Thur., Jan. 27 - Cal Poly SLO, Titan Gym (4,000), 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 29 - UC Santa Barbara, Titan Gym (4,000), 5:05 p.m.- FOX television
Thur., Feb. 3 -- at UC Riverside, 7:10 p.m. - KVMD television
THE QUICK SCENARIO: The Titans (8-7, 3-4) return home to try to end their
first losing streak (3 games) of the season, which has coincided with
the loss for the season of senior forward Hardy Asprilla to a knee injury.
Fullerton hosts two teams with their own problems -- Cal Poly has lost
seven in a row and UC Santa Barbara has been playing -- well at times
-- with a 7-man roster due to injuries.
TELEVISION: Saturday’s game will be televised on FOX Sports Net
West 2. Michael Eaves and Sean Farnham are the announcers.
“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. Justin Alderson and Troy Bardy
are the announcers for Thursday night with Patrick Alog joining Alderson
on Saturday evening.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg rpg Quick Notes
F 2 Yaphett King * 6-4 Sr. 12.1 4.9 In last five games has scored 56 of
his 76 points in the second half
F 15 Ralphy Holmes* 6-4 Sr. 15.4 7.1 Approached a triple-double vs. UC
Davis with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists
C 32 Jamaal Brown 6-7 Jr. 12.3 7.6 In Big West games only is the BWC leader
in rebounding at 8.9 rpg
G 14 Jermaine Harper 6-3 Jr. 10.0 3.3 Go figure -- three games with 20+
points, six games with 4 points or less
G 3 Bobby Brown * 6-1 So. 17.9 2.1 Conference overall scoring leader was
9-for-29 from the floor on road trip
OFF THE BENCH:
C 42 Derek Quinet 6-9 So. 3.6 2.4 Started first five games of the season
G 23 Vershan Cottrell 6-2 Jr. 2.3 1.1 Played season-high 15 minutes at
Idaho with season-high 6 points on 2 treys
G 22 John Clemmons 6-0 Jr. 2.3 1.1 January transfer from El Camino College
who didn’t play last year
F 5 Justin Burns 6-6 So. 3.8 2.3 Got first start of the season at Utah
State and blocked 3 early shots
F 21 Danny Lambert 6-6 Jr. 0.0 1.5 Transfer from Irvine Valley College
has played only 7 minutes
SIDELINED:
F 24 Hardy Asprilla * 6-5 Sr. 8.5 8.8 Out for the season; tore ACL in
his right knee vs. Long Beach State
F 12 Drew Awad 6-3 Sr. 1.7 1.0 Leukemia survivor sidelined by foot injury
has suffered cancer re-occurrence
C 43 Lloyd Walls 6-9 Sr. -- -- Transfer from Wright State sidelined all
season after multiple concussions
*letters earned
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS: Cal Poly (3-13, 1-7) has lost seven games in a row
since a home win over Long Beach State to open the Big West Conference
schedule and the closest margin of defeat was 8 points to Cal State Northridge
(81-73) on Saturday night. But they do have a win over Santa Clara. Guard
Dawin Whiten is the only Mustang in double figures at 11.9 ppg.
ABOUT THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara (7-9, 4-4 and at UCR on Thursday)
has been the most injury-plagued team in the Big West, going basically
with seven players since leading scorer Casey Cook (10.8 ppg) went down
six games ago. The Gauchos had a 3-game winning streak (all at home) snapped
by Pacific (58-43) on Saturday night. Gaucho opponents in conference play
are shooting only .389 from the floor and .281 from 3-point range.
THE COACHES: Bob Burton is 19-24 in his second year at Fullerton and career.
Burton is 1-1 vs. Cal Poly and 0-2 vs. UCSB. Kevin Bromley is 49-67 in
his fifth year at Cal Poly and career. Bob Williams is 103-88 in his seventh
year at UCSB and 292-188 career. Bromley is 4-4 vs. Fullerton (2-2 in
Titan Gym) and 1-1 vs. Burton. Williams is 11-1 vs. Fullerton including
6-0 in Titan Gym. He is 2-0 vs. Burton.
SERIES HISTORIES: Cal Poly leads the series, 24-15. Since joining the
Big West, the lead is 10-6, but the teams have split the season series
in each of the past four years. UCSB has a 31-25 advantage including 3
wins in a row and 11 of the last 12. And, it has won seven in a row at
Fullerton. The last four have been one possession games -- the Gauchos
winning by 3, 2, 3 and 3 points, last year in double OT.
GOOD START: Fullerton’s 8-4 start was its best since the 1996-97
team also opened 8-4 in an eventual 13-14 season that was marred by the
loss of leading rebounder and scorer John Williams after game No. 15 (team
was 9-6) to a broken wrist.
HOME, SWEET HOME: Fullerton is 5-1 this season and was 8-6 last year in
Titan Gym for its first winning season at home since 1998-99. The Titans
have won 10 of their last 12 home games going back to last season. Christened
vs. Denver on Dec. 23, 2004, was a new state-of-the art sound system,
installed by the same company that did the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and
will be doing USC’s new arena. That addition about completes the
upgrades possible for 40-year old Titan Gym. In the past five years, it
has welcomed new chair-back seats, new portable basket supports, new south
balony bleachers, new lights and a new scoreboard as well as updates of
12 national championship banners and a jersey Wall of Honor.
HARDY THE DIFFERENCE? Over the last three games (0-3), the Titans are
shooting only .376 from the floor and .356 from 3-point range while allowing
opponents to shoot .524 and .533, respectively. Over the first 12 games
(8-4) with Hardy Asprilla playing, the comparable numbers were .468 and
.367 for the Titans and .476 and .333 by the opponents.
LATE FIRST-HALF MELTDOWN: In the final 4:00 of the first half this year,
the Titans have been outscored a combined 125-75 in all games and 70-20
in conference games. In the last four games the tally reads: Long Beach,
14-4; UC Irvine, 13-5; Utah State, 11-0; and Idaho, 6-3, for a total of
44-12. Possible reasons? Foul trouble for starters, only the opponent
in bonus situation and fatigue. Only vs. Colgate, second game vs. Denver
and vs. UC Davis have the Titans “won” the last four minutes.
3-2 IN CRUNCH TIME: The Titans are 3-2 in games this year that went down
to the final shot with three different players being the offensive hero.
At Eastern Washington, Jermaine Harper made a 3-pointer with 4 seconds
left for a 2-point win when EWU couldn’t get off a last shot. At
San Diego State, Jamaal Brown’s 3-point attempt bounced off the
rim at the buzzer and the Aztecs escaped with a 3-point win. At Cal State
Northridge, Yaphett King gave the Titans a 1-point lead with 8 seconds
left and Davin White missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Matadors.
And vs. UCR, Justin Bell missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer after Jamaal
Brown had made two free throws with less than 5 seconds to play. Hardy
Asprilla’s 3-point play with 51 seconds left was the key. At Idaho
on Saturday, both Ralphy Holmes and Harper missed hurried 3-pointers that
would have tied the game in the final 10 seconds.
BIG VICTORY MARGINS: With a 34-point win (107-73) over Hope International
and a 28-point win (89-61) over UC Davis, the Titans have a pair of 28-points
or more wins in the same season for the first time since the 1986-87 season
when George McQuarn’s Titans beat Cal State Bakersfield (83-46)
and Southern Utah (100-58) in back-to-back games on Dec. 5 and Dec. 8.
BAD OMENS: The knee injury to Hardy Asprilla came three nights after the
Big West Conference’s other leading rebounder (UCR’s Vili
Morton) went down in similar fashion. Asprilla’s injury came in
game No. 12 as the Titans were getting off to the best start (8-4) since
the 1996-97 team also started 8-4, but finished 13-14 due in great part
to the loss of leading rebounder (and scorer) John Williams after game
No. 15 to a broken wrist. Williams would return for the final game of
the season, scoring 7 points with 4 rebounds in a relatively ineffective
17 minutes off the bench vs. Nevada in the first round of the Big West
Tournament in Reno.
RALPHY IS BACK: With the exceptions of his first game back and last week
vs. UC Irvine, Ralphy Holmes has looked like his first-team All-Big West
Conference (2002-03) self after a one-year hiatus. After a humbling debut
at San Diego State, where he went scoreless on 0-for-9 shooting, he averaged
19.5 points over the next six games including 25 points in 27 minutes
off the bench vs. Denver. His 6-point game vs. UCI was only the fifth
time as a Titan he failed to score in double figures. On the road trip
last week he led the Titans in scoring and rebounding in each game including
a career-high 13 rebounds at Idaho.
YAPHETT DOWN THE STRETCH: King has been the Titans’ “go-to”
guy down the stretch in two victories and has become a second-half scoring
machine of late. Vs. Colgate on Nov. 20, he scored 9 of his 11 points
and 9 of the team’s final 13 (in the last 6:39) to hold off a Colgate
rally. At Northridge, he scored 8 of the team’s final 12 points
in regulation (in final 3:38) and then added 4 more points in overtime
including the game-winning bucket with 8 seconds to play. The last five
games he has totaled 76 points with 56 of them coming after intermission
(15 of 17 vs. UC Davis, 16 of 20 vs. Long Beach, 14 of 21 vs. UCI, 4 of
9 at Utah State and 7 of 9 at Idaho). And in three career games vs. Long
Beach State he is averaging 21.0 points or more than double his career
average against everyone else.
JEKYLL-HYDE ACT?: Junior guard Jermaine Harper had developed some consistency
over four of the previous five games with 11, 8, 14 and 8 points for an
10.3-point average. But he scored only 3 points at Idaho for his sixth
game of 4 points or less. He has had three games of 20 or more points.
After scoring 24 including the game-winning bucket at Eastern Washington
on Dec. 10, he scored a TOTAL of 6 points on 2-for-19 shooting overall
and 0-for-11 from 3-point range over the next three games. Coming off
the bench at Pacific on Dec. 30, he made 9 of 15 shots including 5 of
10 attempts from behind the arc to post a new career high of 25 points.
But then he failed to score vs. UCR, missing all 4 shots in 19 minutes.
B. BROWN LEADING THE WAY: Bobby Brown is the overall scoring leader in
the Big West Conference. His seven 3-point field goals at San Diego State
(in 11 attempts) tied his career best (he also had 7 vs. UCSB last season).
He’s averaging 17.9 points per game but only 16.7 in Big West games,
where he ranks behind Jaycee Carroll (18.1 ppg) of Utah State. Brown ranks
No. 2 in all games in assists at 5.67 to Aaron Fitzgerald’s 5.93
for UC Irvine. Brown’s 12 assists vs. Long Beach State were only
one shy of his career-high of 13 vs. Hope.
DOUBLE FIGURES: Six Titans scored in double figures (B. Brown 21, Asprilla
16, Harper 16, King 15, Burns 14 and Quinet 10) vs. Hope International.
Prior to that performance, 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).
BOMBS AWAY: It’s been hot or cold for the Titans from the 3-point
line the past six games. They shot a season’s worst 3-for-18 vs.
UC Riverside and a season’s best 10-for-18 vs. UC Davis before reducing
the trend to halves. They went 0-for-5 in the first half and 7-for-12
in the second half vs. Long Beach State and 4-for-10 then 10-for-15 vs.
UC Irvine. On the road trip last week they made only 12 of 48 (.250).
The 14 3-pointers vs. UCI tied the school single-game record originally
set on Dec. 9, 2003, vs. USC. Fullerton is averaging 7.8 makes and 21.4
attempts per game. Those numbers project over a 27-game regular season
to 210 makes and 577 attempts and both of those numbers would be school
single-season records (196 makes last season and 551 attempts in 1996-97).
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.
TITAN GYM GOES HOLLYWOOD: ABC's highly rated Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
came to Titan Gym on Dec. 8 to tape a tribute to Rodney Anderson, the
former Titan player whose family received the full treatment from the
show between Dec. 4 and 14, getting TWO new homes to replace their 1911-built
residence in South Central L.A. The taping featured the retirement of
his jersey (No. 4) and was included in a special two-hour episode that
aired on Jan. 16 and a one-hour segment on Jan. 17. Rodney was shot in
a mistaken-identity gang shooting near his 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. He and his girlfriend, Monique, were married
on Dec. 13 in their new yard as part of the show.
NUMBER SWITCH: Jamaal Brown was going to wear No. 4 this season for the
Titans in honor of his former Western Kentucky teammate Nathan Eisert,
who committed suicide. Jamaal gave up that jersey at the TV taping and
opted for No. 32, a number his dad wore.
