Game 27
Cal State Fullerton at Cal Poly
Date: Thursday
Time: 7:00 p.m. (PT)
Location: San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Venue: Mott Athletics Center
Video: fullertontitans.com
Live Stats: fullertontitans.com
Audio: fullertontitans.com
Series Record: CP leads 37-26
Weekly Release (.pdf)
THIS WEEK
Playing its fifth road game in its last six contests, the Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team returns to action at 7:00 p.m., Thursday at Cal Poly. The Titans end the regular season with back-to-back home games at Titan Gym hosting UC Santa Barbara at 6 p.m. Saturday, and Long Beach State at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 2.
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
Cal Poly | 7:00 p.m. (PT) | Thursday, Feb. 25 | Mott Athletics Center
Cal Poly (10-16, 4-9) snapped a five-game losing streak with a pair of victories over UC Riverside and UC Davis before falling in overtime to CSUN. The Mustangs are led by Davis Nwaba's 12.1 points per game.
Head-To-Head: Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton will meet for the 64th time in program history and the Mustangs lead the all-time series 37-26. Last season, Cal Poly swept Fullerton in the two games they played. The Titans' last victory over the Mustangs came in 2014 when Fullerton defeated Cal Poly 67-59 in San Luis Obispo.
Last Meeting: Cal State Fullerton took an early 2-0 lead and spent the rest of the game trying to come back from trailing Cal Poly, but the Titans' rally came up short as they fell 83-75 on Jan. 23 at Titan Gym.
Fullerton was led offensively by freshman Khalil Ahmad and redshirt junior Tre' Coggins as the pair each recorded a 20-point performance. Ahmad registered 23 points on 8-for-20 shooting, while Coggins logged 21 points as he was 5-for-16 from the field.
Additionally, Cal State Fullerton out-shot Cal Poly (8-10, 2-3 BWC) as well as round rebounded the Mustangs (42-29) and held the edge in points in the paint (26-20). However, Cal Poly capitalized on its three-point game as it out-shot Fullerton 41.7 percent to 29.4 percent from long distance and took advantage of the Titans' 12 turnover as they out-scored the hosts 13-2 in points off of turnovers.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and Instagram (FullertonTitans). In addition, the men's basketball team has established its own Twitter presence @FullertonHoops.
AHMAD BREAKS RECORD
Freshman Khalil Ahmad has surpassed Bobby Brown's freshman season scoring record of 369 points set in 2004. The record held for 12 years until Ahmad's first bucket at Long Beach State on Saturday night. Ahmad has scored 382 points this season and has started in all 13 Big West Conference games for Cal State Fullerton. During that time, he has averaged 16.6 points per game to lead the Titans. He is the top scoring freshman in the Big West Conference averaging 14.7 ppg.
ON A SLIDE
Cal State Fullerton travels to Cal Poly on Thursday hoping to snap a five-game losing streak, one game short of Fullerton's longest drought of the year which lasted six games from Jan. 9- Jan. 30. During Fullerton's current five-game slide, CSF has led at the half in four out of five contests.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
In Fullerton's last eight games, the Titans are 1-7, however, Fullerton has entered the halftime break with the lead in six of those games, while trailing once as well as a tie score on one
occasion.
In the first halves of in the last eight games, the Titans have averaged 32.9 points per game to go along with a .436 field goal percentage while holding a +2.4 rebounding average and holding opponents to 30.9 points per half. In the second halves of CSF's last eight games, Fullerton scores 32.6 ppg, but allows opponents to score 44.8 ppg shooting at a clip of .491.
HE'S BACK
In his last five games, Malcolm Brooks is averaging a team-leading 14.8 points per game, scoring in double figures for five consecutive contests and leading the Titans in scoring in the last two games.
LAST TIME OUT
Cal State Fullerton's second-half woes continued as the Titans surrendered a one-point halftime lead and suffered a 70-57 loss to Long Beach State at Walter Pyramid on Saturday night in Big West Conference action.
The Titans (9-17, 2-11 BWC) are now on a five-game losing streak while the 49ers (15-12, 9-3), have won five in a row. Fullerton is now 4-6 in games when leading at the half.
LBSU shot 48.5 percent (16-of-33) in the second half, capitalizing on the Titans' 17 turnovers for the game, scoring 20 points directly off CSF miscues.
Malcolm Brooks led Cal State Fullerton with a 14-point performance, while freshman Khalil Ahmad poured in 13 points to record his 19th double-figure scoring game of the season. Ahmad has now scored 382 points during his rookie campaign, setting the new freshman single-season record previously held by Bobby Brown (369) in 2004.
Tre' Coggins led the Titans and matched a career high with seven rebounds while also dishing a team-best four assists to go along with eight points.
The 49ers were led by Nick Faust's 14-point effort as Justin Bibbins also reached double figures with 12.
ROAD WARRIORS
Cal State Fullerton closes out the final month of the regular season playing five of its last eight games on the road. This season the Titans are 4-10 in away games. Five of the Titans' six road games have taken place in the last three weeks: UCSB (Feb. 6), CSUN (Feb. 10), Hawaii (Feb. 13), Long Beach State (Feb. 20) and Cal Poly (Thursday).
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. 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. Lionheart Leslie notched his first double-double as a Titan against Hawai'i with 17 points and 10 rebounds - both career-highs for Leslie. Most recently, Jamar Akoh made his way into the group with a double-double at UC Davis with a career-high 14 points to go along with 10 boards. The sophomore forward recorded his second double-double of the year scoring 12 points and adding 11 rebounds in a 75-67 loss at CSUN.
CLEANING UP THE GLASS
The Titans' post players did a solid job of cleaning up the glass against UC Davis on Feb. 4. The trio of Kennedy Esume, Jamar Akoh and Tim Myles combined for 32 rebounds as they helped Cal State Fullerton out-rebound Davis 51-33 in a contest in which the Titan defense held the Aggies to just 22 percent shooting in the second half. On the year, Akoh is leading the Titans with an average of 6.2 rebounds per game.
TITAN TEAM NOTES
• Fullerton's 57 points scored at Long Beach State set a new season low.
• The first half vs. UC Irvine on Feb. 17 contained the Titans most productive first 20 minutes of basketball during the season as the CSUF matched season bests with points (42) and assists (11) and set season highs in field goal percentage (.571) and 3-pointers made (7).
• On the flip side, against the Anteaters, the Titans allowed the most points (96), most field goals made (34), highest field goal percentage (.607), most 3-pointers (13), highest 3-point field goal percentage (.542) and assists (27) for an opponent this season.
• The freshmen duo of Khalil Ahmad and Kyle Allman Jr., led the Titans at UC Irvine on Jan. 20, combining for 37 of the team's 59 points (nearly 63 percent). The pair have combined for 521 points on the year.
• The Titans have suffered through three losing streaks this season after having dropped five games in a row from Dec. 6 - Dec. 29, then falling in six straight games from Jan. 9 - Jan. 30, while its latest streak dates back to Feb. 6.
• Junior forward Rashard Todd has decided to leave the team.
• Redshirt senior guard Lanerryl Johnson has decided to leave the team.
BWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK - TIMES TWO
Tre' Coggins has been named Big West Player of the Week on two occasions 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.
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.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
Most recently, ESPN selected the Titans home game against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, to be televised on ESPN3. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
AIR TIME
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team is scheduled to make a total of 11 television appearances during the 2015-16 season.
The breakdown includes seven appearances via ESPN3, two on the Pac-12 Network and two on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.
BIG WEST BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ALL-SESSION TICKETS ON SALEAll-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 will travel to Cal Poly on Thursday before hosting UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. Fullerton ends the regular season hosting Long Beach State at Titan Gym on Wednesday, March 2.