UPCOMING:
Thur., Jan. 20 -- at Utah State, Smith Spectrum (10,270), 7:05 p.m. MST
Sat., Jan. 22 -- at Idaho, Cowan Spectrum (7,000), 7:05 p.m. PST
Thur., Jan. 27 - Cal Poly SLO, Titan Gym (4,000), 7:05 p.m.
THE QUICK SCENARIO: The Titans (8-5, 3-2) try to regain lost momentum
in the most unlikely of places as they make their final Big West Conference
road trip to departing members Utah State and Idaho this week. Fullerton
hasn’t won in Logan since Feb. 6, 1982, a drought of 20 consecutive
losses, and is now 2-23 there. Fullerton is 1-5 in Moscow. Fullerton saw
its 5-0 home record and 3-game winning streak snapped Saturday night by
UC Irvine, 97-81, in its first game without the services of senior forward
Hardy Asprilla, lost for the year to a torn ACL in his right knee.
“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. Mel Franks is the announcer
on the road trip.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
No. Name Ht. Yr. ppg rpg Quick Notes
F 2 Yaphett King * 6-4 Sr. 12.6 4.9 Had season scoring high in each of
last two games with 20 vs. LB, 21 vs. UCI
F 32 Jamaal Brown 6-7 Jr. 14.2 7.5 Ended shooting slump with 9-for-12
effort vs. Long Beach State
C 42 Derek Quinet 6-9 So. 3.5 2.4 Started first five games of the season
G 15 Ralphy Holmes* 6-4 Sr. 15.4 6.1 Approached a triple-double vs. UC
Davis with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists
G 3 Bobby Brown * 6-1 So. 18.8 2.1 Second double-double of year with 11
points, 12 assists vs. Long Beach
OFF THE BENCH:
G 14 Jermaine Harper 6-3 Jr. 10.7 3.5 Go figure! Three games with 20+
points, five games with 4 points or less
G 23 Vershan Cottrell 6-2 Jr. 1.9 0.9 Transfer from Ohlone College who
led state of Washington in scoring as prep
G 22 John Clemmons 6-0 Jr. 2.3 1.3 January transfer from El Camino College
who didn’t play last year
F 5 Justin Burns 6-6 So. 3.9 2.0 Transfer from Cypress Community College;
father “Spider” played at UNLV 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 AGGIES: Utah State (11-5, 2-3) went 0-2 on a road trip last
week to Pacific and Cal State Northridge, losing two in a row for only
the seventh time in the last six seasons. The Aggies are 2-0 at home and
0-3 on the road in conference play; 8-0 at home, 2-1 neutral and 1-4 on
the road overall. This is its 100th season of men’s basketball (No.
45 for Cal State Fullerton).
ABOUT THE VANDALS: Idaho (5-11, 3-2) also went 0-2 on a road trip last
week to Cal State Northridge and Pacific and hosts UC Riverside on Thursday
night. The Vandals are led by forward Dandrick Jones, who is averaging
16.0 points and 5.4 rebounds.
THE COACHES: Bob Burton is 19-22 in his second year at Fullerton and career.
Stew Morrill is 154-51 in his seventh season at Utah State and 372-189
in his career. Leonard Perry is 41-61 in his fourth season at Idaho and
career. Burton is 0-2 vs. Utah State and 1-1 vs. Idaho. Morrill is 10-2
vs. Fullerton at Utah State and 12-2 career. Perry is 4-2 vs. Fullerton,
3-0 in Moscow.
SERIES HISTORIES: Utah State has won six in a row, 10 out of 11 and 20
of the last 22 vs. Fullerton and leads the series, 37-16, including 23-2
in Logan. Idaho and Fullerton have split their season series the past
two years but the Vandals hold a 7-5 all-time advantage, 5-1 in Moscow.
GOOD START: Fullerton’s 8-5 start is its best since the 1996-97
team also opened 8-5 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.
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).
AND THIS IS WHY IT IS SO HARD TO WIN ON THE ROAD: Fullerton will be making
its farewell trip to Logan, Utah, and Moscow, Idaho, this week as Utah
State and Idaho play their final seasons in the Big West Conference. The
Titans will spend four nights in four different hotels and catch four
flights on two different airlines to complete the itinerary in temperatures
certain to be less than the 80-degree weather they are leaving behind.
3-1 IN CRUNCH TIME: The Titans are 3-1 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.
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 went 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 Saturday
night 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. Two years
ago vs. Utah State he averaged 22.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in three games
and shot just over 50 percent from the floor in each game. In two games
vs. Idaho he averaged 18 points and 3 rebounds.
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 three
games he has totaled 58 points with 45 of them coming after intermission
(15 of 17 vs. UC Davis, 16 of 20 vs. Long Beach and 14 of 21 vs. UCI).
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.
NO MORE JEKYLL-HYDE ACT: Junior guard Jermaine Harper has developed some
consistency the last three games with 11, 8 and 14 points for an 11-point
average. Over the first 10 games he had three totals of 20 or more points
and five games with 4 points or less. After scoring 24 points 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. But 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 early 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 18.8 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.
Brown has scored “only” 49 points in the past three games
but he handed out a combined 28 assists, which is the best 3-game total
of his young career. His 12 assists vs. Long Beach State were only one
shy of his career-hgh 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 four 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. The 14 3-pointers vs. UCI tied the school single-game record
originally set on Dec. 9, 2003, vs. USC. Fullerton is averaging 8.1 makes
and 21.0 attempts per game. Those numbers project over a 27-game regular
season to 218 makes and 567 attempts and both of those numbers would be
school single-season records (196 makes last season and 551 attempts in
1996-97).
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,
and the Titans made it 2-for-2 this year with the Dec. 28 OT win at Northridge.
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, 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 Sunday (Jan. 16) night. The Andersons also were
featured in the “How Did They Do That?” one-hour segment on
Monday (Jan. 17) night. 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 longtime girlfriend, Monique, were married on Dec. 13 in their new
frontyard 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
