UPCOMING: Tues., Dec. 28 -- at Cal State Northridge,
The Matadome (1,600), 7:05 p.m.
Thurs., Dec. 30 -- at Pacific, Spanos Center (6,150), 7:00 p.m.
Thur., Jan. 6 -- UC Riverside, Titan Gym (4,000), 7:05 p.m.
THE QUICK SCENARIO: Fullerton (4-3) takes a winning record
into Big West Conference play for the first time since 1998-99 and is
riding the momentum of a “revenge” win over Denver, winning
by 10 at home after losing by 22 on the road to the Pioneers. Second semester
arrivals Jamaal Brown and Ralphy Holmes, who struggled in their debut
at San Diego State, played extremely well in the win over Denver.
“RADIO”: All games can be heard live on the
internet on computers with sound cards. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics
home page at www.titansports.org and follow the links. Todd Reeves and
Patrick Alog are the announcers at Northridge while Mel Franks gets the
solo duty at Pacific.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg rpg Quick Notes
F 2 Yaphett King * 6-4 Sr. 11.7 6.0 Led team in rebounds in two of past
three games -- w/ 8 at EWU, 10 at SDSU
F 24 Hardy Asprilla * 6-5 Sr. 8.0 8.1 Leading the Titans at the foul line,
making 26-of-29
F 32 Jamaal Brown 6-7 Jr. 18.5 6.0 Posted a double-double (29 pts., 10
boards) in Titan Gym debut vs. Denver
G 3 Bobby Brown * 6-1 So. 19.7 2.0 Posted a double-double (17 points,
10 assists) in win over Denver
G 14 Jermaine Harper 6-3 Jr. 13.2 4.7 Inconsistent scorer last 4 games
with 0, 24, 4 and 0-point totals OFF THE BENCH:
F 15 Ralphy Holmes* 6-4 Sr. 12.5 6.0 Bounced back from rough debut at
SDSU for 25 points vs. Denver
G 23 Vershan Cottrell 6-2 Jr. 2.8 0.5 Transfer from Ohlone College who
led state of Washington in scoring as prep
G 22 John Clemmons 6-0 Jr. 3.0 1.1 January transfer from El Camino College
who didn’t play last year
F 21 Danny Lambert 6-6 Jr. 0.0 3.0 Transfer from Irvine Valley College
has played only 4 minutes
F 5 Justin Burns 6-6 So. 6.0 2.5 Transfer from Cypress Community College;
father “Spider” played at UNLV INJURED:
C 42 Derek Quinet 6-9 So. 5.3 2.8 Questionable after Dec. 23 surgery to
re-set nose broken on Dec. 17
F 12 Drew Awad 6-3 Sr. 1.7 1.0 Leukemia survivor sidelined by foot injury
has now suffered re-occurrence
C 43 Lloyd Walls 6-9 Sr. -- -- Transfer from Wright State sidelined after
multiple concussions
*letters earned
ABOUT THE MATADORS: Cal State Northridge takes a deceiving
2-6 record into Big West Conference play. The Matadors had only one home
game, their most recent, a 79-60 win over Cal Baptist. They lost on the
road at Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Montana and Arizona State and got a split
on neutral courts, losing in overtime to Tennessee State and beating Jackson
State. Ian Boylan (13.6 ppg) and Joseph Frazier (12.5 pg) are the leading
scorers. Forward Eto Onyenegecha is averaging only 3.8 points and 3.4
rebounds in 14 minutes per game. Last year his numbers were 13.0 and 6.0.
ABOUT THE TIGERS: Pacific logged an 11-point win at Fresno
State to give it momentum in defending its share of last year’s
Big West championship. The Tigers are 5-2 with a win over Santa Clara
(but the Broncos are 0-3 vs. the Big West since beating North Carolina
and Stanford) and road wins at UC Davis, Nevada and San Jose State. Christian
Maraker (14.6 ppg), David Doubley (13.7 ppg) and Guillaume Yango (12.1
ppg) are the heart of the offense while Yango (7.6 rpg) and Maraker (6.0
rpg) control the boards.
SERIES HISTORIES: Fullerton and Northridge are tied at
23 wins each. Since CSUN joined the Big West Conference beginning with
the 2001-02 season, the Matadors have a 5-2 edge including 2-1 at the
Matadome. But Fullerton won there last year in the regular season finale,
95-70. Pacific holds a 37-29 edge over the Titans by virtue of winning
15 of the last 17 meetings. Fullerton won in Stockton two seasons ago.
ROSTER IN FLUX: Fullerton welcomed the arrival of Jamaal
Brown and Ralphy Holmes on Dec. 21 at San Diego State but the Titans lost
Derek Quinet for at least the Denver game due to a broken nose suffered
in practice on Dec. 17. He played 21 minutes on Tuesday at San Diego State.
GOOD START: Fullerton’s 4-3 start to the 2004-05
season is its best since the 1998-99 team opened 5-3 (after a 5-1 start).
TABLES TURNED: The Titans’ two games vs. Denver
were marked contrasts, as were the two games played in the final non-conference
week. At Denver, Fullerton scored 57 points. In Titan Gym on Thursday
night, Fullerton had 53 in the first half. Jamaal Brown and Ralphy Holmes
didn’t make the trip to Denver but combined for 54 points and 14
rebounds in the rematch. That pair went 3-for-22 from the floor for 8
points (all by Brown) in the loss at San Diego State. Against the Aztecs,
the Titans shot 29 percent from the floor. Against the Pioneers this second
time, the Titans shot 62 per cent from the floor.
GREAT SIGN: The Titans got a much-needed inside scoring
presence from Jamaal Brown (see perimeter scoring note next). Against
Denver he scored the Titans’ first two buckets and three of the
first four to set the tone for the game. He ended up 12-for-18 from the
floor.
PERIMETER ORIENTED: The perimeter trio of Bobby Brown
(30), Jermaine Harper (24) and Yaphett King (12) scored all but 4 of the
Titans’ 70 points in the win at Eastern Washington. Justin Burns
was the only interior player to score a field goal and that came on an
out-of-bounds play. Derek Quinet and Vershan Cottrell each added one free
throw.
THE OLD RALPHY: Holmes looked like his first-team All-Big
West Conference (2002-03) self vs. Denver after a humbling debut at San
Diego State, where he went scoreless on 0-for-9 shooting. Against the
Pioneers he led all first-half scorers with 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
He scored about a point a minute -- 16 ponts in 14 first-half minutes
and 9 points in 13 second-half minutes -- and finished 11 of 14 from the
floor.
B. BROWN LEADING THE WAY: Bobby Brown is the early scoring
leader in the Big West Conference, buoyed by 74 points in the last three
outings (30, 27 & 17), the first total being a career high. The previous
game he had 17 at Denver but had to take 23 shots to get there. His seven
3-point field goals at San Diego State (in 11 attempts) tied his career
best (also had 7 vs. UCSB last season). He’s averaging 19.7 points
per game. The last Titan to break the 20-point barrier for a season was
guard Joe Small in 1990-91 at 21.8 ppg.
PROGNOSTICATION vs. REALITY: In the pre-season polls,
Pacific and Utah State shared first place in the Big West media poll and
the Tigers edged the Aggies for the top spot in the coaches’ poll.
CSUN and UCSB were consensus Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Fullerton and
Idaho were No. 5 and No. 6 in the media poll and the reverse in the coaches
list. UC Irvine, Cal Poly, Long Beach and UC Riverside filled out both
lists in that order. Looking at the non-conference standings, UCI (5-2)
and UCR (4-4) are the positive surprise teams while Northridge (2-6) and
UCSB (2-5) have won less than a third of their games to date.
MINI-CONFERENCE: Cal State Fullerton, Denver and Eastern
Washington played what amounted to a 5-game “mini-conference”
schedule in December with Denver playing a same-season home-and-home series
with both the Titans and the Eagles. Denver came out on top at 3-1 while
Fullerton was 2-1 and EWU was 0-3 in those games.
BOMBS AWAY: Fullerton is averaging 21.4 3-point field
goal attempts per game and is making an average of 7.7. That projects
to 578 attempts and 208 makes over a 27-game regular season and both of
those numbers would be school single-season records (196 makes last season
and 551 attempts in 1996-97). Bobby Brown is 25 for 57. After seven games
last year he was only 20 for 43.
DOUBLE FIGURES: Prior to the performance against Hope,
the last time the Titans had six players in double figures was Feb. 4,
1999, in an 88-78 home win over Utah State (Cunningham 23, Caldwell 12,
Jarrett 12, Murphy 12, Fischer 11, Harmon 10).
FLYING HIGH: With two wins this year on trips requiring
air travel, the Titans have almost as many “airplane” victories
this season as in the past seven seasons COMBINED. Fullerton is 5-51 since
winning at BYU and Montana in the first two road games of the 1996-97
season (0-5 in 1996-97 after the first two road games; 1-6 in 1997-98;
0-8 in 1998-99; 0-7 in 1999-2000; 1-6 in 2000-01; 0-6 in 2001-02; 1-6
in 2002-03 and 0-5 in 2003-04; 2-2 so far in 2004-05).
NEW OVERTIME STRING STARTING?: Fullerton snapped a 5-game
losing streak in games that ran more than 40 minutes with its win in Cheney,
Washington. The Titans WON five OT games in a row in the 2002-03 season
before losing in that fashion in the season finale and the swan song for
Coach Donny Daniels. Bob Burton was 0-4 last season including one double
overtime defeat.
AWAD LEAVES SCHOOL: Senior forward Drew Awad withdrew
from the University on Dec. 6 when he learned of a reoccurrence of his
acute lymphocytic leukemia. He was informed at the end of practice that
day of the results of a morning blood test. He had been sidelined with
a nagging foot injury and felt tired as he had when originally diagnosed
in August of 2002. He immediately went home to Fresno where he faces another
six months of treatment and hospitalization.
TITAN GYM GOES HOLLYWOOD: ABC's Top Ten Nielsen TV show
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Titan Gym on Dec. 8 to tape a tribute
to Rodney Anderson, the former Titan basketball player, whose family received
the full treatment from the show between Dec. 4 and 14. The taping featured
the retirement of his jersey No. 4 and will be included in an episode
scheduled to be aired either Jan. 30 or Feb. 13. Anderson was shot in
a mistaken identity gang shooting near his Los Angeles home on Mar. 2,
2000, and is paralyzed and in a wheelchair. He is scheduled to graduate
in June with a degree in human services.
TOUCH CONFERENCE OPENERS: After playing five of its first
seven games away from home, the Titans go right back on the road to open
the Big West season in the lairs of the two teams that played in last
year’s tournament championship game -- Cal State Northridge and
Pacific. The Titans can point to some recent success in the Matadome and
Spanos Center, having split their last two visits to each building. But
those single wins are the only CSF victories at Northridge in the past
three trips and at Pacific in the past 15 trips.
