Sacramento State (3-4) at Cal State Fullerton (4-7)
Saturday, December 21, 2013 | 3:00 PM
Titan Gym • Fullerton, Calif.

Game Coverage: Live Stats | Video | Audio | CSF Release     | Sacramento St. Release 

SERIES RECORDS
Sacramento State leads 6-5
in Fullerton: Cal State Fullerton leads 4-3

CATCH ALL THE ACTION

Television: None

Streaming Video: www.FullertonTitans.com

Streaming Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com

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

PROMOTIONS: At Saturday's double-header the Titan giveaway will be a "Titan Basketball" T-shirt while supplies last. In addition, Cal State Fullerton fans with a men's basketball ticket are invited to stay for the women's basketball game against Seattle which tips off at 6 p.m.

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 HORNETS:  Sacramento State (3-4) enters Saturday's game following an 84-54 victory over William Jessup last Saturday. The Hornets have played two Big West Conference members this year, defeating UC Davis, 73-67, on Nov. 26, while falling to UC Irvine, 79-53, on Nov. 30.

The Hornets average 64.4 points per game shooting 42.1 percent from the floor led by Mikh McKinney's average of 14.7 points and 3.6 assists per game.

HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. SACRAMENTO STATE:  Sacramento State and Cal State Fullerton have met on 11 occasions dating back to Dec. 8, 1960, with the Hornets holding a slim 6-5 advantage in the all-time series. The Titans hold a 4-3 edge  at home, and three of the contests have needed overtime for a result, including the last meeting between the two squads in 2003. On Nov. 29, 2003 at Titan Gym, Sacramento State edged Cal State Fullerton 78-71 in overtime.

HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. THE BIG SKY:  Sacramento State is the second and final team from the Big Sky Conference that Cal State Fullerton is scheduled to play in the regular season. Fullerton opened the year with an 84-55 victory at Montana State. All-time, the Titans hold a .500 record (36-36) against current members of the Big Sky. Fullerton last hosted a Big Sky opponent at Titan Gym last season, when Idaho State visited Fullerton with the Titans recording a 66-53 victory on Dec. 13, 2012.

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 on three occasions this season.

CURRENT NOTES: Fullerton scored a season-high 87 points, shooting a season-best 54.4 percent from the floor in last Sunday's 87-80 victory over Texas Southern...the Titans are 4-0 when scoring over 78 points and shooting over 50 percent from the floor...Fullerton is now 3-1 when leading at the half and 4-0 when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent...Michael Williams has scored in double figures for a team-leading 11 consecutive games. He has led the Titans in scoring in six of Fullerton's last seven games...Williams scored a game-high 24 points last Sunday against Texas Southern, which also marked a Titan season high. In addition, Williams' 18 second-half points were the most a Titan has scored in a single half this year, and his four made three-pointers also set a Titan season high... Alex Harris scored a season-high 21 points against the Tigers last Sunday as the Titans had two players scoring 20 points or more in a game for the first time since March 9, 2013 vs. Cal Poly. Harris' nine made free throws was also a Titan season best as well as career high...freshman Joe Boyd scored a career high 10 points vs. Texas Southern...Steve McClellan's 12-point, 10-rebound performance against Seattle (Dec. 7) marked the first Titan double-double of the season. In addition, McClellan's 12 rebounds are also a Titan season high...on Dec. 4, Fullerton erased a halftime deficit for the first time this season en route to a 78-64 win after trailing Pepperdine 37-32 at the break...the Titans have not held a lead in a game four times this season.

IN THE BIG WEST: Entering the week, Michael Williams' average of 15.5 points per game ranks eighth in the Big West Conference...Williams' .800 (24-of-30) free throw percentage ranks sixth in the league...Williams' average of 2.0 made three-pointers per game rates seventh in the conference...Marquis Horne's .419 (13-of-31) three-point field goal percentage ranks seventh in the Big West...Steve McClellan's average of 2.36 offensive rebounds per game ranks 10th in the league.

COMMONALITIES: What is statistically common in Cal State Fullerton's four wins this season? In four victories, the Titans scored more than 78 points, shot more than 50.0 percent from the floor and shot a higher percentage than their opponents.

MORE COMPARISONS:  The Titans have outscored opponents 340-286 in the paint this year as well as holding an advantage in bench points (218-207), but trail opponents in second chance points (113-129) and points off turnovers (155-170). The Titans have shot 53.2 percent from the floor in their four wins. In losses, the Titans have made just 122 trips to the free-throw line, compared to 168 opportunities for opponents.

ROOKIES:  On Nov. 29 at the DIRECTV Wooden Legacy, Fullerton suffered a 48-46 heartbreaking loss to Miami, which saw the Titans nearly erase a 17-point deficit. In that game, 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 31 assists while averaging 6.7 points per game. Boyd, a 6-foot-9 forward from Scottsdale, Ariz., is averaging 4.5 ppg while adding 4.6 rebounds per game.

NEWCOMERS:  Cal State Fullerton senior Michael Williams is playing his first year as a Titan after redshirting the 2012-13 season following a transfer from San Francisco.

Williams has experienced immediate success, averaging a team-leading 15.5 points per game, scoring in double figures in 11 straight games and leading the Titans in scoring in six of their last seven.

Fullerton has won two of its last three, and during that stretch, Williams is averaging 19.0 points per game, shooting 47.6 percent (20-of-42) from the floor, knocking down seven three-pointers and averaging 4.0 assists 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 on Dec. 1, the three-day event over Thanksgiving weekend attracted a record 14,982 fans for the in-season college basketball tournament near Disneyland.

The Dec. 1 total of 6,007 was a single-day record 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 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 Nov. 29.

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