CS Fullerton meets UC Davis in Big West quarters
No. 6 seed UC Davis (11-19, 7-9) vs. No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton (14-16, 10-6)
Big West Conference Tourney Quarterfinals, Honda Center, Anaheim, California; Thursday, 4:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton are set to do battle in the quarterfinals of the Big West tournament. The teams split the regular season series at one win apiece. The teams last met on March 2, when the Aggies forced 17 Cal State Fullerton turnovers and turned the ball over just nine times en route to the 66-59 victory.
STEPPING UP: Cal State Fullerton’s Khalil Ahmad has averaged 17.8 points and 4.1 rebounds while Kyle Allman Jr. has put up 17.8 points. For the Aggies, TJ Shorts II has averaged 14.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists while Siler Schneider has put up 10.6 points.
CREATING OFFENSE: Shorts has either made or assisted on 45 percent of all UC Davis field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has 18 field goals and 15 assists in those games.
BEHIND THE ARC: UC Davis’s Schneider has attempted 96 3-pointers and connected on 28.1 percent of them, and is 2 for 12 over his past five games.
ASSIST-TO-FG RATIO: The Aggies have recently gotten buckets via assists more often than the Titans. Cal State Fullerton has 33 assists on 68 field goals (48.5 percent) across its past three outings while UC Davis has assists on 37 of 74 field goals (50 percent) during its past three games.
STIFLING DEFENSE: UC Davis has forced opponents into committing turnovers on 21.7 percent of all possessions, the highest rate among all Big West teams.