Cal State Fullerton (7-13, 2-4) at UC Riverside (7-14, 2-5)
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 | 7:00 PM
SRC Arena • Riverside, Calif.
Game Coverage: Live Stats |Audio | Video | CSF Release 
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Webcast: ESPN3
PXP: Trent Schlom
Analyst: Richie Schueler
Sideline: Sanaz Tavassol
Streaming Audio: www.FullertonTitans.com
Live Stats: Live in-game stats are available at www.fullertontitans.com
ON TAP: Cal State Fullerton remains on the road this week as part of a three-game road swing. The Titans, who have yet win a road game in Big West play, and hold a 2-8 record on the road this year overall, first travel to UC Riverside on Thursday. The Titans will end the week at Cal State Northridge on Saturday.
PROMOTIONS: When the Titans return to Titan Gym on Thursday, Feb. 13, to host UC Davis, Cal State Fullerton will be holding a mini titans basketball giveaway while supplies last.
HOMECOMING:
Saturday, February 15
Titan Festival: 3 p.m. in front of Titan Gym
Homecoming has become an annual tradition at Cal State Fullerton for alumni, students and the community.
Bring your family and friends for a day of fun for Titans of all ages! The game against Hawai'i, which begins at 6 p.m., follows the Titan Festival.
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 UC RIVERSIDE: UC Riverside (7-14, 2-5 Big West) enters Thursday's game following a 93-89 overtime loss at Cal State Northridge last Thursday. The Highlanders, led by Chris Patton's 13.4 points per game, have picked up wins against UC Davis and Cal Poly in league play this year. UCR averages 68.0 points per game.
HEAD-TO-HEAD VS. UC RIVERSIDE: Cal State Fullerton leads the all-time series against UC Riverside, 27-17, although the Titans trail in road games 9-10. Fullerton also holds a 16-9 lead in league games. Fullerton has won its last five meetings against the Highlanders. The Titans have not suffered a loss in Riverside since Feb. 26, 2009.
LAST TIME OUT VS. UC RIVERSIDE: Cal State Fullerton held off UC Riverside, 78-73, in the closing seconds of each team's Big West Conference opener as five Titans scored in double figures led by Michael Williams' 21 points at Titan Gym on Jan. 9.
THE SECOND LEG...SORT OF: Cal State Fullerton will travel to UC Riverside on Thursday to play its seventh league game of the year as well as its second match up against the Highlanders. The Titans have yet to play all eight league teams, traveling to Cal State Northridge on Saturday before hosting Hawai'i on Saturday, Feb. 15.
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.
NOTES FROM UC SANTA BARBARA: Cal State Fullerton defeated UC Santa Barbara, 74-72, on Jan. 25, marking the first time this season that the Titans have won a game that was decided by four points or less...Fullerton holds a record of 6-1 when scoring 70 points or more and a record of 1-12 when scoring less than 70 points...the Titans remain undefeated at 7-0 when their shooting percentage is higher than their opponents' clip...Fullerton's nine made three-point field goals against the Gauchos matched a season best, while Fullerton's 19 assists set a new season high...Alex Harris scored a season-high 22 points in the win including 19 in the second half - the largest scoring total for a Titan in a single half this year...Michael Williams' eight assists in the game against UCSB set a new Fullerton season high as well as career best for the senior.
CURRENT NOTES: Cal State Fullerton has utilized seven different starting lineups during the season...the Titans have lost five straight road games and four of their last five overall…Fullerton has not led in a game eight times this year...CSF completed non-conference action with a record of 5-9......Fullerton overcame a 10-point deficit against Sacramento State on Dec. 21 – the largest deficit the Titans have overcome this year...Fullerton's 59-point total against Sacramento State marked its lowest in a win this year...the Titans are 5-0 when scoring over 74 points and shooting 50 percent or more from the floor, and in the win over Sacramento State, for the first time Fullerton won a game this year scoring less than 60 points and having less than three scorers reach double figures...Fullerton has also come back twice this season from halftime deficits to win: at Pepperdine (Dec. 4) and vs. Sacramento State (Dec. 21)...Cal State Fullerton won its third straight Big West Conference season opener following a 78-73 win over UC Riverside on Jan. 9. Against the Highlanders, five Titans scored in double figures - a first for Fullerton during the 2013-14 season.
INDIVIDUAL MARKERS: Michael Williams has scored in double figures in a team-leading 20 consecutive games. He has led the Titans in scoring in 12 of Fullerton's last 16 games...Williams scored a game-high 24 points against Texas Southern (Dec. 15), which also marked a Titan season high. Williams has scored at least 20 points on five occasions this year. His eight assists against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 25 also set a Titan season high.
Alex Harris scored a season-high 22 points in the Jan. 25 win over the Gauchos. He scored 19 of his 22 in the second half, the most points a Titan has scored in a single half this year. Harris' 10 made free throws against UCR on Jan. 9 also marked a Titan season best as well as career high...Steve McClellan's 13-point, 12-rebound performance against UCR marked the second Titan double-double of the season. McClellan's 13 rebounds at UC Davis on Jan. 18 marked a Titan season best as well as career high.
IN THE BIG WEST: Entering the week, Cal State Fullerton's 24.0 defensive rebounds per game rank third in the Big West...Michael Williams' average of 16.1 points per game ranks seventh in the league, and his 2.05 three-pointers per game rank seventh...Steve McClellan's 2.25 offensive rebounds per game rank 10th in the Big West Conference....Alex Harris' 1.25 steals per game rank 10th in the league and his 1.50 three-pointers per game tie for ninth in the Big West.
WIN-LOSS COMPARISONS: Cal State Fullerton has shot a higher percentage than opponents in each of its seven wins, while shooting a percentage lower than opponents in each of its 13 losses...in seven wins, the Titans have shot 50.1 percent from the floor while averaging 78.0 points per game. Also in those wins, Fullerton holds a 36.0-33.1 rebounding advantage and holds opponents to a shooting percentage of .388 and an average of 66.9 points per game.
In 13 losses this season, Fullerton is shooting a field goal percentage of .377 while averaging just 58.8 points per game while opponents average 71.6 ppg and shoot at a clip of .483. In addition, opponents outrebound CSF 35.8-33.9.
MORE COMPARISONS: The Titans have outscored opponents 580-536 in the paint this year as well as holding an advantage in bench points (393-372), but trail opponents in second chance points (197-204) and points off turnovers (275-302). In losses, the Titans have made just 241 trips to the free-throw line, compared to 321 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 second on the team totaling 45 assists while averaging 4.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Blackwell scored a career high 14 points at USC on Nov. 19 and dished a career-best six assists vs. Miami on Nov. 29. Boyd, a 6-foot-9 forward from Scottsdale, Ariz., is averaging 3.2 ppg while adding 3.5 rpg. Boyd scored a career-high 10 points in Fullerton's 87-80 win over Texas Southern on Dec. 15, and recorded 10 rebounds at USC on Nov. 19.
NEWCOMERS: Cal State Fullerton senior Michael Williams is playing in 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 16.1 points per game, scoring in double figures in 20 straight games and leading the Titans in scoring in 12 of their last 16. Williams has also scored at least 20 points on five occasions this season. Junior Steve McClellan, in his first year at Fullerton after transferring from Louisiana-Monroe, is averaging a team-leading 5.8 rebounds per game, and has recorded three games with at least 10 rebounds.
AIR TIME: Currently, Cal State Fullerton has 12 men's basketball games scheduled to be broadcast this season. Still ahead, the Titans' game at UC Riverside on Thursday will be aired on ESPN3 as well as Fullerton's Homecoming Game against Hawai'i on Saturday, Feb. 15.
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.