Game 16
Cal State Fullerton vs. Hawai'i
Date: Saturday, Jan. 16
Time: 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Location: Fullerton, Calif.
Venue: Titan Gym
TV: ESPN3
Live Stats: Fullerton Titans.com
Internet Radio: FullertonTitans.com
Series Record: Hawaii leads 8-2
THIS WEEK
Cal State Fullerton welcomes Hawai'i to Titan Gym for a Satuday evening affair on Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN3.
TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Cal State Fullerton students receive free admission to Titan home games with their Titan I.D. card.
Additional ticket information can be found by clicking HERE.
OPPONENTS & HISTORY
Hawai'i | 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 16 | Titan Gym
Hawai'i comes into Titan Gym with a 14-2 overall record and a 3-0 league mark to sit atop the Big West Conference. The Warriors are out-shooting their opponents 47.1 percent to 39.5 percent and they own a scoring margin of +13.6. Hawai'i' has four scorers averaging double figures in Aaron Valdes (14.8 ppg), Stefan Jankovic (14.8 ppg), Roderick Bobbitt (13.4 ppg) and Isaac Fleming (11.0 ppg). Jankovic also leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game, while Bobbitt owns a team-best 79 assists and 32 steals.
Head-To-Head: The Titans and Warriors will face each other for the 11th time in program history this weekend and Hawai'i leads the all-time series 8-2. Hawai'i has won the last seven meetings, including a pair of games last season. Cal State Fullerton is looking for its first win over Hawai'i since 2008 when the Titans won 90-76 in Honolulu.
Last Meeting: Hawai'i hit its first six shots of the game to jump out to a 14-1 lead and never cooled off as the Warriors rolled to a 91-70 victory at Cal State Fullerton. Garrett Nevels scored 16 points and four Warriors were also in double figures in the game. For Fullerton, Alex Harris led the Titans with 15 points.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
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LAST TIME OUT
Tre' Coggins turned in a career-best performance with 41 points to rank second in the Cal State Fullerton single-game record book, but the Titans were unable to complete the comeback effort as they dropped an 85-75 decision to Cal State Northridge Saturday night inside Titan Gym.
The setback marked the Titans' first Big West Conference loss as they drop to 1-1 in league play and 8-7 overall. The Matadors improve to 6-10 on the year, while moving to 1-1 in BWC action.
Coggins and the Titans put together a second half surge as the team recorded 51 points in the frame, while 29 came from the redshirt junior guard. Coggins finished the contest shooting 47 percent from the field as he connected on 9-of-19 field goals. He shot 50 percent (6-for-12) from long distance and was a perfect 17-for-17 from the free throw line.
After trailing by 22 on two separate occasions in the second half, the Titans put together a comeback in the final five minutes of the game as they went on a 14-2 run to cut the Matadors' lead to eight (73-65) at 2:22. Cal State Fullerton continued to close the gap as the Titans made it a two-possession game (75-70) with 1:24 remaining in the game. Fullerton came within five (78-73) once more, but CSUN pulled away and took the game by a score of 85-75.
ENTERING THE RECORD BOOKS
Redshirt junior guard Tre' Coggins etched his name into the Cal State Fullerton record books with a career-best performance against CSUN in which he poured in 41 points to rank second all-time in the single-game annals. He also went 17-for-17 from the free throw line to set a Big West Conference record. Coggins is the first Titan to reach 41 points since Josh Akognon did it against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 13, 2008. With 41 points, Coggins now ties for second for most points scored in the CSF record single-game record book. He is tied with Akognon, who reached the feat twice in 2008, and sits behind Bobby Brown who tallied 47 points in 2006 against Bethune-Cookman.
DOUBLE VISION
Freshman guard Khalil Ahmad recorded his first double-double of his collegiate career in an 88-56 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills. Ahmad tallied 15 points as he shot 60-percent overall (6-of-10) and led the squad with a career-high 12 rebounds. Last Saturday, senior center Kennedy Esume notched a double-double of his own as he registered a season-high 11 points to go along with 14 rebounds against Cal State East Bay.
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
The Titans have had a pair of post players who have done their job cleaning up the glass. Senior center Kennedy Esume grabbed a career-high 19 boards in the season opener at Loyola Marymount and notched a double-double against Cal State East Bay with 14 rebounds to go along with 11 points. Not to be outdone by his teammate, sophomore forward Jamar Akoh pulled down 18 boards against Portland at the Far West Classic and did it again in conference play against CSUN. Akoh and Esume have recorded 86 and 87 rebounds, respectively, for an average of 6.1 and 5.8 rebounds per game.
BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK - TIMES TWO
Tre' Coggins has been named Big West Player of the Week on two occasions this season. He and Hawai'i's Roderick Bobbitt are the only two players in the league who have earned the honor more than once this season.
Coggins collected his second honor after posting a career-best 41 points against CSUN to rank second in the Cal State Fullerton single-game record book, while becoming the first Titan in eight years to reach the 40-point plateau.
The redshirt junior guard finished the week with 66 points in two games to help the Titans split the opening weekend of conference play.
In the conference opener at UCR, Coggins tied his then-career-high with 25 points to help lift Cal State Fullerton to a second-half comeback over the Highlanders. In that contest, the San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native made four three-pointers, including the go ahead trey at 1:20 remaining which gave CSF its first lead of the night.
Coggins returned two days later and exploded for 41 points in an 85-75 loss to CSUN. His performance was the first 40-point effort by a Big West player since Corey Hawkins of UC Davis in January 2013. Additionally, he is the first Titan to reach 41 points since Josh Akognon did it against CSU Bakersfield on December 13, 2008.
Coggins is now tied with Akognan for second for most points scored in the CSF single-game record book and sits behind Bobby Brown, who tallied 47 points in 2006 against Bethune-Cookman.
Additionally, Coggins tied a Big West single-game free throw percentage record as he connected on all 17 attempts. He is just the second player in league history to accomplish such a feat. He finished the week shooting 95.7 percent (22-of-23) from the free throw line.
He also knocked down six three-pointers and shot 47.6 percent (10-for-21) from three-point range for the week.
Coggins leads the Titans with 18.5 points per game, which is good for second in the league. He also adds 4.3 rebounds per game, 28 assists, 16 steals and two blocks on the year.
HELPING HANDS
The Titans have done a soild job this season of playing as a team and sharing the assist duties. Leading the way for Cal State Fullerton is Lionheart Leslie with 34 assists on the year, while Tre' Coggins is second on the team with 28 helpers. As a team, the Titans have accumulated 171 assists for an average of 11.4 per game.
IN THE BIG WEST
Cal State Fullerton has several players ranked in the top 10 in the Big West statistics. Leading the way are Tre' Coggins and Malcolm Brooks. Coggins ranks second in scoring (18.5 ppg), second in free throw percentage (84.2 percent), second in three-point field goals mafe (3.3) and ninth in minutes played (30.3). Brooks comes in fifth in three-point field goal percentage (42.9 percent), eighth in free throw percentage (80 percent), ninth in field goal percentage (48.4 percent), ninth in three-point field goals made (1.7) and 10th in scoring (13.1 ppg). Khalil Ahmad, Jamar Akoh and Kennedy Esume's names also appear in the conference top 10.
CAREER WEEK
During the Titans' road trip to Seattle, Cal State Fullerton had several players turn in career-best performances. First, the Titans defeated Seattle behind three career-best efforts. Leading the way was Malcolm Brooks who poured in a then-career-high 20 points. Sheldon Blackwell added a career-best eight rebounds in the contest, seven of which were defensive boards. Finally, Lionheart Leslie dished out a career-high five assists. Leslie also connected on 8-of-8 free throws. The Titans followed those career-best performances with four more at Washington. In that contest, Brooks equaled his then-career-high with 20 points again, while Leslie registered a career-best 16 points and Jamar Akoh cleaned up the glass collecting a then career-high seven rebounds. Rounding out the Titans in career-bests was Kennedy Esume who grabbed three steals to lead the squad to a total of 10 in the game.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• Tre' Coggins had a pair of career games at Southern Utah and versus Nevada as he poured in a career-best 25 point effort in both games en route to being named Big West Conference Player of the Week. He tallied another 25 points to tie his career-high at UCR. However, he obliterated his then-career-high of 25 points when he poured in a new career-best of 41 points against CSUN.
• Malcolm Brooks poured in a career-high 22 points at Portland State and has notched double-figures in 10 games to lead the Titans.
• Khalil Ahmad turned in the first 20-plus point effort of his collegiate career as he drained a career-high 22 points at Southern Utah. The Corona, Calif., native came back and tallied 25 points against Portland for a new career-high.
• Junior forward Rashard Todd has decided to leave the team.
• Redshirt senior guard Lanerryl Johnson has decided to leave the team.
ADDITIONAL TV GAME
ESPN has selected Cal State Fullerton's men's basketball game against UC Riverside on Saturday, Jan. 30, as a wild card selection for broadcast. The 7 p.m., contest will be played at Titan Gym and broadcast live on ESPN3.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 10 television appearances during the 2015-16 season.
The breakdown includes seven appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network and one on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
BIG WEST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ALL-SESSION TICKETS ON SALE
All-session school reserved tickets will be available for $69.00. These seats will be located within a school's section and can be purchased through each institution's box office.
Premium all-session tickets located in the first four rows of seating will be available for $149.00. General admission all-session tickets are also available for $69.00. These seats can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster retail outlets, or by calling 800-745-3000.
Fans can call the Cal State Fullerton ticket office to purchase all-session tickets as well at: 657-279-CSUF.
The 2016 Big West Tournament will be hosted for the sixth straight year at Honda Center in Anaheim. The men's tournament begins on Thursday, March 10 at Honda Center with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals and championship games for both the men and women will take place Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12 at Honda Center.
Additional ticket information for the 2016 Big West Basketball Tournament is available at HondaCenter.com. For up to date team schedules and general information regarding the 2016 Big West Basketball Tournament, please visit BigWestTournament.com.
ON DECK FOR THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton heads to UC Irvine for a mid-week contest on Wednesday, Jan. 20. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. The contest will be televised on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.