fullerton finished the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy with a record of 0-3, the Titans last finished a preseason tournament 0-3 during the 2010-11 season at the Outrigger Hotels Classic...Fullerton last scored less than 50 points in back-to-back games during the 2002-03 season: 41 vs. UC Riverside (Jan. 18) and 49 at Idaho (Jan. 23).

IN THE BIG WEST: Michael Williams' average of 14.1 points per game ranks ninth in the Big West, while the senior guard's 1.88 three-pointers per game rank eighth in the league...freshman Sheldon Blackwell's 3.13 assists per game rank ninth in the conference, and his 2.08 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks eighth...Marquis Horne's .435 three-point field goal percentage ranks eighth in the Big West...Steve McClellan's 2.0 offensive rebounds per game rank 10th in the Big West.

COMMONALITIES: What is statistically common in Cal State Fullerton's two wins this season? In both victories, the Titans scored more than 80 points, shot more than 50.0 percent from the floor, shot 50.0 percent from three-point range, knocked down more three-pointers than their opponents and totaled more assists than their opponents.

MORE COMPARISONS:  The Titans have outscored opponents 214-194 in the paint this year, but trail opponents in second chance points (65-86), bench points (157-171) and points off turnovers (110-130)....the Titans have shot 53.7 percent from the floor in their two wins, and just 38.8 percent from the floor in their six losses, including 50.0 percent from three-point range (wins) compared to 30.4 percent in losses...in losses, the Titans have made just 106 trips to the free-throw line, compared to 145 opportunities for opponents.

ROOKIES:  In Friday's 48-46 heartbreaking loss to Miami, which saw the Titans nearly erase a 17-point deficit, head coach Dedrique Taylor inserted freshmen Sheldon Blackwell and Joe Boyd into the starting lineup. Blackwell, a 6-foot-5 guard from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is leading the Titans with 25 assists while averaging 7.1 points per game. Boyd, a 6-foot-9 forward from Scottsdale, Ariz., is averaging 3.6 ppg while averaging a team-leading 5.1 rebounds per game.

AIR TIME: Currently, Cal State Fullerton has eight men's basketball games scheduled to be broadcast, starting with the game at Seattle, which was aired on ROOT Sports Northwest on Nov. 13. In addition, Fullerton's game at USC on Nov. 19 was broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. Each of Fullerton's three games at the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy Tournament were aired on the ESPN family of networks. Fullerton's contest against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 25 will be aired on Fox Sports Prime Ticket from Titan Gym. In addition, two Titan games are scheduled to be aired on ESPN3 starting on Thursday, Jan. 23 when the Titans host Cal Poly, as well as Fullerton's game against Hawai'i on Saturday, Feb. 15, from Titan Gym.

A NEW ERA BEGINS: Former Arizona State associate head men's basketball coach and long-time college assistant Dedrique Taylor was appointed the 11th men's basketball head coach in Cal State Fullerton history, Athletic Director Jim Donovan announced on April 3, 2013.

A NEW LOOK: Of the 16 players on Cal State Fullerton's roster, 10 had not suited up in a Cal State Fullerton uniform before the 2013-14 season. 

REPLACING OFFENSE: Cal State Fullerton lost 60 percent of its scoring from last season with the departure of seniors Sammy Yeager (15.8 ppg), Kwame Vaughn (18.4 ppg) and D.J. Seeley (17.9 ppg).

TITANS IN THE NBA: Former Cal State Fullerton men's basketball player Josh Akognon became the 12th former Titan to appear in the NBA on April 10, 2013 playing four minutes and scoring two points to go with an assist for the Dallas Mavericks in their 102-91 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center.

Akognon, who played two seasons for Fullerton from 2007-09, became the first Titan to appear in an NBA game since Bobby Brown (2003-07) competed for the New Orleans Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009-10 season. 

2013 DIRECTV WOODEN LEGACY ATTRACTS RECORD CROWDS:  With the attendance for the final four games of the 2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy being 6,007 for the competition at Honda Center Sunday, the three-day event over Thanksgiving weekend attracted a record 14,982 fans for the in-season college basketball tournament near Disneyland.

Sunday's total of 6,007 was a single-day record breaking the previous best of 5,144 set Friday for two sessions.  Prior to Friday, the best single-day attendance mark was 5,094 in 2009.  The 2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy featured a Marquette vs. San Diego State championship game at Honda Center.  Other schools in the event were Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, College of Charleston, Creighton, George Washington and Miami.

 With the first four sessions of the 2013 DIRECTV Wooden Legacy being played Thursday and Friday (November 28 and 29) at Titan Gym on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, the final four games were combined into one session at Honda Center.  The two days of action at Titan Gym drew 3.831 on Thanksgiving Day and 5,144 on Friday.

The previous tournament attendance record for the three days of competition at the Anaheim Convention was 14,212 set in November 2009.