Cal Poly Men’s Basketball Team Did What to UCLA?

I seem to remember, if ever so faintly, a moment when the Cal Poly men’s basketball team knocked off then, #11 UCLA, 70-68 on the road. But then again, I’m getting old. And we know the older a man gets, the less he remembers.

So remind me please: Did the Mustangs or did they not, beat a Bruins team with the #1 ranked recruiting class of 2012-2013? Did not Chris Eversley look comparable to Shabazz Muhammad? And did not Dylan Royer and Kyle Odister channel a three-point purity as pungent as J.J Redick?

Since dismantling Ben Howland’s bunch, the Mustangs are 2-2, one of those a narrow 3- point win over 5-5, Division 2 middle of the road, Eastern New Mexico. The other over an NAIA Division two Menlo College. At times, the Mustangs are unable to create their own shot, and have been lacking the ability to manufacture second and third chances off the offensive glass.

Here are some startling facts since the UCLA win.

*  Kyle Odister and Dylan Royer are a combined 22-61 from the field (36.1%). Though they shoot mostly 3-pointers, that’s still not a fantastic percentage. Combined in those games they have 6 assists and 9 turnovers.

*  Senior Drake U’u has struggled to find his way. The guard came into his senior season with an increased role as a ball-handler. So far, he’s shooting 31.7% from the floor, his minutes are down, and he’s making only 46.4% of his free throws.

* Chris Eversley is a dynamic first option offensively. That being said, Eversley is shooting just 40.4% from the floor. His jump shot isn’t particularly consistent, taking away from what he does best: slash and hit the glass.

* The Mustangs rank 289th in the country in rebounding. Behind Eversley, their second-ranked rebounder is 6’9″ freshman Brian Bennett. Since the UCLA win Bennett’s rebounding average is 3.75 per game.

And so, for me, it’s hard not to see the UCLA win as some sort of fluke. The team has been generally manhandled by St. Mary’s and Nevada, and despite a freebie over Menlo, struggled to beat Eastern New Mexico. Callero has a problem of firepower on his hands. Clearly, Eversley is the only player athletic enough to create his own shot on the offensive end.

The rest of the team is built in facets with clear and concise directives and roles. When the three point shot isn’t falling, the Mustangs struggle to hit the glass and get to the free throw line. My hope is that Kyle Odister and Brian Bennet mature and round into more efficient offensive form in the 2nd half of the season.

Cal Poly fans should hope that Odister, with his limited size, improves his ball handling and continue to find his mid-range game, while Bennett, the strongest of the Mustangs, learns to better predict misses in order to be the glass eater he should be. Without the progression of these players and individual improvement throughout the roster, the Mustangs may be just the team they were predicted to be in the Big West preseason coaches poll — a middle to lower middle of the pack Big West team.

After the team’s grind-it-out 60-57 win on Friday, coach Callero reiterated the team’s need to find their defensive identity.

An identity me, and every Mustang maniac is praying comes together, in order that this year’s squad might assemble some sort of UCLA surprise in the Big West and the Conference tournament.  It has been 17-years in the making fans have had to wait for the green and gold to be crownded champion. A near victory in 2003 ended in a 3-point defeat to Utah st, as did another in 2007 to the hands of Long Beach.

This team is without question lacking the scorers those teams held, but with Callero’s gritty toughness, anything seems somewhat possible.