Cal Poly Trying to Find Identity Before the Big West Tournament

It was only UC-Davis, but for the Cal Poly Men’s Basketball team, they will take any win they can get.

While three seniors have started every game for the Mustangs this season, Lewis has been left out in the cold. After playing significant minutes over the past two years, Lewis is second to last on the Mustangs’ roster in minutes per game — even behind fellow senior Matt Titchenal.

With senior Jordan Lewis in the starting lineup, Cal Poly is setting their sights on the Big West Tournament. Photo by Bryce Ashland

Off of manternity leave, the Tribune’s J.D. Scroggin outlined the lineup changes the Mustangs are making this week, namely putting Jordan Lewis into the starting lineup and moving Chris Eversley to be the 6th man.

While different players, including Kyle Odister, Dylan Royer, Eversley, and Titchenal showed flashes of offensive prowess early-on in the conference season, Lewis waited patiently.

And putting the 6′ 5” senior front-and-center was precisely the right move for a Cal Poly team trying to regain its defensive and hard-nosed mentality.

Sure, Cal Poly has some talented shooters. Callero has gushed about some of the shooting prowess of his guards this year. But his squad has made its mark with hard nosed play and defense.

So where have they gone awry?

It may have been January 21.

That’s the night Cal Poly made their first 11 3-point shots and scored 100 points on a televised game in a home win over Cal State Northridge. For the game, they finished 15 of 21 from behind the arc. Everyone who ever shoots 3’s seemed to contribute for the Mustangs.

Then they went on the road. And came back to Earth.

Generally speaking (and there are exceptions), when the Mustangs shoot fewer than 15 3-pointers, they are successful. When they shoot 15 or more (again, with acknowledged exceptions), they are playing at a tempo that is not in accordance with success they have had over the past two years.

Jordan Lewis is an undersized power forward, but his leaping ability and strength help make up it. Photo by Bryce Ashland

While losing six of their past seven road games (including four of five in-conference), the Mustangs have lacked identity — a crucial thing to have if you want to win road conference games. Usually having a senior-laden team ensures avoidance of identity crises, but that has not been the case for this team.

After giving up 91 points to Cal State Fullerton on the road, 84 to Northern Colorado, and 68 to UCSB, Coach Callero inserted Lewis into the starting lineup for tonight’s home matchup with UC Davis.

Sure, the game they’re playing tonight is against a conference doormat — but it’s a doormat they almost lost to in Davis. And the only team behind Davis is CSU Northridge, who they also were defeated by at the Matadome.

Over the past two seasons, Mustangs fans were smitten with a coach and program that had tough, hard-nosed players who generally worked hard and who could always bank on their defense. This conference season, the Mustangs have lost some of that identity, and props to Callero for trying to get it back. As UCSB showed last year, it’s never too late to make a run in the Big West.

Photo by Bryce Ashland